June 2009

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately (Wikipedia). Typically, spam is generated without the owner of the originating computer knowing that they are sending spam. Someone will download software that they think is okay, but the software has an alternate agenda. It sets up a "Robot" that accepts and executes commands from the Internet. It essentially turns a computer into an outbound-only mail server to send spam e-mail. This type of infection can send out hundreds of spam messages per hour.

Please note that registering on a web site using your e-mail address and the same password you use for e-mail can put you at great risk of this happening. It is a good practice to never use your e-mail password in conjuction with your e-mail address for anything other than your e-mail.

If one of LAT's subscribers' computers gets infected and becomes a spam generater, the IP address used can get blacklisted from other e-mail servers, which can result in difficulty getting e-mail through to certain recipients. Ultimately this can have a negative effect on other subscribers as well. LAT is making every effort to protect our network from such occurances.

In addition to utilizing Barracuda (see more info below), LAT will be blocking mail traffic on port 25 for all subscribers without a public IP address to all destinations other than the LAT mail server. This will have no effect on people who use mail hosted by LAT. Web-based e-mail (i.e. gmail, yahoo, hotmail, aol) should not be affected because it does not use port 25. For subscribers who use mail that is not hosted by LAT nor web based, your outgoing mail server can be set to mail.littleappletech.com. If you are unable to set your outgoing server to mail.littleappletech.com you will need a public IP in order for mail to process through port 25.

Nobody likes spam in their inbox. Over 90% of all mail traffic is spam. To help control spam LAT purchased a Barracuda Spam Firewall to provide spam message filtering at no additional cost to our subscribers. Since Barracuda was implemented in early 2008 it has blocked 37.6 million spam messages.

Unfortunately, no matter how great our efforts to filter spam, it will never be perfect. Occassionally, legitimate messages get blocked and/or spam messages make their way through the filter. There are some things that you can do to manage this.

Log in to the Barracuda spam firewall at http://fuji.littleappletech.com. If you do not have a user name and password put your complete e-mail address in the user name field and click "Create New Password". A password will be e-mailed to you.

After you login click "Preferences". Across the top there are four tabs.

Whitelist/Blacklist - This is where you can specify who you do and do not want to receive e-mail messages from.

Quarantine Settings - If you would prefer not to Quarantine messages you can disable Quarantine here.

Spam Settings - If you would like to have minimal spam filtering you can disable the spam filter. Messages will still be checked for viruses. PLEASE NOTE that this virus scanning does not replace the need to have up to date anti-virus software on your PC.

Password - You can change your Barracuda password here.

LAT is pleased to present some of its recent web site development work. Check out these web sites:

www.doecowhunt.com (pairing hunters with land owners)

www.bridgertrans.com (freight brokerage)

www.bigskycleaningproducts.com (environmentally safe cleaning products)

www.twinriversranch.com (lodging, fly fishing, & Tenessee Walking horses)

www.mtmedbill.com (reviewing medical bills for errors)

www.gallatinriverranch.com (premium acreage/building sites in the Horseshoe Hills)

If you need a new web site or your existing site needs a facelift or update, LAT's exceptional develop team is here to help. We specialize in web site development ranging from simple, static pages to complex database-driven, e-commerce sites.

A woman called the computer help desk about a problem that she was having with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under Windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that's a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his is working just fine."