The most absurd thing happened to me this week which I thought I’d share.
None of us like spam, but lately I’m seeing the techniques used by email services, such as Hotmail, are rejecting emails that aren’t spam. Here is what appears to be happening.
You sign up with an email service provider (could be your ISP) and you send an email. You may have been using the service for years with no problems. Then for some unknown reason the emails you’re sending are rejected as spam. I’ve seen this happen to my business clients as well as quite a few others, including myself.
What is happening is you’re using a email service to send your emails and those email services are shared with others. Someone else using the service sends spam, but they may not even be aware they’re doing it, because their computer may be infected. The address of the mail server is then blacklisted by one of the spam filter companies such as Spamcop, Spamhaus, or the service Hotmail uses. You then go to send an email and it gets rejected as spam. The recipient never sees the email so doesn’t know you’ve sent it.
In business the problem is you may end up with an irate client and lost business because their mail server is rejecting your valid message. A business trying to work with you may lose business because you think they’re not responsive. In this situation make a call to the client. If the information is important, ask for a different email service.
This is an example where the solution causes just as many problems as the original problem.
The irony of all this is, in a recent test I sent an email to myself and the email was rejected. This is just plain silly and is likely to lose the hosting company my business if it happens too often. It means emails sent to me may be getting rejected and that could be losing me business.
If you are using Hotmail as your business email service I’d seriously suggest you should move to another service. I’ve frequently seen Hotmail reject emails when there has been no issue with any other service.
For those receiving bounced emails with messages rejected as spam when you know they aren’t, hopefully this will let you know what is happening. In most instances I’ve found if you wait 24-48 hours and resend the message it does get through. So if you can’t contact the person, resending the email is better late than never.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Friday, 10 February 2012
Alert: 550-"JunkMail rejected (Spamcopy, Spamhaus)
Thursday, 9 February 2012
MyAnswers: The application has failed to start because iertutil.dll was not found.
The following MyAnswers solution 2197 is now available:
Windows XP computers failling to start with dialogue titled: Explorer.EXE "Unable To Locate Component", with the message "The application has failed to start because iertutil.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix the problem"
Click here to obtain the solution.
Click here for related solutions.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)
MyAnswers: Google Australia search reverts to old blue design with Internet Explorer 8.
The following MyAnswers solution 2196 is now available:
When I search using Google (www.google.com.au) with Windows XP and Internet Explorer 8 I no longer have the option to select pages from Australia. There are no options on the left. The page has the blue old design and not the new black menu across the top. How do I fix this?
Click here to obtain the solution.
Click here for related solutions.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)
MyAnswers: How to unlock a Huawei X1-U8180 locked to Optus network
The following MyAnswers solution 2195 is now available:
How to unlock a Huawei X1-U8180 locked to Optus network. (This is not a hack but follows Optus' procedures.)
Click here to obtain the solution.
Click here for related solutions.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)
Friday, 3 February 2012
Alert: iertutil.dll was not found. Computer repairs in Templestowe, Templestowe Lower and Wonga Park
This week was an interesting week in terms of computer support and repairs. What stood out was the need to fix three computers from different clients, one day after the other. Each computer was running Windows XP and would start to the Desktop and only show the Desktop background. No icons, no toolbar and no way to do anything useful. Often the window titled “Explorer.EXE – Unable To Locate Component”, with the message “The application has failed to start because iertutil.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix the problem” would be displayed.
I fixed each computer and whilst after the first I thought the second and third would be much quicker. As it turned out, whilst the solution was basically the same, each computer needed to have the solution applied differently. The computers were returned to clients fixed and cleaned up. Most computers I repair have a number of infections and many have toolbars installed in their browsers which hijack the search feature of the browser. After the initial fix it was also sometimes necessary to fix other programs.
What was concerning was I haven’t been able to isolate what caused the problem. I’m not sure if it was a malware infection damaging the computer, or perhaps an update to the operating system. I suspect malware, but can’t be sure. What is important is it was possible to fix the issue without having to resort to a reinstall of the operating system.
I’d like to remind people they should have a backup copy of all their important data, their photos and their music. This was a tricky repair and for many the easiest solution may be to reinstall the operating system. I prefer to fix the problem and retain users data where possible.
If you live in Templestowe, Templestowe Lower, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Eltham, Lower Plenty, Montmorency, or the surrounding area and experience this problem, give me a call on 0415 910 703.
Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
MyAnswers: How do I delete a service in Windows XP? E.g. My Web Search Service
The following MyAnswers solution 2194 is now available:
How do I delete a service in Windows XP? E.g. I'd like to delete My Web Search Service.
Click here to obtain the solution.
Click here for related solutions.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)
MyAnswers: I receive emails from eBay. How do I unsubscribe?
The following MyAnswers solution 2192 is now available:
I receive emails from eBay. How do I unsubscribe?
Click here to obtain the solution.
Click here for related solutions.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)