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Cozahost Newsletter Archive |
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Here is your 5 minute Cozahost newsletter: In this issue we focus on the new spam blocking technology used to protect Cozahost clients, the importance of computer security, email auto responders, how to find more specialized info on the internet and free software to download. You are welcome to forward this newsletter to anyone you think may benefit. Enjoy! :) |
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| ..:: Stoping spam in its tracks | |||||||
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Email worms and viruses. Like ants on a picnic. No, ants can still be cute. Like GIANT baboons on a picnic – irritating, intrusive and dangerous all rolled into one. Spammers went past the cute point in 1999 when I received my 10 millionth offer to enlarge my you-know-what. :( More than 50% of all email on the internet is now spam – sapping precious bandwidth, productivity and my sense of humor. It is therefore with great pleasure that I can announce that we just completed the installation and testing of new software technology that will reduce the amount of spam that reaches your Cozahost email inbox by 70% to 90% - automatically and immediately! (This is a completely free new service to Cozahost clients – we carry all the costs) It works like this: Several organizations on the internet identify servers used to send spam. Once identified, the address of the spammer is stored in a Real time Black List (RBL) database. The data is then further enhanced with the addresses of all servers that can possibly be used to send spam in future (open relays), known insecure mail servers and any server that is caught sending email to a “honey pot” (a special email address designed to lure spammers to send email to it – a kind of automatic spam catcher, or fly paper if you think that analogy is more apt) These lists are kept up to date in real time, so if a spammer is identified in Angora his server is immediately entered into the RBL database and we are instantly notified to block his server – even before he tries to send a spam message to you. Every time one of our mail servers receives a request to accept email, we check that server against a number of RBL databases. If the sender server is a known spammer, then we refuse acceptance of the email. (As you know it is our policy to never delete email without your knowledge, and this is why we will send you a regular report summarizing all the spam we blocked from reaching your inbox.) Unfortunately this approach cannot stop all spam, because as soon as the spammers notice that they are being blocked they move on to the next internet address. Fortunately for us though, it is only a matter of a few hours before they are identified again and their new server is also entered in the RBL. Your Cozahost email account now enjoys the protection of millions of your fellow internet users – all intent on making life extremely difficult for spammers. |
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| ..::Computer security | |||||||
Virtually every issue of this newsletter talks about computer security and the newest / nastiest worm or virus. Unfortunately it is a sad fact that most badware (viruses and worms) spread due to internet users that do not employ basic security precautions – simple things like keeping their software updated, using a firewall and running an up to date virus scanner. It amazes me that many internet users incorrectly assume that computer security is a technical issue not related to their work or business! To illustrate the point, here are a few findings from a recent survey: 1 in 5 companies in Western Europe had to close doors for several hours to recover from a computer virus attack during the last 12 months. (In Italy the average was 30% in Italy and 50% in France.) 20% of small businesses in Spain had their computer files irretrievably lost or damaged. West-European companies loose 22 Billion euros per year due to downtime caused by virus infected PCs. No surprising if you consider that in the same survey revealed that nearly 50% of small companies rated computer security as a low priority for their business and less than 27% regularly update their operating systems and security software. We will be publishing a free ebook shortly to explain how you can keep your computer safe in clear-non technical terms. In the mean time, please read our article on how to avoid spam because spammers and virus writers are forming an unholy alliance where worms are used to facilitate the sending of spam and vice-versa. Educate yourself by reading our article on the web http://www.cozahost.com/info/stop_spam.asp or get a copy via email by sending a blank email with the subject “spam” to article@cozahost.com. (Our email auto responder will reply with a copy of the article which you can conveniently read offline.) When you read the article you will understand how spammers got hold of your email address and how your friends may be inadvertently helping the spammers. While you are at it, please get your friends and contacts to read the article too – and help make the internet a safer and more productive environment for everybody. |
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| ..:: Email auto responders | |||||||
If you are not using email auto responders in your business, then you are a) working too hard, b) not giving your clients the fastest service possible and c) potentially loosing a lot of money. Auto responders are simple to set up, extremely powerful in concept and free to all Cozahost clients. We will publish articles on how email auto responders can help you in future editions of this newsletter, but if you can’t wait, you are welcome to get the scoop here on the web: http://www.cozahost.com/info/email_auto_responder.asp or request a copy via email by sending the subject "email auto responder" to article@cozahost.com. You really need to know this stuff. |
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| ..:: Searching the invisible internet | |||||||
Last week we introduced you to a few excellent search engines to help you find specialized information quickly. This week we continue: Froogle Google’s shopping service. This search engine is part of the Google stable and will list prices for just about any product under the sun. It is very useful to find a product name if you don’t know it, and, to compare prices at a glance. Ask Jeeves This search engine tries to answer questions instead of looking for search terms. For instance, you can ask: “Who is Nelson Mandela” or “How far is the moon?” and the engine will point to sites with the answer. (And no, Madiba is not on the moon) Google news This site trawls thousands of news papers, magazines and online news sources to compile a summary of the most current news items. You can use the search engine to find recent articles on any news happening. If you like to stay up to date on what is happening in the world then this site should be your number one source. Internet movie database Perfect place to go to if you want to search the database for any one of over 380 000 movies. Not all the movies have user reviews, but you will get information on the cast and director – a sure fire way to solve that long standing dispute with your friend that (mistakenly) believes he is a movie buff. A nice feature is that the database will make recommendations: For instance if you search for the 5th Element movie you will learn that you might also like Spiderman – unless you have a problem with spiders of course. Tom’s hardware guide If you are looking to buy that new motherboard, graphics card or printer, then you HAVE to search this site for advice and reviews before you take the plunge. In-depth technical reviews, comparisons and specs may help you avoid an expensive mistake. (Of course many people think that buying PC equipment is a mistake per se…like my friend’s wife who thinks that paying R4000 for a graphics card is excessive – even though her husband had a permanent grin on his face for weeks afterwards) South African weather Select your region and you will get weather forecasts for up to 7 days, seasonal projections and so on. Unless you live in Cape Town (where the weather can change 4 times a day), the forecasts are quite accurate. Check out the site, and wait until you are in conversation with someone to casually look up at the sky and sagely announce: “It’s going to rain on Thursday”. Of course, when it does rain on Thursday they are thoroughly freaked out and you earned a new reputation. :-) Alexa Would you like to know who your competitors are on the internet? Or how much web traffic they receive? How about reading (or writing) reviews on web sites you visit and getting alternate recommendations for any site you are reading – without doing more searches? How about building your own personal web with the sites you visit most often? Alexa is all this and more. The Alexa toolbar allows us to instantly see where we (or many other site) rank in terms of global internet traffic – including the sites of our competitors! It’s almost like someone sitting next to you and recommending related sites while you surf. See the free software section below… |
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| ..:: Free software good enough to pay for | |||||||
Do yourself a favor and check this software out. All the programs listed are completely free and of very high quality.
Alexa toolbar |
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| ..:: Quick links | |||||||
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| ..:: Thought for the day | |||||||
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We normally have a joke of the day for the newsletter, but I recently read a very wise quote I would like to share with you: Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. -- Ben Franklin |
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| ..:: Security flaw discovered in the new satellite internet service | |||||||
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Hackers recently discovered a way to get internet access via satellite - free of charge. The “hack” is quite simple: Take 1.75m (measure precisely) of .5mm steel wire (blou draad) and tightly wind the steel around a non-conducting core of between 2.5 and 3.5 cm diameter. (a new wooden broom stick works fine). The top end of the coil must be insulated (petroleum based candle wax will do) and solder a 4K resistor to the bottom end. (Be careful when you solder in the resistor because they are easily damaged by heat) The induction coil device must now be placed within 15 cm of your monitor and oriented towards true north (about 23 degrees left from magnetic north) and pointed to a position about 45 degrees above the horizon. (This is approximately the orbit of the PAS9 satellite) If you don’t notice faint lines appearing on your monitor immediately, check your coil windings and make sure they are tightly wound around the core with no slack. Also check the resistor connection and experiment with the orientation of the device until you see the lines appear. Once you see the lines, you are almost ready for free internet access at about 5 times the speed of a normal modem. All you need do now is download the software to decode the signal and you are ready to rock and roll! It is against the law in the USA to distribute software that can be used to bypass copy protection, so we downloaded a copy of the software and stored it on our web site – before the original author’s site s closed down. You can download your own copy here. |
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| ..:: Subscribers | |||||||
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| ..::Goodbye! :-) | |||||||
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