Category: Software

Email

tinsleyNET Email Services
tinsleyNET Email Services

You’ve got mail…

In 1971, an engineer working on the ARPANET sent the first ever email from himself on the workstation he was sat at, to himself on the workstation sitting next to his. From this humble beginning email bloomed into the de-facto communication tool used world over.

How we use Email

The way in which email is used, and the technology used for sending and receiving emails, has changed only slightly since it’s conception. The internet boom of the early 1990’s saw email become the most popular form of communication between connected users. This was especially significant in business, where it quickly became a hindrance to business not to have an email account.

Free Email v Paid

Remember when the internet used to sound like this?

The growth of email was spurred by the boom in free web-based email accounts such as Freeserve, Hotmail, AOL and Gmail. Many users signed up with a free email account that they still use today. Hotmail (now Outlook) recently reported that 66% of email accounts created in the first three years of its service are still in daily use.

While having a @hotmail.com email address is fine for casual users, using a free email account for business is best avoided, not least because many free email accounts explicitly state that they are not to be used for business.

Having a registered domain name such as www.yourcompany.com gives you the opportunity to have a personalised email address such as sales@yourcomapny.com giving a much more professional look to your printed and published media.

Spam

It’s a matter of fact that spam exists and it’s practically impossible to have an email account that you use and not get spam of some kind or another. Some spam is going to be annoying unsolicited adverts, while more dangerous unwanted emails are linked to virus spreading or phishing attacks.

Being able to manage your inbound email gives you the ability to remove a lot of the junk before it gets to your inbox. You can also manage genuine emails better, filtering out and highlight potential new clients, service and sales emails from admin and other day-to-day communication.

tinsleyNET IT Servces Consultants #WeCanHelp

#WeCanHelp

We can help you setup and manage your email every step of the way. We can help you if you decide to self host or use a hosted provider, with configuring your DNS records and setting up inbound and outbound email viruses scanning.

We can install a firewall to monitor incoming and outgoing emails for make sure confidential data is not being sent out without your knowledge, and to generate reports on your email so you can see which emails generate the best response from recipients.

Anti-Virus

tinsleyNET Data Security
tinsleyNET Data Security

Protecting you from the video nasties…

Back in the 1970’s a ‘neat little self-replicating automata’ was released on the ARPANET (the predecessor of today’s internet) that was called “the creeper“. Not a virus in the way we think of them today, it was more of a test of code and concept, the only ‘payload’ was a line of code reading “I’m the creeper: catch me if you can”. In the following years, code would be written that became the basis of several types of virus; Worms, Trojan, Boot Sector and Malware.

The early viruses were intended to test concepts or as jokes and went out of their way to protect users data. In the late 1980’s that changed, IBM wrote a program to detect the first encrypted virus and clean an infected system, but didn’t release that to the public until a second version of the virus began to spread on the BBS systems of the day. And so began the battle between the virus writers and the anti-virus writers.

Evolving The Virus Business

tinsleyNET Security Services protecting you against Ransomware

Jump to today and we have many different types of computer virus and many many different viruses in each type. Viruses have become big business for criminals, with nearly all viruses designed to generate income for the coder or their superiors. The latest ransomware viruses can generate large payouts by infecting many smaller users, this is a better business model than infecting a smaller number of large companies and helps keep the virus out of the media and so out of public attention.

It’s not just Windows

The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards - and even then I have my doubts.

Microsoft Windows was the most popular operating system in the 1990’s and as a result it became the biggest target for virus writers. This spawned the urban myth that only Windows based computers could get viruses, but that’s not the case.

The first ‘wild’ virus to spread was purely an Apple-based virus. Apple and Linux based computers have seen a recent rise in the number of viruses intended to infect them. The same goes for mobile phones and devices, Android, Apple’s iPhone and even the old Nokia phones and Windows Mobile are all susceptible to virus infection.

The rise of IoT devices, like smart TV’s, fridges, thermostats and so on have not gone unnoticed. Several recent ‘botnets’ have been shown to be comprised of a large number of infected smart home devices. Hackers have exploited the often poor security on smart devices, and the fact that many don’t get post-sales software updates to take control of them. Often the hackers are after the processing power for attacking other networks or running malware that won’t immediately be noticed by the device owner, though there have been instances of devices being specifically targeted to spy on users, making use of cameras and listening devices.

What should you do?

As an individual you may think that you’re too small to have to worry about antivirus, wrong. It’s a lot easier for virus writer to target a large number of small unprotected users than it is for them to target fewer, better protected companies.

Home users need to consider all the devices on their home network, from computers to smart devices like lights and speakers. These devices are all potential targets. It’s sensible to protect your home network at the point of entry (your broadband) and then further protect devices that can go outside your home network (smartphones, tablets etc) as well as devices that hold particularly valuable information, such as banking information, passwords for any internet accounts, and your photos.

As a company, you should be using a multi-layered security plan with a reputable antivirus application as a part of that plan. You should never use just a single product or technology, as no one product can guarantee 100% virus detection.

A company should look at perimeter and internal security, preventing hackers getting in from the internet and stopping any devices that become infected away from your network bypassing that security.

Data security is essential, both backing up and encrypting the information. Under data security laws you are required to protect any information that could identify an individual (a customer, employee or supplier for example)

tinsleyNET IT Servces Consultants #WeCanHelp

#WeCanHelp

We can design and implement a security solution that suits you or your businesses needs. We can help protect all your IT assets regardless of where they are and how they are used. We can assess your existing data security and give you a report identifying good and bad practices.

Outlook Error 0x08004010F

tinsleyNET Admin

Outlook Error 0x08004010F

Outlook Error 0x08004010F relates to a problem while sending emails, the account could be either IMAP or POP but using SMTP to send the outgoing email. The problem is in the PST/OST file used for processing the SMTP outward bound mail.

It’s often a result of moving the PST files from their default locations, but other profile issues can cause this error too.
(Note, it can also occur while synchronizing OAB for exchange users)

POP

For POP users, the workaround is to create a new dummy PST file and temporarily set it as the default INBOX, then revert the settings back to the original file

IMAP

For IMAP users, you can’t change the INBOX folder so here are some other options:

  1. Create a new profile and set as default. This is the official Microsoft line and works, but can be a massive pain if you have multiple accounts and lots of specific configurations set up, like I do.
  2. Use SCANPST to check the outgoing PST file – might be something that the SCAN tool can fix, but if you have been able to get into the PST in the first place, it’s unlikely to be corrupted.
  3. Run the Compact option on all the PST files, it’s not worked for me but a few posts I have seen have suggested it does work.
  4. Recreate the email accounts one-by-one, not the entire profile, just go onto the email tab and add each email again. I have not tried this yet, but I imagine it will recreate the PST files in the default location.
  5. VONAH suggested a registry fix on the technet forums here that actually worked for us (though not for the novices, it requires delving into the registry and editing in HEX)
    1. Open HKEY_USERS
    2. Open the USER folder – this will be the long one that starts S-1-5-21- and doesn’t end in _CLASSES
    3. SOFTWARE > MICROSOFT > WINDOWS NT > CURRENTVERSION > WINDOWS MESSAGING SUBSYSTEM > PROFILES
    4. BACKUP THE REGKEYS AT THIS POINT!!!! so if something goes wrong, you don’t loose your profile
    5. Open the folder with your outlook profile name
    6. Open the folder 9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676
    7. Look through the subfolders for the one(s) containing the REG_BINARY entry “Delivery Store EnteryID” (There will be one for each IMAP address you have)
    8. Edit the “Delivery Store EnteryID”
      1. You’ll notice it’s in HEX with a readable version on the right.
      2. Edit the end of the entry to point to the correct PST file
      3. Note that between each character there is a null ’00’ represented by a period, but it is NOT the period character
    9. Save the changes for each folder then open outlook and test SEND/RECEIVE
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tinsleyNET IT Services Consultant
IT Support for small to medium sized businesses, home office workers and home users across the West Midlands and Shropshire.

Send commands to your Android Phone from your desktop

tinsleyNET Admin
tinsleyNET #WeCanHelp

New rollouts to Google internet search add quick links to your Android phone

Over the past few weeks Google have been adding some functionality to the Chrome desktop browser, allowing you to interact with your Android phone even if it’s not near you.

At the moment the browser commands only work for American users, but it’s easy enough to get them to work for you, just add the “&gl=us” tag to the end of the URL. Read more

Exchange 2010 Offline Address Book not refreshing

tinsleyNET Admin
tinsleyNET Email Services

tinsleyNET Email Services

Offline Address Book on MS Exchange 2010

Another headbutter of a silly issue, but this one was quickly resolved.

We have Exchange 2010, migrated from an Exchange 2003 server that is still registered on he AD because I haven’t gotten round to decommissioning it yet. I suspect the presence of the EX2003 is partly responsible for the cause of the issue, even though I have moved the OAB to EX2010. Anyhow… Read more

Installing x86 Print Driver on x64 Server

tinsleyNET Admin
tinsleyNET Network Management Services

tinsleyNET Network Management Services

Windows Server 2008 x64 : Getting a x86 Print Driver to work when it won’t!

Just had ‘one of those days’ when even the simplest of life’s hiccoughs takes an age to resolve.
This time it was with a Windows printer driver. I was faced with installing an x86 printer driver for sharing from a x64 Print Server on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Read more