PCSDesk » Spam

Email Server Upgrade

Brian Gallutia — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 16:28:14 +0000

PCS will be initiating a mail server software upgrade on Sunday, October 2nd. All mail services are expected to be interrupted for no more than 40 minutes while the upgrade takes place.

When the upgrade it is complete, our users will be given a spiffy new interface, updated spam protection, greater compatibility with mobile devices (iPhones, tablet computers) and enhancements to contact management and calendaring.

Stay tuned for updates after the install on Sunday!

Bits and bits

Brian Gallutia — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:07:13 +0000

The following question was submitted by our friends at Alexander Metals, Inc:

“I am looking at a laptop that has a 64 bit CPU, do you have to run a 64 bit OS? [The laptop] comes w/ XP and I have Vista Ultimate I want to put on it.”

The short answer to this question is that yes, you can run a 32 bit operating system (and software) on a 64 bit PC. Confusion comes in to play when trying to determine if an older, 32 bit system will run a 64 bit operating system.

As you can probably guess, there is a sizable performance difference between 32 bit Windows and 64 bit Windows, which is why a lot of power users eye the 64 bit grail when purchasing new systems and upgrades. If you would like to breathe new life into your existing system with a Windows Vista 64 bit upgrade, you would have to insure that your hardware is up to the task.

Outside of consulting your system manuals to verify your hardware’s capabilities, you can easily check your system’s ability to run Vista 64 bit in Windows Vista by following these instructions:

Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Performance Information and Tools.
Click View and print details.
In the System section, you can see what type of operating system you’re currently running under System type, and, under 64-bit capable, whether you can run a 64-bit version of Windows. (If your computer is already running a 64-bit version of Windows, you won’t see the 64-bit capable listing.)

In closing, we have two final pieces of advice when considering the switch from 32 bit Windows to 64 bit:

Make sure that there are 64 bit drivers available for your hardware. We’d hate for you to waste an entire day performing this upgrade and have it fall flat because there is no network driver available for you to load.
Insure that your programs will run in a 64 bit operating system. A lot of progress has been made over the past couple years in getting programs “up to speed” with the 64 bit movement, but if your business runs an older piece of software that it can’t live without, a 64 bit upgrade may not be for you.

For more information on the topic, Microsoft has a FAQ available.

Ongoing Fight Against Spam

Brian Gallutia — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:42:04 +0000

Over the past two weeks, the amount of spam that PCS processes on a minute-by-minute basis has been increasing exponentially. This increase is due, in part, to new types of malware and spyware infections hitting our customers and anyone with a high-speed Internet connection.

Over the weekend, extended measures were put in place to (hopefully) help curb the amount of spam that users have been receiving lately. During the installation of these measures, some users may have received an unusual amount of spam on Saturday, September 27th.

If you are one of these users, we apologize for any inconvenience. Hopfeully after Saturday, you are experiencing a sharp drop in the amount of spam you were receiving.

If you have any questions relating to your email account with PCS, please feel free to use our Contact Form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.

Spam and the First Letter

Brian Gallutia — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:28:25 +0000

The analysis, of more than 500 million junk messages, revealed those letters that get more junk than average. It found that e-mail addresses starting with an “A”, “M” or “S” got more than 40% spam. By contrast those beginning with a “Q” or “Z” got about 20%.

Am I sending spam?

Brian Gallutia — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:44:11 +0000

The tech support staff at PCS has been receiving a few e-mails from our customers not relating to spam per se, but to emails labeled as “UNKOWN RECIPIENT” and “DELIVERY FAILURE” flooding their inboxes. When the customer looks closer, they see that the e-mail appears to have originated from their e-mail account, touting the wonders of Cialis or informing the public on how to obtain a slimmer, younger you.

The first thing that comes to our customer’s minds is that they have somehow been infected with spyware or a virus that is sending out e-mails from their accounts. Even though this is a legitimate concern and we always recommend doing full anti-virus scans regularly, what is actually happening is outside of your immediate control.

Spammers have taken on the practice of using legitimate e-mail addresses to send spam from foreign mail servers, which increases the likelihood that the spam will be able to penetrate anti-spam measures. When the spam is sent and it fails to be delivered to the recipient, an e-mail server will return the e-mail to who it thinks sent the e-mail. If the mail server sees that your address is the address that sent the e-mail, then you receive the bounce-back.

Instances like this one usually happen in spurts with only a few customers, and the amount of returned e-mails diminishes after a day. To keep these bounce-backs from cluttering your inbox, PCS recommends either creating a filter in your e-mail program that either automatically deletes these messages or moves them to a designated folder. This is by no means a fix in preventing spamming events like these from occurring, but until a solution to this type of spamming is developed, it is the best way to keep your inbox clean.