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New Calling Features
The Digital TV Transition
Conference Bridging
Time Change
CedarVision Channel 13 Ads
Internet Not Fast Enough?
Businesses
SecureIT Plus
Ask The Help Desk
Local Website Of The Month |
Hello Hartel.net Subscribers! This March issue starts with an important warning about e-mail scams during tax season — make sure you watch for these bogus messages in the weeks ahead to help avoid identity theft. To protect your private information when using a public computer, follow our tutorial on removing your history, cache, and temporary files. We also teach you how to find the "Help" button on Internet Explorer 7 and guide you to a variety of Great Sites to help educate, entertain, and instruct you this spring. 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:
To see what's inside this issue, take a look at the index to the left and thanks for reading! - The Hartel.net Team |
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E-Mail
Scam - New IRS E-Mail Scams Use Rebate as Lure
It's tax season again and the Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers
to beware of current e-mail scams using the IRS name. In particular, watch
for messages about the upcoming rebate checks tied to the economic stimulus
package — spammers are using these rebates as bait. The goal of
the scams is to trick you into revealing personal and financial information
such as Social Security or bank account numbers, which the scammers can
use to commit identity theft.
The IRS does NOT send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to taxpayers, and you will NOT need to respond to any e-mail in order to receive this year's rebate check. The vast majority of Americans who qualify for the rebate will not have to do anything other than file their 2007 individual income tax return to receive their check. The IRS will use information on the tax return to determine eligibility and calculate the amount of the stimulus payments. Another bogus e-mail falsely claims to come from the IRS and tells the recipient that he or she is eligible for a tax refund of a specific amount. The message then instructs the recipient to click on a link in the e-mail to access a refund claim form that asks for bank account information. Should you receive an e-mail claiming to be from the IRS — DO NOTHING EXCEPT DELETE IT. Do not click on links within the body of the e-mail, and do not provide any information. If the IRS needs to contact you about a tax refund or audit, they will do so by traditional mail. If you need to access the IRS website to get information, initiate contact by typing the IRS.gov address into your browser's address bar.
New Calling Features -
Call Screening & Find Me Services Now Available Call Screening is now available from Hartington Telecommunications. Call Screening requires long distance callers to press "1" to be connected the first time they call your phone. Thereafter, that caller is on your Approved Callers list unless you manually assign them to your Blocked Callers by pushing *96 after the call is ended. Call Screening works on almost any long distance calls such as surveys and political campaign calls which are not required to adhere to the FCC's Do-Not-Call list regulations. Long distance calls from area towns and certain cellphone prefixes are exempt from being required to press 1, but you may block future calls by pushing *96 after the call is ended. Call us at 254-3901 to activate Call Screening on your phone. Call Screening is also your first line of defense against telemarketing scams such as the Medicare scam. We have had reports of our customers getting scam phone calls just this week. Call Screening is easy to use, and stops interruptions during family time in the evenings and at all times of the day. Again, call us at 254-3901 to activate Call Screening. Find Me service allows you to more fully manage your phone. If you're not home to answer a call, you may use the Find Me service to forward calls to any other number. You may also have your home or business phone ring at the same time as your cellphone. Call us at 254-3901 for more details on how Find Me can simplify your life! Q125
Attractions - Parades, Steak Cook-off, Outhouse Races, Car Show, Fireworks,
& More Hartington's Quasquicentennial (Q125) celebration is fast approaching. Plans for the Q125 reveal that it will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest celebration in Hartington's long history! Many volunteers have already put in long hours to make the celebration a fantastic event. If you want to have a float in any of the parades for the Q125, click here to download a parade registration form. Remember that on Friday is the Parade of Lights, on Saturday is the Big Parade, and on Sunday is the Kids Parade at the Rec Complex. Enjoy
the end of your work week by coming to Felber Park on Friday night and
enjoying a great steak at The Greater NE Nebraska Steak Cookoff! Contestants
will cook your steak for you! Start your Saturday by taking part in either the 2.5k Fun Walk or the 5K Run which starts at the Community Complex. It's a great way to stay fit and participate in the Q125 activities! Get your creative juices flowing for a completely unique & fun event by getting a 4-person team together for the Outhouse Races on Saturday afternoon, May 24th, immediately following the Big Parade in downtown Hartington. All you need to do is get your team together, build your own outhouse on wheels, decorate your outhouse and give it a theme, and let the games begin! It'll be a gas! Click here to download a flyer for more fun details and the official rules on the Outhouse Races. Don't forget to order an Outhouse Race t-shirt on the Q125 Souvenirs page. Don't forget to make plans for the Steak Fry & Cook-off on Friday night, Car Show on Sunday, and Kids Day and Heritage Day at the Rec Complex on Sunday. Click here for a full schedule of all the Q125 events or just go to www.hartingtonq125.com. And don't forget to get your Hartington Q125 Calendar! The calendars are on sale at the library and at the banks in Hartington. It's a 24-month calendar so it's good for two whole years and priced at only $18 for this terrific momento! Get your calendar today with 200+ pictures of Hartington throughout the past. It's a piece of memorabilia that's a "must-have". It is fantastic! For other Q125 souvenirs that you can also purchase on-line via PayPal or credit card, go to www.hartingtonq125.com and click on the Souvenirs link at the bottom. Be sure to decorate your business or home with a Q125 flag banner. The red, white, and blue banners can also be used for Independence Day or any national holiday as well. Click here to download an order form. The deadline for ordering is March 15th. Check
back often
for more information on the Q125 as it becomes available on the Q125
website. The
Digital TV Transition - How It Will Affect You in Hartington 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, and only digital broadcasts will remain. What
to do? If you are not a CedarVision Cable TV customer and 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 use 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 from the FCC. It is expected that converter boxes to cost between $50-$70, excluding the coupon. The converter boxes will not give you a "high-definition" signal. For a list of TV converter boxes that can be purchased with the $40 coupons, visit www.ntiadtv.gov. Kruse True Value Hardware in Hartington has digital-to-analog converter boxes in stock now. You may also redeem your FCC $40 converter coupons at Kruse True Value Hardware. A brief comparison of Standard TV vs. Digital TV vs. HDTV is below:
How Do I Know if I Already Own a Digital TV? Look
for wording such as: Televisions
that do NOT have a digital tuner and ARE analog TVs may include the
wording: Televisions that say "digital monitor" or "HD Ready" just have a display monitor that lack the internal circuitry needed to pick up the digital broadcasts. They can display digital or high definition signals, but by themselves they cannot receive a digital signal. You will still need a special converter or cable TV connection. CedarVision Cable TV Customers So again, if you're a CedarVision Cable TV customer, there's nothing that you need to worry about as we will automatically convert any digital broadcasts to analog before sending out the video signals on our system. Your analog TVs will still work with CedarVision Cable TV after the February 2009 deadline. 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 this year, we suggest to:
Please remember these points when shopping for new TVs prior to February 2009. 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 Conference
Bridge Service - Call Family & Friends This Winter - Use Our FREE
Offer Conference Bridging service from Hartington Telecommunications allows up to 16 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 simply by calling us at 254-3901, or they can be scheduled at 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 with no time restrictions! This is so easy and perfect for calling family members this winter -- 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. Time
Change -- Spring Forward This Weekend Daylight Saving Time ends this Saturday night, so be sure to set your clocks forward one hour on Sunday morning at 2AM. Now, if only the weather would cooperate and act like Spring, huh? CedarVision
Channel 13 -- View Daily Local Community Announcements on the Web Did you know that all the pages on CedarVision Channel 13 are also updated to the Internet for your viewing convenience on a daily basis Monday - Friday? Simple go to www.hartel.net and click on "CedarVision Ch13 Community Info" in the left-hand column. You will then see thumbnails of al the ads with their titles. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge. This is a courtesy of CedarVision Cable TV and Hartel.net. Internet
Not Fast Enough? -- Faster Speeds Are Available Hartel.net has Internet speeds that rival any big-city company. So if you're not satisfied with your current Internet speed whether you have dial-up or our introductory package 128k DSL, please give us a call at 254-3901 and ask how you can update your speeds to our 3Mg/second or our 6Mg/second download speeds. We have speed that's sure to please you! Businesses
- Music-on-Hold Can Assist You If your business doesn't have Music-on-Hold, you could be losing customers. It's a proven fact that callers experiencing "Silence-on-Hold" will hang-up the fastest. But when you have music or information available, callers will hold for approximately 30 seconds longer and call retention is increased by 40%. Silence many times can make a caller impatient. And unless you have obtained the rights to many songs, putting a local radio station on your phone system is likely illegal and could open your business to potential lawsuits. This doesn't have to be the case if you get Music-on-Hold services from Hartington Telecommunications. All it takes is a simple plug-and-play box that plugs right into your current phone (key) system. With a flash memory card installed, you can give callers the exact message you want -- whether it's a "special of the month" that your company is promoting, or just a "Thank you for holding" message. The message on the flash card is easy and convenient to change. Call 254-3901 for
more information about Music-on-Hold equipment. It's easy, inexpensive,
and it's exactly what you want your customers to hear. SecureIT
Plus -- How Can It Be? A GREAT Service Gets Even Better!! SecureIT Plus from Hartington Telecommunications will rollout major product improvements next month! Included is a more streamlined edition of the Security Suite of products, direct downloading of Microsoft patch updates, and the use of an improved anti-virus software. Click here for more information. Ask
The Help Desk - Where Is The "Help" Button On Internet Explorer 7?
Question: I recently replaced my Internet Explorer 6 with the newer
Internet Explorer 7 browser. In looking at the Internet Explorer 7 browser,
I can't find the "Help" button. What happened to it?
Back
to Top Answer: In an effort to free up space on the browser window, Microsoft Corp. hid the "Help" button on Internet Explorer 7. (Internet Explorer 7 does not have a menu bar by default, which is where "Help" is found in Internet Explorer 6.) To find the "Help" button, whether you are using Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista Home Premium as your operating system, follow these steps:
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! www.hartingtonq125.com Hartington's Quasquicentennial Celebration Go to our new website for updated information on our big 4-day celebration over Memorial Weekend!
Did you know that at the city's website there is:
It's been over 10 years since the City of Hartington has had a new look to their website. Although updates and changes were being made to the existing site, the City of Hartington is pleased to announce that they have launched a totally "new look" to their site. This new look was needed to accomodate the change that Hartington is moving into. In order to survive in today's economy, the website needed to be restructured with new enhancements to attract Internet users as well as portray the quality of life that Hartington represents! The timing is perfect as we head into 2008 and in preparing for future growth and in preparing for Hartington's upcoming Q125 celebration! There are many new trends and knowledge that Internet users are looking for. It's the City's hope that both visitors and local area residents alike find the Hartington website easily accessible and containing a wealth of information for the novice user as well as the professional. We would like to welcome everyone and invite people looking to move back to Hartington and the area to visit the site for more information. Back
to Top
National Geographic Videos
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video - Take a close-up look at amazing video from around the world at this National Geographic site. Categories include animals, daily news, environment, kids, music, people & places, science & space, and specials. Both educational and entertaining, the videos let you explore the diversity of this planet a few minutes at a time — from a market in Morocco to giant spiders in the sea. Dyeing to Decorate Eggs? http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/easter_eggs_ms - Disney's Family Fun magazine has "egg-xactly" what you need to prepare for Easter egg decorating. This site contains dozens of creative ideas to turn shells into little works of art. Go beyond the usual dip-and-dye method and try decoupage, sponges, stickers, crayons, and stencils. It'll be easy to get crackin' since the instructions are all here. Prepare for the DTV Transition http://dtv.gov - In less than a year, on February 17, 2009, a government mandate will require TV broadcasters to stop transmitting analog signals. After that day, only digital signals will be used. Now's the time to educate yourself on the upcoming change and find out what you may need to do to get ready. This FCC site covers all the essentials on the new TV technology, converter box coupon program, and shopping tips. Welcome to the Show http://mlb.com/spring_training/y2008/index.jsp?c_id=mlb - Every team starts with a clean slate. Warm up for the 2008 season by visiting Major League Baseball's Official Spring Training website. You'll find the in-depth information you need on the teams, players, and new prospects to get you ready for the games ahead. Thinking about traveling to Florida or Arizona this year to watch the preseason action? You can purchase your Spring Training tickets online. Come Aboard the Midway http://midway.org - The Midway is a carrier with a 47-year history that spanned the end of WWII and Desert Storm. The next time you're in San Diego, make time to visit the USS Midway Museum and see the ship for yourself. It's a tour that's been experienced by more than a million people, and you can get a taste of it at this site. Check out this site to see historical photos, read about the crew, download a map, and get details on exhibits like the Admiral's War Room and the Brig. Short
Tutorial - Erasing Your Private Information From A Public Computer
When sharing a computer at a public location (i.e. a hotel lobby or a
library), it's a good idea to remove the history, cache, and temporary
files from the computer before closing your surfing session. Leaving the
information on the computer opens the door later for others to access
your private information. Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, Macintosh's
Safari, and Mozilla's Firefox browsers each provide a solution for erasing
your sensitive information upon the completion of your Internet session.
Erasing Your Private Information From A Public Computer When Using Internet Explorer 6 On Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista Home Premium
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
(We have used our best efforts in collecting and preparing the information
published herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any and
all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether
such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.)
©2008 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. |
