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Stuck in the Outbox

Occasionally, I hear from clients who suddenly cannot send email, even though they can receive it, using Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or another client-based email program. Email they attempt to send is stuck in their Outbox. [NOTE: If you get an authentication error, you will need to resolve that with your email provider; otherwise, read on.] Sometimes their ISP — usually a cable company — decides to block port 25, the standard outgoing SMTP email port, in which case changing the SMTP port to 587 usually fixes the problem. More often than not, however, the problem is with the email they are attempting to send. Here’s how to tell.

First of all, as soon as you attempt to send one problem email, i.e., one that gets stuck in the outbox, subsequent emails are stuck in the outbox, waiting for the first one to go out. Create a new folder within your Inbox. Name it Test, or give it another name if you prefer. Drag the oldest email message — the first one to get stuck — from the Outbox into the new folder. Hopefully, the other messages, if any, stuck in the Outbox will go out. If not, drag them one at a time, starting with the oldest one first, into the new folder, until newer ones automatically go out, or the Outbox is empty. Alternatively, you can drag them all at once into the new folder. Now the Outbox is empty. Assuming that the Outbox did not automatically empty itself, create a test email, carefully addressed to yourself. The subject and body can both just say “Hello.” If it does go out, you are ready to troubleshoot the problem email messages; otherwise, your problem is beyond the scope of today’s post.

More often than not, the problem is with invalid email addresses. One by one, click on the email addresses of the recipients, to verify that they are real email addresses. You will need to fix invalid ones. Quite frequently, your invalid “email addresses” are actually business fax numbers. Microsoft Outlook was designed to show fax numbers as email addresses when you select names via the To or CC buttons. In their infinite wisdom, Microsoft equates electronic addresses, which include fax numbers, with email addresses. One workaround to this architectural flaw is to precede fax numbers with text, such as F for fax. This way, fax numbers will not show up as email addresses. Microsoft offers links to third-party vendors, such as Sperry Software http://www.sperrysoftware.com/outlook/Hide-Fax-Numbers.asp to fix the problem. Your last option is to be careful not to select “email addresses” that are actually fax numbers. For some people this option will work successfully, but for many will result in having to seek this article again in the near future.

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Anatomy of a Good Password

Most information security professionals agree that passwords, in order to be effective, need to be complex and use at least three of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters (i.e., !, $, ), ?, etc.). There is, however, strong disagreement about usability. For example, many will argue that Z9!*pQZ7Rn! is a good password. Not in my book! In order to be effective, a password has to be both strong and memorable. Aside from being terribly hard to type, the only thing memorable about Z9!*pQZ7Rn! is that it’s nearly impossible to remember. Passphrases, but not common ones like America’sTeam can be quite effective. Redskin fans may be inclined to use HailToTheRedskins, but instead should modify it to something like rail,2theHEADskins. You should be able to make your own quirky passphrases that cannot be guessed or easily cracked by password-breaking software attacks. Anybody who knows you should know the names of family members and pets, so they fail the first criterion. For Windows log ons, any password under eight characters can be easily broken, as can most under fifteen characters. Wireless network encryption keys should be at least twenty-eight, to be effective. In most cases, the key only needs to be typed once, so such a long key is not usually a big problem. On the flip side, asking paying customers in a coffee shop to type a twenty-eight character encryption key would be a risky business proposition!

It’s important to consider just what you are protecting with your passwords. For most people, your password to a newspaper web site is not that important, unless they have your credit card number, or other confidential or proprietary information; however, if you have a high profile, you certainly do not want people making unauthorized comments in your name. Bank and brokerage accounts are intuitively obvious, but email accounts are also very important. For example, once someone has access to your email, that person can attempt to log in to any online account and click the Forgot Password link. Many sites will email the password or a password reset link. It gets quite ugly from there!

Lastly, consider physical security. If you are in a location with access by those who should not have your passwords, do not have your passwords written down. Likewise, do not let your web browser manage passwords for any accounts that you need to protect. There are many robust password safes that require a master password to access. Norton’s Identity Safe is one such product.

Please remember — it’s your privacy. Do what you can to protect it.

Posted in Information Security, Privacy, Technology.

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Towards a National Opt-in Policy

On this side (Western) of the Atlantic Ocean, personal information is monitized and sold/rented with little regard for the privacy of the real owner of that information. Data brokers, banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, universities, web sites, social networks, and merchants — to name a few — provide your personal information to their “affiliates” and customers, for money or other consideration, without your knowledge or permission. In some instances, you can opt-out, but it’s your responsibility to figure out how to do this. If a particular organization allows you to opt-out, you are on your own to contact each and every one of the “affiliates” to whom they have provided your information, to opt-out from them as well — if the “affiliates” allow you to do so at all. If you think that the playing field is tilted in favor of those who profit by selling your personal information, you are correct. It’s all about the money.

If you believe that your privacy should be yours, and not a commodity to be bought and sold, contact your elected officials. Tell them that you demand a national opt-in policy, where you are in control of how and when your personal information is used. It needs to be all about your privacy, not about the money.

Craig Herberg

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Replacing an old BlackBerry with a new one

After six month of hard wear, my BlackBerry Storm developed bubbles on the screen.  Before heading to the friendly Verizon store, I synchronized it and did a complete backup with the BlackBerry Desktop Manager.  Within thirty minutes of my arrival at the Verizon store, I was on my way out the door with a newly-activated Storm, which was replaced under the warranty.  It took about a minute to reestablish a bluetooth connection with my GPS.  So far, so good.  Next, using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager, it took several minutes to restore everything from my old BlackBerry to the new one.  Everything appeared to be the same as my old BlackBerry, except the web browser was missing.  That’s easy enough to fix.  Just go into Advanced Options, and register the Host Routing Table.  After several minutes passed without receiving a registration notice from BlackBerry (FYI, I am using BIS — BlackBerry Internet Service, not the enterprise service), I did the Windows equivalent of a reboot — pulled the battery.  A minute later, I replaced the battery, and when the device restarted, registered the host routing table.  Just like magic, the web browser and activation notice appeared!

A few minutes later, I noticed that no new email had come in on the BlackBerry, even though a lot had come into my desktop computer.  Next I went into setup, and selected email settings.  My email accounts were  both there, and I selected each to check the settings.  Each complained the the device PIN (unique identifier for a specific phone) had changed.  So, I accepted the new PIN, typed my email password,  and my new email started arriving again.  All’s well that ends well!

Craig Herberg

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Vista’s Blocked Startup Programs

One of the complaints I frequently hear about Vista involves the message “Windows has blocked some startup programs.”
Blocked program
Unfortunately, clicking to view the blocked programs just leads to more frustration. Vista does show a list of startup programs, but does not tell which ones are blocked from starting! What to do? Well, you can at least make this annoying and uninformative message go away. Here’s how. Right-click on the Blocked Startup Program icon in the System Tray.
A program has been stopped from starting up

Next, scroll to “Run blocked Program,” and
click on “System Configuration Utility.”
Run blocked program

Lastly, check the box labeled, “Don’t show this message or start System Configuration when Windows starts,” and click “OK.” Voila! At last, you should not have to see that annoying message again. And. . . if it ever does rear it’s ugly head again, you know how to fix it.
System configuraton utility

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Just How Free is That “Free” Giftcard?

Occasionally, I hear from clients who are upset about the sudden increase of unwanted email shortly after they sign up for a “free” giftcard. Let’s take a look and see just how free that giftcard is. On one web site, there is a link labeled, “Take survey/Gift Card,” which leads to another web site, with an offer to complete a short questionnaire for a chance to win a giftcard. It couldn’t be easier! Agree to their terms of service, provide your email address and year of birth, and get ready to take the survey. Next, provide basic biographic/demographic information, such as name, date of birth, address, telephone number, gender, marital status, employment status, occupation, etc., and you’re on your way. Wait a minute. That’s a lot of information they are asking for. Perhaps it’s time to take a look at their privacy policy. As is frequently the case, this particular vendor shares personal information with third-party marketers. Of course, you are free to “opt-out” at any time, but must “opt-out” separately with the third-party marketers with whom they have shared your information. Oh, and by the way, they cannot vouch for the privacy policies of those with whom they have shared your information.

Now may be a good time to look into a good spam filter or another email address.

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Online Web Snoops

An article, in the Wall Street Journal, titled Firm Mines Offline Data To Target Online Ads details how a database marketing firm mates public records, survey information, and tracking cookies secretly placed on people’s computers, to sell this tracking information to web marketers wishing to display targeted ads on your computer. If you think this sounds a bit like a toilet paper company putting a hidden camera in your bathroom, so they can offer to sell their product when you run low, you are not far off the mark. Should you be concerned? Absolutely! Is there anything you can do about it? Yes!

In Internet Explorer, click on Tools — Internet Options — Privacy. You can either set the privacy level to Medium or higher — up to Block All Cookies, or you could click on Advanced, and check Override automatic cookie handling, and Block first party cookies and third party cookies, then check Always allow session cookies. This last option should allow you to login to your bank or brokerage. You may want to experiment a bit. While you are at it, under the General tab of Internet Options, (assuming Internet Explorer 7) you can click on Delete — Delete all. Please be aware that doing so will delete all cookies, form data and passwords that Internet Explorer has stored on your computer. This may cause you some inconvenience, but will help protect your online privacy.

Taking these precautions will make it impractical for marketers to monetize your online privacy. While you’re still outraged, why don’t you write to your congressperson and request legislation to protect your privacy?

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