Internet Help Desk - Email - Muscatine Power & Water

Customizing Outlook Express
MachLink’s Email and File
Storage
Specifications
Check Email Anywhere
Passwords

Blocking Unwanted
   Email and SPAM
Making the Most of Your
   Email Service
MachLink Mail Server
   Settings
Error 553

SMTP Authentication for
Mail Clients
Port 25
Newsgroups

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 - 50MB
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 appropriate link:

@MachLink email address users: http://cma.machlink.com
@Muscanet email address users: http://cma.muscanet.com

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) web site offers lots of settings that make this easy.

A. COLORS
When the CMA web site is initially logged into, it comes with default background colors.

screenshot

For those interested in changing these colors, there are some colors or themes already setup. To reach these different backgrounds, click on OPTIONS/DISPLAY PREFERENCES. There should be a drop down box titled THEMES.

screenshot

The screen shot above shows a few of the many themes available.

After making a selection, click on the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the page. After doing this, it may be necessary to click the REFRESH button on your web browser.

Here is an example of how the CMA web site will look after selecting Alien Glow theme:

screenshot

To reset your background colors, under THEME, just select DEFAULT and click on the SUBMIT button. Be sure and refresh your web page to update the background colors.

B. VIEWS
The view of the CMA web site can be changed in many ways. Besides changing the background color or theme, it is also possible to change the amount of emails that are displayed. The default setting shows 15 messages at a time.

To increase the amount of emails shown from 15 to 30, click on OPTIONS/DISPLAY PREFERENCES and change the number from 15 to 30 in the NUMBER OF MESSENGES TO INDEX box. After making the change, click on the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the page. After doing this, click on the INBOX button on your web browser to refresh the display and change the number of emails that get displayed.

There are many more display changes that can be made to Check Mail Anywhere. Making just a few changes can personalize the display to your liking. Just about all settings have a default so that if something goes wrong, you will be able to recover with no little more than just a click of a button.

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. If you're a MachLink customer, go to http://mailmanager.machlink.com. If you're a Muscanet customer, go to http://mailmanager.muscanet.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).

Change Your Password in Outlook Express
After you have changed your password,launch Outlook Express. When prompted for your password, type in the new one and check REMEMBER PASSWORD. Click OK.

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 web sites. So instead of having your email address on your web site, 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.

If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, use the ‘Rules Wizard’ or ‘Message Rules’ to detect for emails that contain certain words. Outlook or Express can then automatically put these emails into a ‘possible spam’ folder.

Set up a few ‘free’ email accounts if you regularly ask for information from web sites. 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 Outlook so that you can begin using your new email account.

Use Outlook Express to Block Email from Certain Senders
You can use Outlook Express to block messages from a particular sender. Once you have configured Outlook Express to block email from a particular sender, all future email from this sender will go directly into your DELETED ITEMS folder.

To block email from a particular sender, follow these steps:

Open Outlook Express.
Highlight the offensive email in the upper box by clicking on it.
From the top menu bar, open the MESSAGE menu and click BLOCK SENDER.
A window will appear telling you this address has been added to your BLOCKED SENDERS list, and ask if you would like to remove all messages in your current folder from this particular sender. Click YES.

Notes:
Outlook Express can only block standard POP mail messages. It cannot block HTTP mail (i.e. Hotmail) or IMAP messages.
You will need to set up the BLOCK SENDER feature for each sender whose email you wish to have automatically deleted.
To remove a name from the BLOCKED SENDERS list, from the Tools menu, select MESSAGE RULES, and click BLOCKED SENDERS LIST.

Use Outlook Express to Manage SPAM
Once you set up MachLink's Mailbox Manager to detect SPAM, for even greater convenience, you can use Outlook Express to sort out the unwanted messages.

Follow these steps:

Open Outlook Express.
On the TOOLS menu, click MESSAGE RULES and then MAIL.
If the MESSAGE RULES dialog box is displayed, click NEW, and create a new rule as follows:
Under step 1, CONDITIONS, check the box for WHERE THE SUBJECT LINE CONTAINS SPECIFIC WORDS.
Under step 2, ACTIONS, check the box for MOVE IT TO THE SPECIFIED FOLDER.
Under step 3, RULE DESCRIPTION, check the box for CONTAINS SPECIFIC WORDS.
When prompted for a specific word or phrase, type *****SPAM and then click ADD. Click OK to close the dialog box.
Under step 3, RULE DESCRIPTION, click the link for SPECIFIED folder.
Click the NEW FOLDER button. Type FILTERED SPAM for the folder name and then click OK. Click OK again to close the MOVE dialog box.
Under step 4, NAME, enter a name for your rule and click OK.
The MESSAGE RULES dialog box will be displayed.

If you have multiple rules, you will probably want the SPAM rule to be applied first. Rules are applied according to their order from top to bottom. Select the SPAM rule and then click the MOVE UP button to move this rule to the top of the list.

If you only want to apply this rule to new messages, click OK to close the dialog box.

If you want to apply the rule to currently downloaded messages, check the box for the SPAM rule and click APPLY NOW.
If you choose to apply the SPAM rule now, the APPLY MAIL RULES NOW dialog box will be displayed.

Ensure that the SPAM filter rule is highlighted.

If you want to apply the rule to a folder other than the one displayed in the APPLY TO FOLDER field, click BROWSE to select a new folder.

Click APPLY NOW to apply the SPAM rule to the selected folder.
Click CLOSE to close the APPLY MAIL RULES NOW dialog box.
Click OK to close the MESSAGE RULES dialog box.

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

To return the settings in Outlook Express to their original state follow these steps:

In Outlook Express, click ACCOUNTS on the TOOLS menu. Select a Mail Account.
Click the PROPERTIES button.
Click the SERVERS tab.

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

screenshot

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 Express 5.0, 6.0, and Windows Mail Users
Follow these steps:

Run Microsoft® Outlook Express.
In Outlook Express from the TOOLS menu, select ACCOUNTS to open the INTERNET ACCOUNTS window.
Double-click on your email account in the INTERNET ACCOUNTS window to open your email account PROPERTIES window.
In the EMAIL ACCOUNT PROPERTIES window click on the SERVERS tab.
In the OUTGOING MAIL SERVERS section, select MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION.
Click the APPLY button.
Click OK.
Click CLOSE in the INTERNET PROPERTIES window.

Outlook 2000 Users
Follow these steps:

Run Outlook 2000.
In Microsoft® Outlook 2000 from the TOOLS menu, select ACCOUNTS to open the INTERNET ACCOUNTS window.
Double-click on your email account to open the EMAIL ACCOUNT PROPERTIES window.
In the EMAIL ACCOUNT PROPERTIES window click on the SERVERS tab.
In the OUTGOING MAIL SERVERS section select MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION.
Click the APPLY button.
Click OK.
Click CLOSE in the INTERNET PROPERTIES window.

Outlook 2000
Follow these steps:

Open Outlook/Outlook Express.
Click on TOOLS on the top menu bar.
Click on the drop-down list and click on ACCOUNTS.
Note: If you are an Outlook 2000 user, depending on the configuration of your software, it might say SERVICES instead of ACCOUNTS. if this is the case, click on SERVICES. Click on INTERNET EMAIL, and proceed to Step #5 (below).
An INTERNET ACCOUNTS screen will open. Click on the MAIL tab and highlight your @MachLink or @Muscanet email account. (If there is more than one @MachLink or @Muscanet email account listed, select the first email account.)
Click on PROPERTIES.
In the PROPERTIES window, click on the SERVERS tab.
Place a check mark in the box that says, MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION (see example below).
Repeat Steps #4-8 for all other @machlink or @muscanet email accounts listed in the INTERNET ACCOUNTS screen. Click OK and close the INTERNET ACCOUNTS screen. You will now be able to send and receive email.
Note: If you have set up multiple user identities under Outlook Express, from the FILE menu on the top toolbar, you will have to switch identities, and then for each identity, follow steps #2-8.

If you have an @machlink.com account and are using Outlook, your SMTP authentication screen should look like this:

screenshot

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.

Netscape Messenger Users
Follow these steps:

Run Netscape Messenger.
In Netscape Messenger from the EDIT menu, select PREFERENCES.
Click on the plus (+) icon next to MAIL AND NEWSGROUPS.
Choose MAIL SERVERS.
In the OUTGOING MAIL SERVER USERNAME field enter your username.
Click OK.

Eudora Users
Follow these steps:

Open Eudora.
Click on TOOLS on the top toolbar.
Click on the drop-down list and click on OPTIONS.
Highlight the SENDING MAIL category.
Click on ALLOW AUTHENTICATION (see example below).
Click on OK.
For additional personalities (accounts), go to TOOLS, then PERSONALITIES, and highlight each personality and right click to get PROPERTIES. Then check AUTHENTICATION ALLOWED and click OK. You will now be able to send and receive email.

If you have an @machlink.com account and are using Eudora, your SMTP authentication screen should look like this.

screenshot

Outlook Express for MAC Users
Follow these steps:

Run Outlook Express.
In Outlook Express, from the TOOLS menu, select ACCOUNTS.
Click on CLICK HERE FOR ADVANCED SENDING OPTIONS.
Click OK.
Check the box next to SMTP SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION.
Click OK.

Netscape for MAC
Follow these steps:

Run Netscape.
Select the EDIT menu.
Select MAIL & NEWSGROUP ACCOUNT SETTINGS from the EDIT menu.
Select OUTGOING SERVER.
Check the box next to USERNAME AND PASSWORD.
Enter your username.
Click OK.

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.

Before you can subscribe to any newsgroups in Outlook Express, you must first create a newsgroup ACCOUNT.

To setup newsgroups using Outlook Express

Open Outlook Express.
From the TOOLS menu, select ACCOUNTS.
In the dialog box that opens, click on the tab marked NEWS. (If you already have news accounts set up, they will appear here. Otherwise, this area will appear blank.)
Click the ADD button and select NEWS... from the options that appear.
By default, the Outlook Express Internet Connection Wizard will open up. (If it doesn't, you can input the following information from #6,7 & 8 below.)
The Wizard will ask you for your DISPLAY NAME first. This is the name that will appear when you post messages to a newsgroup. Generally, you should type in your name here. Then click the NEXT button.
The Wizard will ask you for your email address. This is the address where you want to receive any replies. Type in your email address and click NEXT.
The Wizard will now prompt you for the name if the news server. Type in news.machlink.com to specify the MachLink news server, and click NEXT. (Leave the "My news server requires me to log in" box blank - do not check it).
Click FINISH and close the INTERNET ACCOUNT window.
You will now be asked whether you want to download newsgroups to the news account you added. Click YES. After it downloads the list of newsgroups, you may scroll through the list or type in a keyword at the top and click ENTER to find newsgroups that interest you.
Simply click on any newsgroup that interests you and click GO TO to begin reading it.