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Post Cards

If you use direct mail to advertise or promote your business you may want to consider post cards instead. Postcards are considerably cheaper and allow for plenty of room for your company name, address and phone number, along with current sales information. You can also direct the recipient to your web site for additional information.

Colorful postcards can attract more attention than a plain white envelope containing advertising and more people take the time to read a postcard .

Using post cards instead of letters can save $70.00 per 500 pieces mailed. 

Post Cards may not be appropriate for all businesses and organizations but they can be a money saver for those that can use them.

 Spoofed Financial Emails 

While this isn't exactly new, the practice of "Phishing" is on the rise. What exactly is "Phishing"? Spoofed or fraudulent financial emails make up the majority of "Phishing" expeditions. An email is sent that looks like a real communication from a real corporation, however the link or links in the email bring you to a phony web site used strictly to steal your confidential information. 

The emails usually look official and state that it is time to update your account or some even suggest that their database has been compromised and they need you to verify your information. Being a good citizen you click on the link and arrive at what appears to be a corporate web site. The site contains a form and you are asked to fill in your personal, confidential information. When the form is submitted the information is sent to a phony email account and collected by criminals.

You can protect yourself by checking the actual URL of the web page, make sure it is correct, or better yet, type the correct URL in to your web browser your self. (Generally do nothing with these emails except delete them, most corporations will not send emails asking you to update information) Another way to check the website is look for and click on the padlock at the bottom of your browser. The padlock should tell you whether or not the site security is legitimate.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provides more information in an article titled: "Phishing" Fraud: How to Avoid Getting Fried by Phony Phishermen  

    Just for Grins    

During this Political Season I thought it Might Be Fair to Poke Some Non-Partisan Fun at Our Politicians.

2. The U.S. Post Office doesn't put the face of very many Politicians on Postage Stamps, to many people spit on the wrong side!

3. How can you tell when a Politician is Lying? When his lips are moving!

Guide to Understanding a Politician:

Essentially complete...     Means: It's half done.

Serious but not insurmountable problems...    Means: It'll take a miracle.

Basic agreement has been reached...   Means: The @##$%%'s won't even talk to us.

Not well defined at this time...    Means: Nobody's even thought about it.

We predict ...  Means: We hope to God!

Results are being quantified... Means: We're massaging the numbers so they will agree with our conclusions.

Don't Forget to Vote on November 2nd

Denison Links 
Area Website Directory, Recipe Database, Family Resource Links, and E-Minder

 Monarch Country  
Highlights, Scores, Schedules and More..

Meta Data Risk 
Informative web site explaining Meta Data Risks

Microsoft Meta Data Remover  
For Office 2003 and XP Only

Doc Scrubber™ 1.1  
Free Program that Removes Microsoft Meta Data

"Phishing" Fraud: How to Avoid Getting Fried by Phony Phishermen  
An article by the Securities and Exchange Commission about Spoofed Financial Emails

Real Clear Politics 
This site averages national and state by state polls for a clearer picture of political races.

Panda's Active Scan 
Free On-line Virus Scanner

Trend Micro (PC-cillin) 
Free On-line Virus Scan

RAV Antivirus 
Free On-line Virus Scan

Can Microsoft Documents Meta Data Hurt You? 

You may have read about a recent incident where Prime Minister Tony Blair was embarrassed due to a security document that was posted in Microsoft Word format. A British Professor found Meta Data in the document that led back to a U.S. paper about Iraq. 

Microsoft documents contain meta data that allows companies to collaborate and track recent changes etc. in a document. This works fine when the meta data is used in house but once the document is public or sent to another business the meta data could prove to be embarrassing. 

Visit Meta Data Risk and find out more about the risks associated with Microsoft Documents Meta Data. Roll over the sample document with your cursor and find out why meta data could be a problem for your business. 

Then return here and check the links below for free tools to help solve the meta data problem.

Microsoft Meta Data Remover  

For use with Microsoft Office2003 and XP.
The Remove Hidden Data add-in has not been tested on Microsoft Windows 2000. Also, the add-in cannot be installed on Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition. (I tested this with Windows 2000 and could not get it to work)

Doc Scrubber™ 1.1  

Free program that removes meta data. (Tested documents showed no revealing meta data)