With the rapid and wide-spread expansion of the internet in the last five years, Internet Etiquette or "netiquette" as it has been more affectionately called, is not to be taken lightly. I'm not going to sit here and preach to everyone about what they should or shouldn't do with their computers while on the internet, because that is entirely that individual's personal business and no one else's. What I am going to try and convey are a few simple guidelines to help make yours and other's whom you communicate with, a more enjoyable and less "risky" experience. Less risky, you say? Yes people do get hurt, sometimes just because they may take offense to whether or not you responded to their e-mail or request as fast as you wanted them to, or more seriously by contracting a virus through e-mail attachments or have personal information leaked inadvertently to other people etc. These things do happen, and it is my intention here to educate new users as to the unwritten rules of the World Wide Web.

Scams:

There are multitudes of Internet run scams on the World Wide Web, most of which are relatively harmless to the individual user but some that can be damaging. It would take literally a lifetime to list them all, because there are so many, but one of the favourites seems to be the "E-mail Tracking" Scam. This is the one that promises you some type of reward for sending the chain e-mail on to "everyone in your address book" or "everyone you know on the internet". There are literally dozens of incantations of this one, here are just a few: 
 
 

These scams seem to be a particular favourite and are sometimes prefaced by a statement such as "Hey, our family lawyer in Los Angeles just sent this to me so I know it is true. In fact his brother's fiancé just collected her prize". The whole thing may sound much like this one that is my particular favourite in this category:
 

Anyone who has been on the internet for more than a little while has seen some form of this one. To people in the computer industry this is such an obvious scam; AOL purchased Netscape Communicator in its entirety in the Spring of 1999, so why would they be promoting the use of Internet Explorer; a rival web browser?! Microsoft and AOL are bitter enemies, in fact I read an article in PC Magazine (October 1999) in which John Dvorak states that AOL tops the list of Microsoft's "enemies". Not only that, but e-mail tracking technology has not yet been developed, and may never be. THERE'S NO SUCH THING! Aside from that, even if this were possible, how could Microsoft afford to send everyone on the Internet a cheque for  $800.00 or more?! Even Microsoft doesn't have that much money! Furthermore, if this were possible, would Microsoft spam the entire internet for testing purposes? I should think not. This is just a good old; waste your time and effort, chain e-mail, and has been circulating for about 3 years. It's garbage folks, as well as all the various versions of it.

These types of scams don't seem to hurt anybody on the surface aside from the fact that because they are bouncing around from mail server to mail server it clogs up the system with junk e-mail and slows things down for the important stuff. Not only that, but the mail servers that house all those junk e-mails need to be upgraded with more and more storage. That costs money, and guess who pays for it all... you and I, through our monthly internet service invoices. General rule of thumb... be highly suspect of any e-mail claiming a prize or reward to you or anyone else if you "forward to everyone you know". For more information on these types of scams check Urban Legends website. This is a great website with lots of material, and just about every imaginable scam that has been tried, is referenced on this site.

E-mail:

Everyone on the internet has e-mail, (and then some). People really need to learn how to use this valuable tool properly in order to make it more enjoyable for everyone. First a few unwritten rules: 

• TYPING IN CAPITAL LETTERS IS NOT CONSIDERED GOOD "NETIQUETTE", especially when corresponding for business purposes. Not only is it difficult to read, but it is also considered to be the written equivalent to SHOUTING at someone. Caps should only be used to emphasize a point, as I have in these last two sentences. For those of you who come from the "it's just easier to type in caps" school... learn how to type!
• Jokes, jokes and more jokes. E-mail is a great way of spreading jokes and humourous stories etc., but don't bombard people with every joke and cartoon you come across. I like a good joke as much as the next guy, but it may not be welcome by some people, especially in a business environment. Before sending jokes on, find out from the recipients if they even want them. As a courtesy. I'm sure you would feel terrible if a friend or acquaintance was reprimanded for receiving a joke from you while at work.
• Size Matters. Keep in mind that many mail servers govern the maximum size that any message can be. Sending out tons of pictures, sound files and movie clips will not only be refused by some ISP's, but may also mess things up for them at the other end. (I know this from personal experience BTW... I sent a real funny movie clip to some friends that I knew would appreciated it. They were all on cable ISP, so the size issue was not a problem. However, I inadvertently sent it to one friend by accident and his mail program got confused when it tried to download it. Sorry Russ! I learned my lesson).
• Size Matters II. Big e-mails take awhile to download via dial up connections. Try and be considerate to the person you are sending it to. Perhaps a warning or request to them ahead of time. "Hey Jim, I have new pictures of the kids that I would like to e-mail you. When's a good time?"
• Spelling. Most e-mail programs have spell checkers in them. If not, at least try and make an effort, especially in a business environment. You may know the words you are trying to use, but the person you are sending it to may not, unless they are spelled correctly. It only takes a second and may avoid some embarrassing situations for you or the recipient.
• Identify yourself. Some e-mail programs use nicknames and those nicknames may not be known by everyone you send e-mail to. I received an e-mail awhile back from a client I sold a computer to some time ago. He signed his e-mail with only a first name. He asked me specific questions about his computer, but I had no idea who he was. I finally had to ask him, and we both had a good laugh.
• Be courteous. As in real life 'face to face' communication, courtesy is a virtue. Be polite and courteous at all times, and you will get better communication back.

Junk e-mail or "Spam" as it is commonly referred to, is just that... junk mail that shows up in your e-mail program's in-box. Spam comes in the form of commercial advertising or advertising for marketing services, legal services, get rich quick scams etc. The same stuff that would have normally come by snail mail (regular paper post service), has very quickly migrated to the Internet. Spam is most often a harmless waste of time and digital bits similar to the paper junk mail that you would just casually toss in the recycle bin at home or at the office. The same applies here. Unfortunately spam can also come in the form of disguised virus's, credit card scams or otherwise as mentioned above. Dump it in the trash bin as soon as you get it. A good habit to get into is, don't open anything from anyone you don't know. Of course, if you are in a position such as I am, and would need to open messages from new customers that you don't previously know, then you have no choice. Then it becomes a judgment call, but make sure you have good Virus Scanning software. After awhile you will get to know the difference between spam and legitimate e-mail from strangers. There are many websites dedicated to the identification of and control of spam, one of my favourites is "Fight Spam on The Internet". Click on the link to find out everything you need to know and then some. You can even join a group to fight against it if that's what you are into. 

Flames:

You may come across this term while on-line. What is a flaming attack? Well it is nothing more than a personal attack in the form of a derogatory comment or statement towards someone you  are corresponding with either through e-mail or in an on-line discussion. It may also contain words that are generally not "acceptable" in day to day conversation, (you know those 4 letter words your mother taught you not to say). Generally, this is considered rude, insensitive and of course, very bad form, and is to be avoided if at all possible. As with all communication in any form, heated exchanges can inspire emotional responses, so beware that if you do get involved in an on-line discussion, that there is an individual at the other end. I repeat a statement I made earlier: Be polite and courteous at all times, and you will get better communication back.

Viruses

In the last few months there has been widespread news coverage of some rather infamous e-mail viruses, namely  "Melissa", "Happy 99", "Prettypark" and most recently "Lovebug". These worm viruses may look relatively harmless on the surface, but in fact are quite destructive. Most recently the "Lovebug" virus took down many government e-mail servers as well as some major corporations, by jamming the e-mail servers with literally 10's of thousands of copies of itself. 

The way the "worm" virus works is as follows; You receive the message in your in-box that contains the virus disguised as a joke or cartoon or something else to preoccupy the user while it does its work. Once it is activated by double clicking or opening it, it installs itself on your computer and immediately attaches a copy of itself to an e-mail that it sends to people in your address book. Some of them will do it over and over again until it gets cleaned out. That's how it spreads itself... through e-mail. In some cases it will re-activate itself every time you run an "execute" command, (start a program). If left unchecked, it will eventually render your system in-operable because when you start windows, one of the first things the operating system does is run the execute files in your start menu. Now here's the real damaging part... it could also create a security breach in your system by e-mailing passwords etc. presumably to the creator of the virus and thus creating a "backdoor" to your system's data. I recent cleaned one client's PC of the "Prettypark" virus, that would not boot the OS. Instead it started the dial-up-networking command and, I presume, tried to download files to an IRC server somewhere in the world. Luckily, we caught it in time and we were able to restore the system back to normal. However, his PC inadvertently sent the virus to everyone in his address book before we caught it and cleaned it, (which is exactly how I discovered it... he had sent it to me!). He had a Virus Scanning program installed, but for one reason or another, it was disabled. 

Be aware of the viruses that are currently circulating. Most of the big ones are announced on the local news. ALWAYS have an updated virus scanning device on your computers both at work and at home. For more information on this, see my Support Page. Again I re-iterate... Don't open e-mail from people you don't know, unless it is absolutely necessary, and then only when you have updated virus scanning software enabled. You are at your own risk here, but then we all are.

Smilies:

Smiley faces or Emoticons are those weird looking groups of characters that sometimes follow a sentence that are meant to spark an emotional response. For example: "I shot a 78 yesterday on the golf course :), but my brother-in-law shot a 76. I am not sure if he "remembered" all his strokes though ;)". The first "smiley" is a happy face, and the second is a wink. You'll get the hang of it very quickly I'm sure... A pretty good guide to Smilies and what they mean can be found at: Netlingo

Adult Content:

Lets face it... the use of Adult Content on the Internet is wide spread (no pun intended). It seems as if for every single person on the web, there are five sites that involve adult content. It is not a question of "if" you run into it, but rather "when" it runs into you. Even if you are not looking, it will invariably show up somewhere in your travels, or even in your inbox in the form of "spam". If you don't want to be exposed to this, don't click on it! Just turn around and go somewhere else, or simply hit the back button. 

If you want to avoid this content from even appearing on your computer, there are things you can do to avoid it, especially if there are children around that can be affected by it. You may want to research some of these programs to see which will be suitable for your household:

• Net Nanny, 
• Cyber Patrol 
• Cybersitter
• SurfWatch 
• WebChaperone 
• X-Stop 

There are also settings in your Control Panel's Internet Options applet that can be quickly activated. Simply enable the Content Advisor (on the "Content" tab), and select the options you want to enable.

Credit Card Fraud and Confidentiality:

Confidential information is not for general use on the internet. Although under the right circumstances, your information is quite secure, it is a basic rule of thumb not to give out confidential information such as credit card numbers personal information etc. out on the internet, and that includes non secure e-mail servers. If you are on a secure sight, e.g. your bank's, many e-commerce, etc. make sure you are using a 128 bit encrypted browser. Both Netscape and I.E. have these versions readily available for download and should be used if you have a need to use confidential/ secure sites. I have been banking on the internet for a number of years, and have never had a security breach of any kind. You will know you are on a secure site when you see this dialogue box:

Non-secure surfing is another story all together! NEVER give your credit card numbers etc. out, even while using e-commerce sites (shopping on the internet), unless you are on a secure site. Most of the reputable e-commerce sites are secure, but if in doubt, use the 1-800 #'s for that information. Make no mistake about it, you are at risk while shopping on the Internet. Your credit information in the hands of the wrong individuals, could be highly damaging to you and your bank account.

Conclusion:

The Internet is the single largest reference source that has been, or will every be created. It is a wonderful tool for finding out just about everything in the universe. It is also a wonderful form of entertainment, and along with the right type of computer and peripherals, it can be a wonderful escape from the real world. However, remember that it is just that, an escape, there is still a big world out there and there are lots of shady individuals out there that are trying to use these tools as a means to perpetrate there own interests... good or bad.

Pete Anes 
Mortech Computers 
May 5, 2000