Jump to content

Hammerz

Members
  • Posts

    21
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://johnstonz.net

Profile Information

  • Location
    Taichung, Taiwan

Hammerz's Achievements

Apprentice

Apprentice (3/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Conversation Starter
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. Good move, you guys! I suppose this may qualitfy as a rant and MAY be a BIT off-topic, but I installed AOL...once...a long time ago. I immediately UNinstalled it and finally managed to get my system back the way I wanted it, though it was not easy. I wish EVERYBODY would dump AOL. Chuck in Taiwan
  2. Uh...I'd be happy to assist, but am clueless about how to change the port in OL98. Willing to learn, though! woooot Server 20 Chuck in Taiwan
  3. Hey, Backend Guru! Rock Sign I read your advice for newletter users, and it made me think. (Always worthwhile, but hard to do!) The folks on my various newletter lists lists are either members of the church where I am pastor, my family members, friends back in the USA (I live in Taiwan), or missionaries around the world. MANY of them are fairly "low tech" folks, so the one time I attempted to use "opt-in" or "opt-out" with them, many were confused about what was going on and, in a few cases, aggitated by the process. Mad!!! Simply didn't "get it!" So....I my ongoing practice is to remove folks when they write and ask me to do so (which happens from time to time) and to make sure that ANYONE I add to a list knows from whom they are receiving the mailing, for what reason and how to be removed. My max newsletter list size is 300 -- the others are anywhere from 5 to 100+ persons. NONE of them are public, NONE allow automatic subscription, and I am the ONLY moderator or poster. If I should ever decide to do a moderated "public" list, I would definitely use more conventional means to allow folks to subscribe and unsubscribe to it at will. However, it seems that I am behaving responsibly without resorting to potentially confusing or irritating methods such as "opt-in" or "opt-out." Whaddayathink? Chuck in Taiwan PS/ I'm wondering what prompted your advice "out of the blue." Are TCH lists being abused? If so, how do you deal with that more directly?
  4. OK, Bill! I'm ready to stop harping on this topic...really! But...I still am curious about the answer to the two questions I posed in my last posting... Can you satisfy my curiosity? Then I'll go quietly! Chuck in Taiwan PS/ Yeah...using my ISP was an obvious workaround. Guess I'm just a trouble maker!
  5. OK. Looks like I mis-guessed the "climate" among TCH customers. The poll I started concerning "Exim filtering" shows that most folks prefer the status quo -- though there are many who would like to make configurable filtering an option. I'll keep checking and see how the vote goes -- not that TCH is a democarcy, or anything! I STILL have TWO questions about Exim filtering, though: The top gurus around TCH have all indicated that the filtering is BOTH OUT-bound and IN-bound. To see what this really meant in the "real world," I sent out two test e-mails containing a very SMALL and BENIGN .exe file. I sent one through my ISP's SMTP server (msa.hinet.net) to myself at johnstonz.net. I sent the other through my johnstonz.net SMTP server to myself at msa.hinet.net. Low and behold! the one I sent to myself at Hinet via johnstonz.net (TCH) came through with flying colors! The only change in the file was that old faithful ZoneAlarm caught the .EXE file and zipped it up for me to make a "call" on (to open, or not to open? THAT is the question!). So, I checked my Hinet account for the test e-mail I sent through my TCH SMTP server -- Hey, presto! It came through in exactly the same way -- zipped up by ZoneAlarm for my discretionery use or disposal. My next test of inbound and outbound filtering involved the sending of a URL (the link to this forum) using the same methods. VERY interesting results! The INbound e-mail (Hinet >> TCH server) with attached URL resulted in a note sent to my Hinet address telling me to zip it up and re-send it -- in very courteous terms! The OUTbound e-mail (with attached URL) disappeard into "La-la land!" No response, no warning (courteous or otherwise) that I was trying to send a proscribed attachment, and no instructions to zip it up and resend it. OK...the TWO questions: 2) WHY did my "nasty" .EXE attachments pass thorugh BOTH ways with flying colors??? (I see "|EXE right there in the list of proscribed attachments.) Why allow an .exe file through while "axing" a benign .url? 2) If this filtering thing is for the purpose of "protecting TCH customers," and is for OUR convenience, why don't WE receive notification when we do a "bad" thing? It would be nice to know that our e-mail was blasted into nothingness and never reached its destination -- with or without the attachment. (I was thinking that TCH simply stripped the attachment and notified the recipient of the action. Apparenlty not.) So, IMHO, there are some serious snags and bugs to be gotten out of this process of Exim filtering before it really accomplishes TCH's stated goals -- security and good customer service. How about it? Chuck in Taiwan PS/ Hey, look! I was a victim of the FeaturePrice (Hosting-Company, inc.) debacle -- I lost my domain and lost a wad of $$$ getting extricated from the FP morass! I LOVE TCH! REAL customer service REAL quick with a smile and much-appreciated patience with wannabe "techies" like me! What's not to like? I just would have like to have known up front that filtering was being done, I would like to see it become TRULY effective, and I STILL would like a CHOICE!
  6. I can "dig" it! But if there's a way for some of the family to have "chocolate," and the rest to get "strawberry' or "vanilla," or whatever they prefer, I'm for THAT, too! Chuck in Taiwan
  7. There is quite a lengthy reoccurring discussion going on in Web Hosting Forum -> TotalChoice Hosting General Support -> Backend Services concerning TCH's outbound e-mail filtering. Certain files types cannot be send out through TCH's system_filter.exim. The types of files which are being bounced back from outgoing mail include (among many others)... # |chm # |eml # |exe # |hlp # |reg # |url Most of the other extentions (that I didn't include above) are "Greek" to me, but ONE -- the .URL extention, is one that I use many times a week to forward helpful/useful/interesting sites to my children, friends and family in the US, or to my church members. I personally, and I'm not alone, would like to see TCH find/make a way for it's outgoing mail filter to be customer-configurable -- even if they have to charge me for it. I am NOT in favor of dropping the filter entirely, though some of you may be. Let's put our heads together and see what the main view on this issue is, OK? (Then I/we can lay it to rest for while!) I have made this poll "poll only (no replies)." Please post your feedback to the "E-mail Filtering" topic at "Web Hosting Forum -> TotalChoice Hosting General Support -> Backend Services.' Thanks for your input! Chuck in Taiwan
  8. One issue that seems to be misunderstood, or missed entirely, is that TCH (may it reign forever!) is NOT filtering our INcoming mail (unless you choose to use SpamAssasin, which I do), but our OUTgoing mail. Thus, any unprotected person out there could still send me an infected file (if I weren't protected with a FW, AV, pest crusher, etc.), but I cannot forward a perfectly safe attachment (I use outgoing AV e-mail checking.) to my kids or my church. So, because some folks (most of whom have nothing to do with hosting at TCH...or hosting of any kind) refuse or fail to protect themselves from BAD stuff (which is both FREE and EASY to do), TCH subverts the feature in MSIE that makes it easy and doesn't allow me to send GOOD stuff to my friends without copy, paste, copy, paste or sending the whole page! (Why is THAT "safe" ?!?!) Yuck! My BIG question still is, though, why do you really cool (I MEAN it! ) gurus at TCH repeadedly tell me (and others)... Nobody has told us whether the reason for this is that the techonology for configurable outbound filtering is not available, or whether ir is "pricey." If the former -- find a way! If the latter -- CHARGE us for the service! I'd pay! Chuck in Taiwan
  9. Back on the "pro-configure" band wagon! Thanks for re-visiting the MANY postings in this area and re-considering the modification of filtering, Rick! Nice to know that it not a subject that's been "closed" by ROCKIN'! TCH! I DO still wonder, however (as, apparently, do many other posters), just "why" you say... Is there NO way to allow us endusers to configure flitering? Why is it "filering for all" or "disabling...for all?" NO way even for a FEE? All I (and many others) really want to do is to be able to use the built-in "Send a Link" (button) feature in MSIE to forward URL's to my family & church members — without a lot of hassle! (Like having to select, cut & paste the URL from the address bar, for example, which MSIE's Send a Link feature is designed to avoid.) Using "Send a Page" instead of "Send a Link" just increases the size of the e-mail by forcing it to be HTML instead of plain text. PLEASE put on your thinking caps again and find a way to help out a sizeable numbers of your customers! Chuck in Taiwan
  10. Outlook Express and Outlook (98 and later) all have the ability to leave mail on the server to to deleteit after a set number of days. In Outlook (I don't use Express), go to Accounts in the Tool menu. When you get there, go to the Advanced tab. You'll find the opions you're looking for at the bottom. Outlook Express handles it the same way. I use this handy feature to delete ALL mail that I download form my personal account and leave our shared mail on the server long enough for my wife to access it after me on her computer. I do the same on her computer for her personal mail account and our shared account.
  11. Yeah...thaks a bunch! Dance If I read the rather criptic snippet correctly, you were talking about how to set up an e-mail address that folks can use to subscribe to a list...right? If so, you answered a question that' beene bugging me for some time! (I'm going to check it out and see.) Chuck in Taiwan
  12. As always...ditto on configurable filtering! Chuck in Taiwan
  13. SpamAssasin works for me. When it blocks mail for the first time, I am sent a copy of the original mail attached to the notification. I then have the option of going to the Cpanel and adding it to my "white list." ('Course, I don't know precisely ALL of what is on SA's "black list," but I haven't been missing any mail that I want to recevie!) I wish my own ISP provided the same protection! I receive nearly 20 peices of "viral spam" alone per day on that account, and can't even use it any more except as a back up. I DO wish that TCH would allow either an "opt out" or some configurability on the outgoing Exim filter...but they know that already, and it's another topic! Chuck in Taiwan
×
×
  • Create New...