E-Mail Scam Amazon Phishing Scam Targets Holiday Shoppers Local Basketball Games Webcast Go to Hartel.net & Listen to Local Hartington Boys & Girls Home Games This Season Winter Weather Awareness Make Sure Your Phone Will Work Without Electricity Too How to Reset Your DSL Modem Follow These Tips This Winter After a Brownout or Outage Gift Certificates Available Ease Your Holiday Shopping Get Free HBO or Cinemax Free Installation Too Bundles Will Save You Money Three Bundles to Choose From Is Your DSL Fast Enough? Up to 6Mg Download Speeds Are Available Conference Bridging Bridge Your Family Together For The Holidays A Shopping Reminder: The Digital TV Transition How The Transition Will Affect You in Hartington Ask The Help Desk Adjusting The Volume On Your Computer Local Website Of The Month Our Featured LOCAL Website Of The Month is... Sites Of The Month Great Sites To Check Out In December! Short Tutorial Increasing The Font (Text) Size On Web Pages

Hello Hartel.net Subscribers! Happy holidays! Our December issue contains information to help you manage the demands of this hectic time. We warn you about an Amazon phishing scam aimed at online shoppers. We teach you how to adjust the volume on your computer and the font size on web pages, so you can better enjoy the sights and sounds of the season. We also share Great Sites to enhance your holiday celebrations with creative ideas for cooking, entertaining, gifts, and crafts. The goal of each of our monthly eNewsletters is to keep our subscribers informed regarding their Internet connection and to improve their Internet experience. To meet this goal, each monthly newsletter will usually contain information related to: Warnings on a recent virus, e-mail hoax, or security issue that may affect you An update on new services and other local interests An answer to a frequently asked Internet related question Some fun, seasonal websites to check out A short, step-by-step tutorial on an e-mail or browser related task We think you'll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click HERE. To see what's inside this issue, take a look at the index to the left and thanks for reading! - The Hartel.net Team

E-Mail Scam - Amazon Phishing Scam Targets Holiday Shoppers

'Tis the season for even more scammers to try and get sensitive financial information such as your bank PIN number or Social Security number. One such phishing scam that's currently making the rounds is disguised as an e-mail from the giant online retailer, Amazon.com. The message fraudulently claims that their "Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account" and that "account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved." Recipients are then instructed to click on a link to "perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible."

If you receive an e-mail message like this, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK. While the website looks like the real Amazon.com, it's actually a phony clone set up for phishing purposes. The scammers are hoping you'll be so busy with holiday shopping that you'll fall for this scheme. But thanks to this warning, you'll know better.

As always, be on guard while shopping online and practice these strategies:

• Purchase items through well-known retailers you can contact via phone if necessary.
• Check for a little yellow lock at the bottom right corner of your browser window when making a purchase. This indicates a secure transaction.
• Check bank and credit card statements frequently for suspicious transactions.

Local Basketball Games Webcast - Go to Hartel.net & Listen to Local Hartington Boys & Girls Varsity Home Games This Season

Hartel.net and Hartington Telecommunications is partnering with both Hartington high schools to offer webstreaming of the audio portion of home varsity games for both boys and girls varsity teams. The webcast season is set to kickoff on Tuesday, Dec 4th with the Cedar Catholic girls hosting Columbus Scotus.

Anyone with an Internet connection across the world can listen to the games. This is perfect for those anyone who would like to follow their hometown Hartington team, whether they're stationed in the military overseas, live out of state, or just down the road.

Cedar Catholic has found play-by-play announcers for the webcasts of their varsity home games. Hartington Public School is still searching for a volunteer(s) to step forward to do the play-by-play of Wildcat basketball games. Please contact Rusty Flamig at Hartington Public School (402-254-3947) if you are interested.

To listen to the games, simply go to www.hartel.net and click on the LISTEN LIVE button on the bottom left-hand side of the homepage. You will be directed to our audio webpage where you can listen to a "live" game, and also view upcoming broadcasts on our scheduler and also listen to broadcasts from past games in the archives section. Please note that the LISTEN LIVE link will not be available until Tuesday, Dec 4th.

Requirements are that you have a PC with Windows XP or Vista, a good Internet connection, speakers on your PC, and Windows Media Player installed to listen to the audio. If you run into problems, you may need a "codec" download which can be obtained by clicking on Tech Support and scrolling halfway down to the Listener Help section.

No account or password is required.

This webstreaming will be a learning experience for us, so please provide feedback via our audio webpage so we can continue to offer the best service to the Hartington community and the world.

Hartel.net hopes that everyone enjoys the webcasts.

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Winter Weather Awareness - Make Sure Your Phone Will Work Without Electricity Too

Hartington Telecommunications would like to remind everyone that cordless phones will not work in the event of a power outage caused by severe winter weather. Cell phone service may also be interrupted in the event of a power outage near the cell tower.

But a corded phone connected to a Hartington Telecommunications phone line will work nearly 100% of the time. Our phone system has power right in the phone line, so even if the electricity in your home goes out, you will still have power to your corded phone. If power is unavailable in our digital switching office, we have a large backup generator which automatically takes over. Should that fail, we also have batteries that will run our phone system for over 24 hours.

If you currently have only cordless phones, we strongly urge you to get a corded phone and at the very least, include it in your home emergency kit. It is very important to be able to 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency! Severe weather can strike at anytime -- Please be prepared!

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How To Reset Your DSL Modem - Follow These Tips This Winter After a Brownout or Outage

After some service outages or electrical power surges caused by winter or summer storms, you may need to reboot your DSL modem to regain connectivity to the Internet and Email. The following are instructions on what you should do:

• If you lose connectivity, check to make sure the power light on the DSL modem is solid green.

• If so, please disconnect the electrical power from DSL modem at the power source (for example, the wall outlet or surge suppressor). Please do not disconnect the power at the back of the DSL modem and do not disconnect any other cables on the modem.

• Turn your computer off.

• If you have a router, turn it off or disconnect the power from the router at the wall outlet or surge suppressor. Please do not disconnect the power at the back of the router or any other cables on the modem.

• Please leave the power off for one (1) minute.

• After one (1) minute, reconnect the power at the power source for the DSL modem.

• Wait one (1) minute for the lights to become solid again.

• If you have a router, turn it on or connect the power from the router at the wall outlet or surge suppressor.

• Turn on your computer.

• You are ready to begin browsing again.

• If you cannot connect, please follow these steps again.

• If the modem does not connect after a second try, please call our tech support number at 254-3902.

Please print and keep these instructions near your computer.

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Gift Certificates Available - Ease Your Holiday Shopping

Hartington Telecommunications, CedarVision CATV, and Northeast Nebraska Computer Services (NNCS) all have convenient gift certificates for all types of services to make your Christmas shopping the easiest ever! Just stop by any of our stores and ask for a gift certificate for any type of phone service, cable TV services including HBO or Cinemax, or maybe pre-pay for Broadband DSL for a friend or relative. The SecureIT Plus suite of computer protection services with parental controls is always a great choice and has FREE installation through 12/31/07. Or stop by NNCS and see the latest specials for Dell-brand PCs. Gift certificates can also be given from NNCS. So stop by today and make easy work of your Christmas shopping.

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Get Free HBO or Cinemax - Free Installation Too

Signup for HBO or Cinemax before the end of the 2007 and get your first month FREE with a 6-month commitment! We'll also include free installation of HBO or Cinemax. What better way to spend those cold winter nights -- in front of the TV with your loved ones watching movies that'll warm your hearts! Call CedarVision at 254-3933 to signup today.

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Bundles Will Save You Money - Three Bundles To Choose From

It's never too late to signup for bundles with Hartington Telecommunications. That means it's never too late to start saving money while upgrading your services!

Signup for any of our bundles and receive 100 free long distance minutes each month, and additional long distance minutes are only 8 cents per minute! All of our bundle plans also include three calling features of your choice such as Caller ID, Voice Mail, and others. You simply choose the features you want!

And with the Broadband DSL or VIP bundle, high speed Internet has never been so easy -- get free high speed Broadband DSL installation and a free DSL modem when you signup. That's a savings of $130.00!

Standard DSL speeds of up to 1.5Mg per second (1500k per second) with our Bundled Internet packages make that old dialup connection of less than 56k seem like "Mr. Turtle". So whether you're on a dialup package or you're on our introductory 128k DSL package, it's well be worth your time to upgrade now. The speed increase is absolutely amazing!

So call us at 254-3901 or stop by today!

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Is Your DSL Fast Enough? - Up to 6Mg Download Speeds Are Available

Many years ago, Hartel.net introduced DSL speeds of 128k and 256k which sounded really fast. Hartel.net now has DSL speeds that will blow the socks off those speeds all the way back to their dialup ancestors!

Hartington Telecommunications now offers Internet speeds that rival the "big city" companies. We now have speeds available of up to 6Mg. That's the same as 6,000K speed as compared to 128K. It's approximately 48 times faster! And compared to dialup's top speed of 56k, well, maybe the word "speed" shouldn't be used to describe dialup at all.

With any of our bundles that include Broadband DSL, 1.5Mg speeds (1500k) are included as standard. If that's not fast enough for you, add up to 3Mg speed for only an additional $10.00 over the bundled price.

Want the premier 6Mg speed? Add that option to any Broadband DSL bundle for only $25.00 over the bundle price. It's so affordable!

Up to 3Mg and 6Mg download speed DSL packages are also available without a bundling package.

Call 254-3901 for more information on how you can cruise the Internet at lightning fast speeds!

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Conference Bridge Service - Call Family Members During the Holidays Using Our FREE Trial

Conference Bridging service from Hartington Telecommunications allows up to 12 callers to be joined together on one phone call.

No need to travel long miles to meetings when you can meet by phone! Cut fuel expenses. Get immediate feedback from participants. Great for businesses, construction companies with remote sites, extended families, or organizations such as baseball leagues, school athletic conferences, or anytime you need to talk to several people at once.

Calls can be scheduled for anytime day or night via the Internet. Controls are at your fingertips via the Internet where you can even invite attendees via email. You can see all call attendees on the Internet, mute callers, or set individualized volume levels as the call is in progress!

Plus there's no monthly fees -- pay only when you use it. It costs only $5 for setup and $2 per caller!

This is so easy and perfect for calling family members during the holidays -- chat with your whole family across the U.S. at the same time!

And for a limited time, Hartington Telecommunications is offering a FREE TRIAL! Call us today at 254-3901 for more details.

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A Shopping Reminder: The Digital TV Transition - How It Will Affect You in Hartington

Analog TV service ends in February of 2009. Digital broadcasting will then be required from all network stations. So what does this mean for you? Here's a little background.

Since TV programming began, analog broadcasting was the norm. Now the FCC has declared that the analog radio spectrum should be vacated to make more space for public safety agencies and wireless communications. Today's digital broadcasting is mostly running concurrent with the analog broadcasts. However as stated above, the analog transmissions will end in February 2009.

What to do?

If you're a CedarVision Cable TV customer, there's nothing that you need to worry about. CedarVision Cable TV will continue to carry all broadcast signalling after the February 2009 deadline. Our cable TV system is an analog system, and we will convert all digital signals automatically to analog after the February 2009 deadline. All CedarVision Cable TV signalling will remain the same.

If you use "rabbit ears" or a set-top antenna to receive TV broadcasts and have only analog TVs in your household, then after February 2009, you will need to get a digital-to-analog converter box so your TV can display the broadcasts. The FCC has stated that they will subsidize consumers for purchasing digital-to-analog converter boxes. Households can apply for up to two $40 coupons starting after January 1, 2008. The converter boxes will not give you a "high-definition" signal. A very brief comparison of digital TV versus HDTV is explained below.

Other points to remember:

• Digital TV is not necessarily HDTV (High-Definition TV), but all HDTVs are digital.
• A Digital TV television can be "standard definition" (SD) or it can be "high-definition" (HDTV).
• If a TV set is labeled as HDTV, it is a digital TV.
• Analog TVs are always "square" in size and are becoming scarce at electronics stores as dealers discount prices.
• Analog TVs can still be used after February 2009 with CedarVision Cable TV.
• A digital-to-analog converter box, or a digital set-top box, or a digital roof-top antenna may be needed if you do not have CedarVision Cable TV.
• Digital TVs can be "square" in shape, but most digital TVs have a "wide-screen" shape.
• All HDTVs have a "wide-screen" shape.
• CedarVision Cable TV does not have the ability to offer high-definition programming at this time, as our system is analog.
• You can use a digital TV with CedarVision Cable TV, but we convert all digital signals to analog before sending the signal to your house.
• Likewise you can use a HDTV television with CedarVison Cable TV, but you won't be able to take advantage of the HDTV capabilities unless you rent HDTV movies and play them with a high-definition DVD player.

CedarVision Cable TV hopes to transition our analog cable system to digital, but it will be several years before that occurs as there are "bugs" still to be worked out in the new technology we plan to use. At that point, we hope to have many channels of HDTV programming and Video on Demand services as well. But for now, we will continue with our analog system and will convert any digital TV signals to analog signals. We will keep you updated on our progress.

If you are shopping for a new TV during this upcoming holiday season, we suggest to:

1. purchase a digital TV.
2. consider getting a TV with HDTV capabilities for when HDTV becomes available on CedarVision Cable TV.
3. shop locally were experts from Hartington can address your specific TV questions.

Please remember these points when shopping for new TVs during the upcoming Christmas holiday shopping season. It may save you many headaches and frustration.

For more information about the digital TV transition, the FCC has an excellent website: http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html

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Ask The Help Desk - Adjusting The Volume On Your Computer

Question: I enjoy going to holiday sites and listening to the music as I browse. However, the volume is turned way down on my computer and I do not know how to adjust it. How do I turn my computer's volume back up?

Answer: That's a good question. With the many changes in operating systems going around these days, it's easy to lose track of where you make changes to settings. With sound settings, however, it's relatively easy to turn your computer's volume up or down. First, look for volume buttons on your keyboard that look like speakers with sound waves coming out of them. Press these buttons to adjust the sound.

On a PC that uses either the Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system, look for the sound icon in the system tray of the taskbar on the lower-right side of the screen. Click your cursor arrow on the sound icon and adjust the slider either up or down.

On a Macintosh that uses any version of OS X, look for the sound adjustment icon on the menu bar towards the upper-right side of the screen near the date/time. Click your cursor arrow on the sound icon and adjust the slider either up or down.

If these adjustments don't do the trick, perhaps the program you are using to listen to music has its own separate sound settings. For instance, this is true of Apple's iTunes. To locate the volume control for a specific program, go to the progam's Help menu.

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Local Website Of The Month - Our Featured LOCAL Website Of The Month is.....

This is a series of monthly articles featuring local websites. Please contact us by clicking here if you want your website to be featured in an upcoming issue. You supply the information and we'll put it in our eNewsletter. What a great way to get your website known throughout the Hartington area!

Hartington's Quasquicentennial Celebration

www.HartingtonQ125.com is the place to be to find out the activities and fun events are planned for Hartington's Q125 celebration scheduled for next Memorial Weekend 2008. Stop back often as the website will continually be updated with new features and activities as new information becomes available.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Ray of Sunshine
http://rachaelray.com -  Rachael Ray has one of the top-ranked daytime programs on TV, and each one-hour episode features her warm, no-fuss approach to life. Viewers tune in for her signature quick meals, improvised entertaining, celebrity surprises, and more. Get a taste of what makes Rachael Ray so popular by visiting this site. Just in time for the holidays, it's the ultimate resource for her recipes, party tips, and other seasonal ideas. Plus, you'll find restaurant reviews from around the globe and food favorites contributed by her famous friends.

Get Crafty
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/minisite/christmas-main -  Deck the halls with cute holiday crafts that are easy to make with kids. Family Fun magazine shares lots of ideas on their site with printable templates and step-by-step instructions. Choose from festive stockings, decorations, cards, ornaments, edibles, and gifts — created for elves of all ages. It's a wonderful way to spend a winter afternoon.

Forecast for Fun
http://theweatherchannelkids.com -  Are your kids a little cloudy on weather concepts? The Weather Channel launched this educational and entertaining website to teach school-aged children about meteorology. It includes a Forecast Center, weather encyclopedia and glossary, interactive weather-related games, and videos of athletes performing in extreme weather conditions. There are even downloadable curriculum plans for teachers and a Homework Helper channel for students.

Gifts in Mint Condition
http://usmint.gov -  Coins can make great holiday gifts for new or seasoned collectors. Think of them as mini history lessons that have lasting value. UsMint.gov offers an online catalog with plenty of options such as the James Madison Presidential $1 Coin, the 50 State Quarters® Greetings from America Portfolio, and the 2007 United States Mint American Legacy Collection.TM

Chimney Safety Tips
http://www.csia.org/?gclid=COG71dGX4o8CFQIegQodQT5A7Q -  As temperatures drop, you'll probably be using your fireplace and wood stove more often. The Chimney Safety Institute of America is a non-profit educational organization that provides homeowners with resources to help prevent chimney fires and carbon monoxide intrusion. Check out this site for online tutorials on chimney inspections, chimney and fireplace sweeping, firewood selection, and other important safety advice.

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Short Tutorial - Increasing The Font (Text) Size On Web Pages

Sometimes the font size is too small to easily read on web pages. Thankfully, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Macintosh's Safari, and Mozilla's Firefox browsers each provide an easy solution for increasing the size of text on web pages.

Changing The Font Size On Your Browser When Using Internet Explorer 6.0 With Windows XP Home Edition SP2

1. Click your cursor arrow on "View" located on the menu bar found at the top of your computer screen.
2. Move your cursor arrow down to "Text Size." You can now choose "Largest," "Larger," "Medium," "Smaller," or "Smallest" from the resulting submenu.

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We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the happenings here. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click HERE.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

The Hartel.net Team





Hartington Telecommunications
104 W Centre
PO Box 157
Hartington, NE 68739

Ph 402-254-3901

©2007 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.

Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this eNewsletter are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.