MachLink’s Email and File |
Making the Most of Your Email Service MachLink Mail Server Settings Error 553 |
MachLink's Email and File Storage Specifications
Email Features
Most Internet Service Providers limit email messages to small file sizes and offer only a small amount of storage space for email and personal web files. Not at MachLink! Check out the benefits of our email service:
MAIL STORAGE - 2GB
PERSONAL WEB SPACE - 50MB
MAXIMUM EMAIL MESSAGE SIZE - 20MB
Check Email Anywhere
You can Check Mail Anywhere with MachLink's web-based email service! To begin, click on the following link:
Check Mail Anywhere
Many Muscatine Power & Water (MP&W) customers use the Check Mail Anywhere (CMA) website to check their email. It is especially handy for customers who want to check email remotely - such as those who travel.
Check Mail Anywhere - Basic Customizing
For people that like to customize their software, the Check Mail Anywhere (CMA) website offers several settings that make this easy.
A. Display
When the CMA website is initially logged into, it comes with default display.
For those interested in changing the display, there are other options available. To reach these different backgrounds, click on OPTIONS on the top toolbar. In the Options window, select DISPLAY PREFERENCES and select the approriate changes you would like to make.
After making a selection, click on the "SUBMIT" button at the bottom of the page. After doing this, it may be necessary to refresh your web browser.
B. Other Options Available
Other options that can be changed in the Options area of the CMA website include:
- Address Groups
- Folder Preferences
- NewMail Options
- Personal Information
- Message Highlighting
- Index Order
- Translation Options
Protect Yourself - Protect Your Password
As a computer user with Internet access, the most important thing you can do to protect yourself and the security of your personal data is to protect your computer usernames and passwords. Computer passwords should never be shared with anyone. Whereas a credit card can be cancelled in the case of fraudulent use, and your loss is typically limited to $50, there is no such guarantee or ability to limit the use of a stolen password.
Change your password regularly and immediately if you suspect it may have been stolen.
In order to protect your password, you should change it frequently. As a general rule, you should change your password at least every six months, and immediately whenever you suspect the security of your password has been breached.
MachLink passwords must be at least 6 characters long.
Short passwords are easily hacked. MachLink requires that user passwords be at least six characters long. For even greater security, it is recommended that your password be at least eight characters and include a combination of letters and at least two numbers.
How do I change my password?
Changing your password is simple with MachLink's Mailbox Manager tool. To change your password, you will need to know your current password. If you have lost or forgotten your password, you will need to have it reset by the MachLink HelpDesk. Call (563) 263-2631 to receive your password information.
If you do know your current password, follow these simple steps:
- Access the Internet and open your browser and go to http://mailmanager.machlink.com.
- Log in using your regular MachLink or Muscanet username and password.
- Under CHOOSE AN ACTIVITY, select CHANGE MY PASSWORD .
- Select a new password and enter it in the NEW PASSWORD box. Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD box.
- Your new password is now enabled.
Notes:
For greatest account security, it's a good idea to change your password on a regular basis - try to get into the habit of changing your password once each season. Never use the same password for longer than six months.
Longer passwords (at least 8 characters) and those that use a combination of letters and at least two numbers are most secure.
If you ever forget your password, call the Muscatine Power and Water HelpDesk at (563) 263-2631 and we'll be happy to reset it for you. MachLink does not keep record of your current email address(s).
Blocking Unwanted Email & SPAM
Are you receiving a lot of unsolicited email messages, or SPAM? We understand the frustration you feel. At MachLink you can be reassured that we do not provide any customer information to third parties. As a public utility, we have guidelines that specifically prohibit this type of information selling.
SPAM and How to Avoid Getting It
Never reply to a spam asking to be removed. If you do this then you have validated your email address as live. The spammer may well remove your email address from their database, but they might sell all these validated email addresses to other spammers. So the best advice is simply press the delete key.
There is software available which can extract email addresses from websites. So instead of having your email address on your website, consider using a form instead. You can have a drop-down list of the departments or the people that the form is destined to.
As with the above if you post messages to some notice boards, these boards can also be searched for email addresses, so be careful.
Set up a few ‘free’ email accounts if you regularly ask for information from websites. Set these up bearing in mind that one day you will ignore all the emails going to it.
If you open an email, it is possible that the sender knows you have seen it. An ID tag can be attached to the page and the sender’s server knows you’ve opened it because your computer would start downloading images. So be sure to go offline before you open any emails.
Emails can be sent with a "read receipt" request attached. So if you get a window saying “The sender has requested a read receipt be sent” select NO, unless of course you know that person.
Sometimes to get you to reply to an email you might get in the subject line “Re: password” and then in the message there will be a random number. Again, just delete it.
Another spam technique is a message asking you to delete them from your database. When you check your database, you can’t find them and they are hoping you will reply saying they are not in your database. If you do this you have just validated your email address.
Option to Delete SPAM at the Server - you can choose to categorically delete email tagged as SPAM and will not have to wait for it to download to your mail client. You will no longer have to manually delete SPAM.
You will have two different selections available:
Delete Email Tagged as SPAM at the Server
Deliver Email Tagged as SPAM to my Mail Client
If you make the selection of DELETE EMAIL TAGGED AS SPAM AT THE SERVER, the following disclaimer will be presented in a dialogue box:
"You have selected the DELETE EMAIL TAGGED AS SPAM AT THE SERVER Option. These emails will be permanently deleted. in choosing this option you understand and agree that MP&W is providing this service option for your convenience and is not responsible for deleted email. It is strongly recommended that you select a SPAM detection setting no lower than 5 when using this option."
How can you minimize the amount of junk mail you receive? Here are some actions you can take:
Use MachLink's Mailbox Manager Utility to Filter Out Unwanted Email
To get started with MachLink's Mailbox Manager, click here (or, if you have an @muscanet.com email address, click here). Once you've setup Mailbox Manager to detect SPAM, click here for more instructions on how to make the best use of this convenient service.
Create an Alternate Email to Use
To change your email address, please contact us by phone at (563) 263-2631. We will provide you with a new username and password and help you reconfigure your new email account.
Making the Most of Your Email Service
To help you make the most of your email service, we'd like to share the following tips:
Tip #1 – Download or delete your email on a regular basis.
Our email servers are not intended to be used for email storage. Please download your email from our server on a regular basis. If you do not download your email, when you reach email capacity on our server, you will no longer be able to receive email.
Tip #2 – If you use Check Mail Anywhere, don't leave email in your TRASH or SEND MAIL folders.
If you use the web to access your email, be sure to delete email from the TRASH folder and the SEND MAIL folder. All mail left online in your TRASH and SEND MAIL folders will be deleted on a weekly basis.
MachLink Mail Server Settings
Make sure that the Email Settings are as follows:
- INCOMING (POP3) SERVER: mra.machlink.com
- OUTGOING (SMTP) SERVER: mail.machlink.com
- ACCOUNT NAME: username (be sure that the account name does not have @machlink at the end)
- PASSWORD: <email password assigned>
- Outgoing Mail Server Requires Authentication
Error 553
Why is my email being rejected giving me an Error 553 or stating that I am not logged in as owner?
You should check your email account info to assure SMTP is configured correctly
Solution – Machlink Internet customers will have to use “SMTP Authentication”
(follow the steps below to find the setting)
SMTP Authentication for Mail Clients
Setting up SMTP Authentication
Muscatine Power and Water has secure email servers that require"SMTP authentication". If you have an @Machlink.com or @Muscanet.com email account, you will need to make sure that SMTP authentication is set up on your email program.
If you don't enable SMTP authentication and you try to send an email, you will receive an error message that includes the text: "Not Logged In"
Here's what to do:
Outlook XP Users
Follow these steps
- Run Outlook XP.
- In Outlook XP from the TOOLS menu, select EMAIL ACCOUNTS.
- Double-click on your email account to open the EMAIL ACCOUNT PROPERTIES window.
- Click on the MORE SETTINGS button, then select the OUTGOING SERVER tab.
- Select MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION.
- Click OK.
- Close the PROPERTIES window.
Port 25
What is port 25?
Each and every Internet application, such as web, mail or ftp is assigned a unique port number by the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA). When a computer running mail server software starts up, it attaches to that port and uses it to listen for incoming requests. Because the port numbers are standardized across the Internet, clients can make reasonable assumptions about which port is the proper destination for a given service.
When your computer needs to deliver an email to another person for example, it connects to a server on port 25 and sends the email to it. This server then sends it on to its destination. Because of the standard, you can always assume that port 25 is the SMTP mail server, not the HTTP (web) server which is port 80, or some other service.
Why does Machlink block port 25?
Spammers obviously know that ISP's block these IP addresses and so look for alternative ways around this and so are continually scanning IP addresses across the Internet for mail servers. When they are found, a quick test can discover if they can be used to send the SPAM out and off goes several thousand extra SPAM out into the wild. Before, computers would slow down because of this. However, with the far higher bandwidth available with broadband this is less likely nowadays. Therefore, in an attempt to stop the spread of unsolicited electronic mail, Machlink prevents the use of this port except from authenticated users.
So, why block on port 25?
Mail servers are probably the most complex piece of Internet software to configure correctly. By default these are OPEN services and will happily send an email out to anywhere if one is sent to them. You can often be unaware you are even running a mail server; thus we block port 25 connections by default. This stops the spammers from using your connection to send out SPAM.
Does this mean I cannot send/receive emails?
No, not at all. You will still be able to send emails as long as you authenticate with the mail.machlink.com server. You will also still be able to collect your emails via POP3, IMAP, Microsoft® Exchange or even web-based connections. No restrictions are placed on emails. We simply block connections out of port 25.
I really need to run my own mail server - can the block be removed?
Yes it can be removed. There are obvious legitimate reasons for running a mail server such as Microsoft® Exchange in your office or because you have your own domain. Therefore, we have two options:
- Use a static IP address (standard with our commercial packages, or you can upgrade your service to a static IP if you are a residential user).
- Have your email addresses that are not Machlink set up in our ‘Relay Access’ - call (563) 263-2631 for more information.
To summarize:
The only time you will notice this block in place is if you wanted to run your own SMTP mail server or if you are trying to send mail from an account not hosted by Machlink. If you have no intention of doing this, you can simply ignore this block and think of it as a layer of protection for your connection.
Newsgroups
A newsgroup is a discussion about a particular subject consisting of notes written to a central Internet site and redistributed to the news discussion group. Newsgroups are organized into subject hierarchies, with the first few letters of the newsgroup name indicating the major subject category. Subtopics are indicated by subcategory names. Many subjects have multiple levels of subcategories. Some major categories are news, rec (recreation), soc (society), sci (science), and so on.
Network Management Practices
HelpDesk Hours: 6:00 a.m. to Midnight, seven days a week*
(563) 263-2631
Contact HelpDesk
*HelpDesk support is on call for emergencies between Midnight and 6:00 a.m.
