Winning E-Story Submitted by: Charlene Morin

I've had NATCO for over 5 years now. I tried changing to a different company to 'save' a few bucks every month and ended up not being able to stay connected, so I switched back and never had a problem again! I have recently switched to DSL in order to be able to use my Internet service at work and not tie up the phone line. I also was able to complete my website in 30 minutes which I had been working on for almost 3 years because dial-up was so slow and I couldn't upload my photos quick enough. Now that I'm on the web, potential customers can see my artwork, and my old customers can see some of THEIR artwork online! NATCO has made my business more popular and profitable by helping me to provide a visual resume for everyone to see!!

Charlene just earned two free months of NATCO Internet service! Submit your E-Story today and you could be our next winner! Remember that you can enter more than once. So, if you didn't win this time, try again! Just go to www.natcotech.com/estories.htm and tell us how using NATCO's Internet or e-mail service has made your life easier, helped you promote or manage your business, or simply how much you enjoy using the Internet and e-mail. If your E-Story is chosen, you'll win two months of free NATCO dialup Internet service ($19.95 X 2 = $39.90) or an equivalent credit on your DSL or ISDN account.

Student NATCO Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of the 2006 Northern Arkansas Telephone Company Coloring and Essay Contest. Photographs of the winners will appear in the NATCO News and local newspapers.

Their works are posted on our website. NATCO hopes you’ll enjoy looking at the 2006 winning entries, shown here.

Each year, NATCO holds coloring contests for students in K-4th grades and essay contests for students in 5th to 8th grades. The hundreds of drawings and compositions are judged by professionals and the winners are awarded various prizes.

NATCO Closed During Holidays

NATCO's main office will be closed on Thanksgiving day (November 23rd) and Christmas day (December 25th). We apologize for the inconvenience, but we will re-open the following days.

Our free tech support line (1-888-276-8059) will still be open 24/7 over the holidays to cover any technical difficulties you may encounter.

Firefox 2 Now Available

Users of the popular Firefox web browser may be interested in updating to version 2.0. Officially released in November, the latest version of Firefox provides a better user interface, better security, and even a spell checking feature.

Each tabbed page has its own "close button" on the tab itself. New pages automatically open up in new tabs instead of new windows by default. Under the "History" menu, a user may choose to view a list of previously closed tabs. This improvement allows users who accidentally close a tab prematurely to quickly re-open the tab.

Firefox now offers better security than before. An optional "phishing filter" deters deceptive websites from imitating authentic sites. Unlike some popular web browsers, Firefox does not allow websites to download, install, or run programs on a user's computer without the user's consent.

One of the most touted features of Firefox 2 is its built in spell-checker. When filling out blog entries, web-based e-mail, and other web-based forms, Firefox 2 will underline words it believes you misspelled with a dotted red line. Right-clicking the word provides a list of alternative spellings.

These new features make Firefox 2 an attractive upgrade for Firefox users. If you are unsure what version you are currently using, click the "Help" link at the top of the browser, and choose the "About Mozilla Firefox" link from the drop-down menu. To download the second version of Firefox or upgrade to the most recent version, you may get it from the Firefox website.

NATCO Technologies does not endorse or recommend any software or program. The purpose of the articles included in this newsletter is to keep our customers informed.

Special Offer from NATCO - Just in Time for Christmas!

NATCO (Northern Arkansas Telephone Company) is pleased to offer telephones for sale. Take the hassle out of shopping this Christmas. NATCO now offers three phones to choose from. We even allow customers the opportunity to try before you buy in our office.

Starting at just $29.95 plus tax, we offer phones with the following features:

• Amplified sound, large keypad, bright ring flasher
• 5.8 GHz cordless, caller ID, call waiting, voicemail waiting indicator
• Hands-free speakerphone, caller ID, call waiting.

Have the purchase applied to your next bill, or ask our customer service department about our convenient payment plan.

Visit the NATCO monthly special for more information on this deal or call our customer service department at 1-800-775-6682.

Win a South Shore Gift

When you visit the South Shore Web site at www.southshore.com, you'll have a chance to win a South Shore souvenir, like a T-shirt, a cap, chiller cups, and other necessities for the great South Shore outdoors. The South Shore Web site is an electronic community for the towns on and near the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake and it's packed with information for you and for our tourist visitors.

Gene Cherry is this month's winner of a South Shore T-shirt. Congratulations, Gene.

Planning to Upgrade to Windows Vista?

Although Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system requires significantly more hardware than its predecessor XP, some people already have computers capable of showing off most of Vista's bells and whistles. Some may consider buying the newer operating system for security benefits, while others will want to stay on the cutting edge.

Depending on the version of Windows a user is running, and the version of Vista the users wishes to upgrade to, it may be possible to upgrade without installing a "fresh" copy of the operating system. Such an upgrade (called an "in-place installation") would allow one to keep all data and settings intact on the system. If you choose this route, you should still make a backup of your data in case something goes wrong.

Microsoft provides a chart detailing the specifics of which versions of XP may be upgraded to which versions of Vista here.

It should be noted that most people will need to purchase a new PC in order to meet the hardware requirements of Vista when it is released (scheduled for January 2007).

NATCO Technologies does not endorse or recommend any software or program. The purpose of the articles included in this newsletter is to keep our customers informed.

Thank You!

This Thanksgiving, we at NATCO would like to express our thanks to you. We are grateful to have such wonderful customers, and we are proud to provide our services. If you feel we are not providing the service you would like, please e-mail or call (1-800-775-6682) our customer service department and let us know.

We hope that each of you has a happy Thanksgiving this month!

Weekly Maintenance on Wednesday

Each Wednesday morning from 12:01 A.M. until 5 A.M., NATCO Technologies performs regular maintenance on Internet equipment. Your Internet service should not be affected. But, if you do experience an interruption in service during this time, please try again a few moments later. We try to minimize any "down time" by doing our maintenance at a regular time each week.

All users agree to terms and guidelines published at www.natcotech.com/guideline.htm.

Feedback: NATCO invites readers' comments about the e-newsletter and suggestions for future articles. Let us know what information in the e-newsletter is most useful or what Internet issues are important to you. Readers may send suggestions for future e-newsletter articles, questions or comments to: custserv@natconet.com.

Want to view previous issues? Visit: e-newsletter archives.

NATCO Technologies does not endorse or recommend any software or program. The purpose of the articles included in this newsletter is to keep our customers informed. We do not provide free technical support for software or programs such as Norton, McAfee, AVG Anti-Virus, Instant Messenger Services, etc. Please call a NATCO Tech Customer Service rep for full details on what is and is not covered by our free Internet Technical Support.