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Newsletter Number Twenty Five - July 2008
In this Newsletter... Alternate SMTP gateways for "Road Warriors" requiring to send email while traveling, Out of Office Messages, why it may be a good time to register your own domain, the future of Windows XP and more...
You're getting this Newsletter because you are a client, friend, prospect or just because you enjoy the content and want to be kept in touch, with some of the trends affecting Small Businesses and Information Technology.
It's been so long... I'm sorry!
It's been a hectic 6 months (nearly) since my last newsletter. Mostly good busy, but as with most of us, we all get frustrated from time to time.
Road Warriors and Outgoing Email - Problems & Solutions
One of my frustrations over the past few months was the result of major changes made to the outbound email changes made by Rogers High Speed Internet. In an effor to reduce Spam, they not only look for authenticated SMTP (outbound email) but also require verified email addresses. This is not a problem if you have one or 2 email addresses. If you're a business with more than 10 accounts and you have your own Microsoft Exchange Server (or similar) veryfying email addresses is not that simple. This is where some of my frustration crept in. Companies like Rogers see only their perspective and don't really care about yours (whose's the customer again?). In an effort to solve this problem and assist some of my clients who are often on the road and nned to send email from most any location, I found a very good solution for them (and myself).
It's called Authenticated SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) - it's the process used for sending email. Using a service through No-IP.com, I was able to solve their outgoing email problems once and for all. If you travel around the city, province, country or the world, this is for you. No more fussing with the SMTP setting in your email client (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc).
Want more information - see the web site of contact me.
Out of Office Messages
You're going on vacation and want to let a sender know that you're away and may not be able to respond to your email and quickly as is your standard practice. You can create a Rule in Outlook or similar email client but invariably, this will create other problems. The rule has to be configured to respond to all messages - including Spam! You are likely to end up with an overload of email on/in your mail server and an excess number of "undeliverable" messages because of invalid Spam Email addrsses.
The solution... your mail server (most of them anyway) has the capability of created and activating an "auto-responder". Most servers allow you to limit the number of times the auto-responder send a message to the same sender each day. If you have an Exchange Server, within your Outlook client, you can set up an Out of Office message that is handled by the server.
YourDomain.com
Given the above scenario and the relative ease of setting up an auto-responder on yout own domain, isn't it time you got one? The cost of a .COM domain runs between $15.00 $20.00 per year. .CA domains tend to be in the $20 to $25.00 per year range. You also need to have a hosting plan to manage your web site and email. Hosting plans run between $50.00 and $250.00 per year.
No, I don't do web sites, but do have some very good colleagues to whom I would be happy to refer you. Want more information? Drop me a note.
Windows XP and other Windows Lifecycles
The above link provides you with Microsoft's Lifecycle Policy. As of 30th June 2008 Direct OEM and Retail License Availability will end. This means that the manufacturers will no lionger be permitted to sell product with Windows XP installed. System Builders (like the distributors I use to build the systems for my clients) will have until 31st January 2009 to install Windows XP Professional on system orders.
Service Pack 3 for Windows XP and Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista
Microsoft have released Windows XP Service Pack 3. You can download and install the service pack using Windows Update and selecting Service Pack 3. Alternatively, you can download the file and save it to your system for installation at your leisure.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is also available through Windows Update. Select Windows Update from your "Vista Start Button". If you'd like to download and install it later, this link will take you to the site.
I recommend that you do install the service pack to improve performance and security of your system.
In the upcoming issue... Solutions for accessing your computer system from a remote location, Disk Drive Optimization, managing Spam, and more...
Once again, I appreciate your perspective on the content of my newsletter, both good and bad. I look forward to hearing from you. Just click this feedback link and let me have your comments.
PS: Feel free to forward this Newsletter to any peers, friends and associates you think would benefit from its content. They will thank you, and so will I!
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