In This Issue:

New Web Mail Available!

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Of Viruses and Anti-virus Software
by Richard Thomson

Corn on the Cobwebs
by John Scott

What Do We Know About You?
by Donna Warenko

Network Manager Report
by David Hnatiw

New Sites:

This month, Granite has been busy updating some of our own web pages. Check out some out new, refreshed pages!

New User Info

Member Services

Search Tips

E-Mail Help

Back to the Granite Pages....

Granite Homepage
New Users
Member Services
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Rates
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Previous Issues:

New - Web Mail Available

What does this mean for you? It simply means that you can now access your Granite e-mail from anywhere in the world - all you need is Internet access. Whether you're at work, traveling on business or taking a vacation, your Granite e-mail will be accessible.

For those of you with Hotmail, Yahoo, Canoe or some other web mail account, this will be welcome news. The mail interface you encounter will also be quite familiar to you. You no longer need to maintain two e-mail accounts.

To use the new WebMail Reader just follow these simple steps:

1. Point your browser to www.granite.mb.ca/general/webmail.html
2. Click the "Check E-mail" link
3. Enter your e-mail address and password

When you visit the Mail.com site for the first time, you will be asked to register. Remember, you do not have to register or use this service to access your e-mail. It is simply provided as a convenience for those who wish to use it. You will be asked for some demographic information. This service, like many others you may have encountered on the Internet, is free because of the advertising revenue generated. The demographic information you provide helps Mail.com achieve this revenue.

Please remember, when using the Mail.com service, that you will be leaving the Granite Network. Mail you store within this site is stored on the Mail.com server. This is no different than using Yahoo or Hotmail to access your Granite mail.

So, this winter, while you're laying on the white sandy beach in Mexico, drop into the nearest cybercafe and call up the Granite Homepage. Your Granite mail will now be only a click away, no matter where you might be accessing from.

After you've tried out the service, we'd love to hear your comments. E-mail your comments or questions to support@granite.mb.ca.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Please take a moment to complete our Customer Satisfaction Survey. We will use the results of this survey to review the services we offer and the way we offer them.

Of Viruses and Anti-virus Software

There are an incredible number of computer viruses out there. One vendor tells us that at last count there were 46,837 known viruses and this number increases by approximately 300 per month! Because the software can only be written for known viruses, we have to update the files frequently to catch the new ones.

Now don't panic, the anti-virus data files provided by your vendor are free. It just takes a little time to download the new file. It is really quite painless - download the update, execute it and reboot your PC. It's simple and it's easy.

What is a virus?

Have you ever wondered what a computer virus is and how it works? Perhaps I can try to explain.

A virus is a software program that changes the way your computer works without your knowledge or permission. It is a piece of computer code that attaches itself to an executable program and spreads from one file to another. This code executes the virus and depending on how malicious the programmer was, it could erase your hard disk, corrupt your programs or just be a nuisance on your computer.

Some viruses are benign, they do nothing more than display a message or a graphic. Other viruses are malignant and are designed to cause real damage by erasing your complete hard drive, deleting or changing selected files, altering directories or wreaking other havoc.

How a Virus Spreads

A virus spreads by attaching itself to a file or to the boot block or Master Boot Record of a disk. Once the file is executed or the disk is accessed, the virus installs itself in memory, and then proceeds to infect other files or other disks as they are accessed.

Types of viruses

File infectors attach themselves to existing files, or they replace the file altogether. This type of virus primarily works on files with the .COM and .EXE extensions. The files are infected when they are run with the virus in memory.

A type of File Infector is the Macro virus. A macro virus works on Microsoft Word, Excel and Access documents by infecting the macro area. Macro viruses become active when AutoMacros is used.

Boot Sector Viruses

A boot sector is an area on a disk that has information about the disk's formatting and directory structure. It is also may contain information so the computer from run from the disk. Since both floppy disks and hard drives have boot sectors, both can be infected by these viruses.

Master Boot Record Virus

The Master Boot Record (MBR) is a small program that resides on the first sector of a disk. This program is used in the boot process. It checks the partition table to see which partition to use for booting and then transfers control to the boot sector of that partition. MBR viruses normally enter a system through a floppy disk that is installed in the floppy drive when the computer is started up. Even if the floppy disk is not bootable, it can infect the Master Boot Record.

What is safe from Viruses?

Not all disks and files can get viruses. A floppy that is write-locked cannot be infected. Most documents (except MS Word, Excel and Access documents) do not get infected, and compressed files cannot get a virus, but files with viruses can be compressed.

Virus Hoaxes

Almost as troubling as viruses themselves are hoaxes that warn of non-existent viruses. Hoax information can be found at http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html and http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp

Purchasing anti-virus software

If you don't have an anti-virus package, or you have a very old copy and want to upgrade, there are several makers of anti-virus software. Two of the more common products are Symantic and McAfee.

Information on Symantic (Norton) Anti-Virus software information can be found at: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html McAfee anti-virus software information http://www.mcafee.com/centers/anti-virus/default2.asp Other software anti-virus software can be found at http://www.download.com/pc/list/0,339,0-d-78-95-d-1,00.html?st.dl.cat78.subs.sub95

Did you know you can purchase software from Granite (prices valid through October 31, 1999, delivery extra). Allow 7-10 days for delivery.

Norton Antivirus 2000 V6.0 (PC) $59.95 + GST/PST
Norton Anitvirus 2000 V6.0 (MAC) $109.95 + GST/PST
More information on Symatic's products can be found at http://www.symantec.com/region/can/eng/product/nav/nav_9xnt

VirusScan Classic V4.0 Win95/98/NT/3.1/DOS/OS2 $29.95 + GST/PST
VirusScan Deluxe V4.0 Win95/98/NT $34.95 + GST/PST
More information on McAfee's products can be found at http://www.mcafee.com/products

Corn on the Cobwebs

Yes, the days are getting shorter and the geese are flying south but the air is fresh and clean and there is something about this time of year that makes me feel good. I mean this is the season of fall suppers and Thanksgiving. And in almost every community in the area fall suppers are happening. My brother, although he hasn't lived in Manitoba for 25 years, still remembers fondly the family picnics on Thanksgiving at the falls near Seven Sisters.

It is truly a celebration of all the fruits of our labours. And at the end of the month is a one night wonder known as halloween. Halloween is indeed an eerie time of year. And many of you may be wondering what is the significance of Halloween anyway? Why are there cats? And Goblins? And kids dressed up getting candy? Yes Virginia, (and Manitoba) there is a Great Pumpkin.

Now I've got Irish blood in me so of course it was no surprise to discover that Halloween's origins can be traced to the Celts and Druids (an order of priests in ancient Britain). These people were a little .....shall we say different. The Celts believed that at this time of year the natural and supernatural world would merge and the doors would open between the two worlds allowing people to go back and forth freely between them. They believed that they should meet the returning spirits with open doors and bonfires. The tradition of large bonfires on the hillsides is still carried out on Nov 1st (I saw this personally last year with some spectacular bonfires outside of London - no wonder there are few forests left over there). The Druids also thought that cats were once human being who were mysteriously changed into cats for doing bad things.

The idea of and term "jack-o'-lantern" originated in Ireland too. Apparently the unwanted spirit of some guy named Jack was forced to wander the face of the earth with his lantern until Judgement Day. Hmmm....In any event, the use of jack-o'-lanterns, witches, ghosts and cats all come from the old Druid and Celtic ways. Also, in the Celtic villages of the time, young people would dress up in disguise to conceal their identity and demand some sort of payment from the townsfolk (money, food, sweets, O'Henrys). If the people refused to give them anything these same young people would wreck the personal property of whoever refused. Much like today's "gate night". The celebration often became quite unruly and was used as a temporary release from convention. This explains its rise in popularity today as we search for ways of getting away from the perceived monotony of day to day life.

The name Halloween means hallowed or holy evening because it falls on the last day of October, or the day before All Saints Day. November 1st was named All Saints Day by the Roman Catholic church in the 700's (I wonder if they had a year 800 - Y.8 - problem) and the old Irish customs and All Saints day were combined into one celebration.

So really, if you thought Halloween was concocted by some large multi-national candy producer you were wrong. They just happen to be harvesting some of the rewards of a celebration thousands of years old.

What Do We Know About You?

Okay, you surfed into a site and were confronted with a form to fill out. The form was asking all sorts of technical questions that you'd much rather not divulge, so you hit the Back button. You feel safe in the knowledge that you haven't provided this webmaster any information about yourself. Or have you?

Have you ever wondered what information can be extracted from just a simple visit to a web page? Never thought about it - until now? There's a lot of information available, not all of it exactly moral to collect. Here's just an example of some of the things I know about you, just because you visited my Newsletter.

Let's start with the simple stuff. Your Operating System is , and . .

Here's some information about your screen that maybe you didn't even know:

width: height: colorDepth: pixelDepth:

If you're running Netscape, here's a list of your plugins and where they are located:

Okay, thats what I can gather using simple javascript. That isn't all, of course. Every time someone visits my Grand Beach page I collect this information:

Time: 09/27/99 11:02:38 CDT
From: http://grand.beach.mb.ca/services.html
IP : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Host: some_hostname_that_often_reveals_the_visitors_general_physical_location
With: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; AOL 4.0; Windows 95; Creative)
Page: /index.html

I'm blocking out the identifying information here, but most servers will be able to extract this information easily. I can use a cookie to find out how many times you have visited my page.

If you have an e-mail client set up on your browser, a smart coder will be able to extract your e-mail address, although this is considered unethical. This is by far an incomplete list of information I could gather on you.

All the information collected here is incredibly easy to access and is routinely collected and stored by most professional web designers to gauge the success of their site, determine how visitors are viewing the site and decide what browser versions and operating systems they should be coding for.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of the other side of the Internet.

by David Hnatiw

Network Manager Report

LAC DU BONNET - No Changes.

WHITEMOUTH - No changes.

PINE FALLS - The modems were unavailable from about 12:15 to 12:45 on September 29, 1999. The hardware was moved. The operating system was to be upgraded but testing took longer than expected and the upgrade will be rescheduled in October. The circuit is not performing as expected. Granite, Cisco Systems Inc, and MTS are looking into the problem.

October Upgrades/Maintenance

LAC DU BONNET - No planned maintenance.

WHITEMOUTH - No planned maintenance.

PINE FALLS - No maintenance planned; just continual monitoring and work with Cisco and MTS to solve unresolved problems. A new operating system will be loaded into the router. Notice will be posted on the Granite homepage.