Is Your Internet Provider Blocking Your Emails Port 25 - Here’s How To Fix It

Almost a week ago I found out that I couldn′t send emails using my desktop software such as (Outlook / Thunderbird). After speaking with my high speed internet provider I was told that they had recently started blocking port 25 — basically stopping me from sending emails. So after speaking with the tech support staff they told me to try port 587 which didn′t work. So I called up my website administrator company and he said that by default it has to be port 25 and like most others they only support port 25 for sending out emails. After spending several hours researching... Read more »

How Spam Filter False Positives Harm Your Business

Unless you live in a cave –and one without a computer at that– you′re very familiar with the huge time waster that sifting through mountains of email spam can be. And while spam is a huge annoyance for employees and end users everywhere, the real costs for businesses are in time and money and they’re increasing every day. As costs rise, IT people (at SMEs in particular) are desperate for ways to deal with it effectively. It’s estimated that 100 billion spam emails fly back and forth, dirtying up the internet every day. A lot of these emails end up on in business email boxes, and employees are forced to spend their mornings sifting through mountainous... Read more »

How You Can Spot Email Scams

Most of us get spam trying to sell us things, most commonly prescriptions, cheap mortgage rates, online gambling and other, more “adult″ topics. Most of us just delete them or hit the “spam” button and move on. There are some other types of spam that are a little more serious, however. One of the most common ones has been around for many years - the Nigerian bank scam. The person sending the email pretends to be the wife, brother, lawyer, banker or have some other relationship with some kind of government official in Nigeria. They tell the sad story of money that was deposited in a bank account but can’t... Read more »

CAN-SPAM Five Years Later: Time for a Fresh Look at the Law

It’s been almost 5 years since the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 went into effect, but don’t think the law has faded by the wayside. Although anti-spammers have referred to the law as the YOU CAN-SPAM Act and are quick to point out shortcomings, the law is the law - and it is being enforced. Anti-spam organizations as well as the FTC, Internet Service Providers and even popular sites like MySpace are becoming better and better at tracking down and prosecuting spammers. If you’re doubtful about the legal ramifications of failing to comply with the CAN-SPAM... Read more »

Staying Safe from Phishing

Your brave anti-spam software works hard to defend your inbox from all those messages about enlarging… um…. various things. Even more important, your spam buster also helps protect you from less-embarrassing –but more dangerous– phishing scam emails. But not entirely safe. Just in case a big bad phishing scam does get through to your inbox, it’s important to know how to spot it. 1. Do they handle your money? Then they won’t ask for your info. The companies that deal with your money can be counted on for a lot of things. Making mistakes on your monthly statement. Talking robotically on the telephone (even if they’re human). Sending you advertisements you don’t want. But one thing they can’t be counted on to do... Read more »

Spam vs Permission Based Email Marketing

I was talking to a client recently about why he should add a newsletter opt-in form on his website so that he can capture email addresses. He said “but Sam I don’t like spam”. In hindsight I probably should have worded that a little bit differently when I said capturing an email address. What I should have said is to offer something of value to the visitor for their email address - Permission Based Marketing. But even before this conversation I was beginning to see a trend that a lot of businesses have the idea that sending out an email is akin to sending out spam. I can understand why they would think so. With so much spam getting into our inbox emails are getting to point where they’ll soon have a negative connotation. That’s why you have to differentiate yourself and not spam your customers. So... Read more »

How Can We Put An End To Spam?

I receive approximately 5,000 emails containing spam each and every day. Well, maybe not that many, but it sure seems like it. Spam is spiraling out of control and shows no signs of stopping. The question is, where does spam come from, and can you do anything about it? Most of the spam I receive in my inbox is sexually explicit, but I still like to look at it because some of this junk is actually quite entertaining. My personal favorites are offers to purchase discounted Canadian Viagra, ads for pornographic websites, and bogus work-from-home programs. How do these people get... Read more »

9 Ways to Keep Your Online Identity Secure

In a world where you can do virtually everything online, one has to wonder where all the information is going, and how it is being protected. High speed Internet access and devices like Blackberry’s give us constant access to the Internet, and therefore, the ability to exchange information via the World Wide Web. But with this convenience also comes a price. Local and national news stations run stories frequently about hackers that have corrupted someone’s database leaving millions of facing the possibility of identity theft. How do you go about protecting... Read more »

Product Review: SpamArrest

Does any of this sound familiar? You get so much spam that you have to keep your finger on the delete button whenever you check your email. Then you inevitably erase the one or two important messages that you really needed to see, so you have to sift through all the spam again in your Trash folder to find them. If you go out of town for a couple of days, your inbox fills up with junk and your important messages start to bounce before you can return to your computer to clean out your inbox and make room. That was my situation. I have a spam filter at the ISP level, which really does not... Read more »

Mail Server Blacklists and Spam

A white-list is a list of email senders whom you trust and would like to receive mail from. Conversely, a blacklist contains those that are not to be trusted. Blacklists need to be configured and administered on a server, at the ISP (Internet Service Provider) level or on your network. If you do not have such access, and most people do not, you can use the blacklists by choosing email services from companies that use such blacklisting techniques. A mail server is designated as having an open relay when mail is processed in a... Read more »