Cruzio Newsletter - Number 72, January 28th, 2004
1. Worm Alert
2. Cruzio Brown Bag Workshop Tomorrow: "Wireless"
3. V.92 Now in Service
4. Avoiding Viruses and Worms
5. Cruzio Members Come Through for Second Harvest
6. Cruzio DSL Available in Aromas, La Selva Beach, Cabrillo College Area
7. Already a DSL Customer and Want the Special Price?
8. Buddy Bucks
9. Late Fees/Cans
10. About This Newsletter
11. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Worm Alert
A new computer worm called "Novarg" or "Mydoom" appeared Monday
and is spreading rapidly over the Internet; those with Windows
systems over 3.1 please take precautions so that your own system
and the network around you will not be compromised.
To download corrective patches and get the most recent news,
please see Cruzio's virus page:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/security/virus_info.html
This worm is *very* prolific. It's spreading much faster than last
year's "Blaster" worm. Tuesday morning an expert estimated one
of every twelve emails on the Internet was a Novarg Worm carrier.
The worm is delivered in an email message that looks convincingly
like a system message about undeliverable mail. The email has an
attachment. If opened, the attachment installs a "back door" making
your computer vulnerable to outside control, and searches for more
email addresses to infect.
An instance of the Novarg Worm picked up an outdated Cruzio newsletter
alias from some unwitting Cruzio member's computer, so some messages
seemed to be coming from Cruzio. The virus sent email through this alias
for a short time Tuesday morning, until Cruzio engineers shut the alias
down. No actual Cruzio addresses or security were compromised, and the
alias is now being used to detect infected computers.
As a matter of local interest, this worm seems at least partly
to be an attack against The SCO Group, once known as The
Santa Cruz Operation, headquartered here in town -- a dubious
kind of notoriety for our area.
2. Cruzio Brown Bag Workshop Tomorrow: "Wireless"
There's a new way to network your computer. Set up a wireless
Internet system and use Google while enjoying coffee in your
backyard with a laptop, or move computers from one spot to
another in your office without calling in the wiring contractors.
Cruzio Brown Bag favorites Stephen and Michael, from Cruzio Tech
Support, will explain the essentials and answer your questions
at tomorrow's workshop:
Thursday, January 29th, noon - 1:30 pm
Cruzio Storefront, 903 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz
Event cost is $5, lunch available for an additional $7.
Sign up at:
http://www.cruzio.com/services/business/events.html#register
3. V.92 Now in Service
For those geeky folks out there:
We don't even have to tell you, you've seen the whole story in
your Linux TCP/IP control panels. Enjoy!
For non-geeks:
If you have a dialup account, you may have noticed your modem makes
the initial connection to Cruzio much more quickly now. Not nearly
so much time is spent beeping and buzzing.
That's because Cruzio's modem servers are fully V.92 compliant.
If your computer has a V.92 modem, it can now make a faster
"handshake" with our servers. Many thanks to the tireless Mark,
Alec, and Maria in Engineering for putting the new equipment on
line.
And to all our dialup members: we value your business and will
continue making improvements to dialup service. In the last few
months alone we've added Nationwide POP service and upgraded to
full V.92. More improvements will be coming in the months ahead
-- stay tuned.
4. Avoiding Viruses and Worms
Internet viruses constantly mutate to foil preventative measures.
Internet providers such as Cruzio are always working to protect
ourselves and our customers, and we do a fairly good job. Then the
newest, craftiest, most powerful mutation comes along, and the
Internet shudders a bit... then recovers.
You can help yourselves and others on the Net by making your system
resistant to viruses and worms:
- Use your Cruzio Mail filter. The filter caught this last virus,
but not all customers are using it. Directions are at:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/email/junk_mail_filtering.html
- Don't open any attachment unless you absolutely know what it is.
- Put virus detection software on your computer and run it
periodically, especially if there's news of a virus.
- When your computer is infected, follow all the instructions to
make sure you completely eradicate it. Some computers are
still sending out Blaster Worm probes, months after being
partially fixed.
- Update your operating system. Microsoft claims that only 20% of
their customers have applied the free patches which would
have prevented the last several virus epidemics.
- Keep backups of all your important data.
- Don't necessarily trust email appearing to be from a company
or individual you know. Addresses can be stolen from an
unwitting person's computer and used to create a
legitimate-seeming package from Ebay, or PayPal, or even
Cruzio. Look closely at messages before taking action.
5. Cruzio Members Come Through for Second Harvest
Cruzio members met the challenge and we matched all $2,000
in the 2003 holiday season! Thanks very much for your generosity.
If you'd like to learn more about the food bank, visit their
Web site:
http://www.thefoodbank.org
Cruzio continues to donate throughout the year; times are
tough right now, and many are hungry.
6. Cruzio DSL Available in Aromas, La Selva Beach, Cabrillo College Area
La Selva Beach! Aromas! Cruzio DSL is now available to most
locations in your area, and to the neighborhood around Cabrillo
College in Aptos as well. If you'd like to increase your connection
speed, please contact us.
7. Already a DSL Customer and Want the Special Price?
If you are a Cruzio DSL customer who signed up before the
special $29.95 price began, you are eligible to switch to
the new, lower price. We wish it were as easy as just changing
the amount on your bill, but Cruzio made contracts on your behalf
when you first ordered, so there are a couple of requirements:
-- When you switch to a lower price, Cruzio will need
to disconnect and re-connect your circuit. This
causes downtime of about two to three weeks --
a requirement of the phone company that we are
working to change. In the meantime, you can use
your Cruzio backup dialup login and won't be charged
for DSL. To make up for the inconvenience, Cruzio will
also give you $10 credit on your account.
If you have two phone lines, you can avoid
downtime by switching the DSL to a different
line.
-- There will be a new one year term.
-- Occasionally, the DSL availability in your neighborhood
has changed. In this case, we may not recommend trying
to reorder your circuit as you might get lesser service
(or in rare cases, DSL might no longer be available
at all.)
Please contact Cruzio's Sales Department with any questions --
we will be happy to talk with you about price changes.
The $29.95/mo (plus tax) price is available until April 30th, 2004.
The price remains at $29.95/mo plus tax for one year, then rises
to Cruzio's regular DSL price (currently $49.95/mo.) A one-year
term applies.
8. Buddy Bucks
Recommend us to a friend, family member, colleague: if a new customer
gives us your email address, registration number, or full name when
signing up you'll get $10 credit to your account. If two friends
sign up, $20. Three friends, $30. It just goes on and on.
9. Late Fees/Cans
If you're late on a payment to Cruzio, turn it into a donation
to hungry folks in our community. We will waive your late
fee if you bring 3 cans into our office for our Second Harvest
Food Bin barrel. Learn more about this charity at:
http://www.thefoodbank.org
10. About This Newsletter
Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra email, but we sometimes
have events and announcements that users need to know about. This seems
like the most efficient way to let people know what's happening. Hope
it's helpful. Please email support@cruzio.com with any comments or questions.
By the way, we would love to have a regular, predictable schedule
for this newsletter...but we simply do not send it unless there is real
news enclosed. Thus the haphazard datelines.
11. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
sales information:
http://www.cruzio.com/support
To dial in to Cruzio, set your software to dial the number below
(note: we've expanded and joined modem pools, so you may be
using another number. If so, don't worry, it still works just fine).
Dialup: 459-9408
To call Cruzio:
459-6301............Use this number to check Cruzio's system status,
pay your Cruzio bill, find out more about our hours and location,
or to reach someone in customer service and technical support.
To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
support@cruzio.com ......for technical support
office@cruzio.com .......for billing and ordering information
Cruzio's location:
903 Pacific Avenue, Suite 101, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Cruzio's hours:
Sales hours: 10am-6pm, Monday through Friday; 10 am - 2 pm Saturday
Technical support: 10-6 pm, Monday through Friday, 10am - 2pm Saturday
System monitoring, including customer-alerted emergencies, 24 hours
per day, 365 days per year (leap years, 366 days)
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, Julianne, Kathy, Mark, Georgette, Tapati, Pedro,
Alec, Stephen, Paul, Gershom, Jessi, Michael, another Chris,
Maria, James, Juana, Krissie, Nikkie, Mike, Mario, Don, Bruce,
Jason, Gabriella, and Edgar (Welcome back!); Sebastian and Nick
(our fabulous interns); Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
Jake, 11, noticed a slightly dilapidated hotel sign advertising
"Heated Poo". "No wonder it has a vacancy," he said.
