E-mail Faq and Configuration
Common Questions asked by Express Network Customers?
E-mail Questions:
How do I set up my e-mail?
Open Outlook Express Click on Tools Accounts click on mail tab on top. Here you
find your e-mail settings. There should only be one e-mail setting in this
window unless you are picking up mail for more then one account. Highlight the
setting you wish to modify or you can Add a new e-mail account. If you clicked
Add/mail then a wizard appears which prompts you for settings information. If
you want to check or modify your current settings click on edit. There are many
other E-mail clients you can use Netscape, Incredimail, Eudora etc. find out
where the preferences for your accounts are stored and enter the following
information.
Incoming server mail.xprs.net
Outgoing server smtp.xprs.net
Account name yourusername not yourusername@xprs.net
Don't check use encrypted or ssl password Don't check my outgoing server
requires authentication.
Why when trying to access my e-mail I get invalid username or password?
It may be just that an invalid username or password. The username is the e-mail
account name it should just be yourusername not yourusername@xprs.net . If you
are positive that the information you are sending us is correct then your issue
could be a locked box. This occurs if more then one request for e-mail from your
box is requested. The system assumes there is a security violation and locks the
box for about 10 minutes. The scenario we often see is this: User starts
checking their e-mail, starts to download, and there is lots of e-mail or more
likely large files, pictures etc, The user becomes impatient and thinks the
program froze and try's again to pick up the e-mail. The system locks because it
believes there was a breach of security and two computers are trying to download
one persons e-mail. It keeps asking for username and password as a result of
being locked. If this is what possibly is happening then do this: Wait ten
minutes till lock clears, go to our web e-mail interface located at http://xprs.net/squirrelmail/
here you can view all the messages that are sitting on our server. If there is a
large file you can see if you want it if not get rid of it there. Click on the
box next to the message or messages and then hit the delete key. The rule is
this if you can log into our web e-mail then you should be able to log into your
e-mail with Outlook Express. Unlike other Internet Service Providers we don't
limit the amount of e-mail you can have in your box. This is a great feature of
xprs.net but it also can lead to problems if our users don't manage their boxes
appropriately.
My Internet connection cuts off after checking my e-mail?
In Outlook Express Click on Tools/Options click connection tab make sure hang up
after sending and receiving is not checked.
My friends say they e-mailed me but the mail doesn't arrive how come?
First let me say xprs.net has one of most robust e-mail systems available. Not
only do we handle our customers e-mails but we also handle professional mailing
lists which have thousands of users. Some of these mailing lists users are the
people who write help books for people learning computers as well as
professional developers. Question the person or the person's e-mail system that
is sending the mail first. We know our system intimately and have come over the
years to trust it's reliability. One likely reason is they are sending to the
wrong address many confuse xprs with exprs or something else make sure there is
no 'e' in xprs when giving out your e-mail address. They should have a returned
e-mail if it didn't go through tell them to look at the reason and consult their
Internet Service Provider.
I want to add a second e-mail how do I set this up?
Do you want your messages for the two accounts stored together on your computer
or separately? If you want to store them together then Open Outlook Express
Click on Tools Accounts click on mail tab on top. Here you find your e-mail
settings. Click on Add then mail and the wizard will open up and prompt you with
questions refer to above question regarding how do I set up my e-mail for the
information you need. Make sure you have first set up the account on our
servers. Unlike other Internet Service Providers we have gone to great labor and
expense to completely automate our system. You can set up additional e-mail
accounts on our servers by going
HERE Please attempt to read through this help file before contacting us
about adding a second e-mail so that we may continue to offer our great rates
for Internet Access.
If you want to store them separately its a bit trickier. In Outlook Express go
to file identities add new identity Type the new identity name in the box decide
if you want to lock this identity from other who have access to your computer by
checking the require password button or not. It will prompt do you want to
switch to the new identity "identity name" say yes. Now go about setting up the
new e-mail as described previously. After setting up you choose which e-mail
account to access by going to file identities manage identities.
When sending an e-mail I get an immediate relaying denied error what is this?
It can be a number of things. The first most basic thing is our system checks
the (to: field) for proper formatting to see if it's in a valid e-mail format
i.e. person@somewhere.com . Open up your outbox and confirm the e-mail (to:
address) looks appropriate. Another reason this error occurs is if you are not
dialed into xprs.net and are trying to send mail across our servers. You can't
log in to another Internet Service provider and send out mail using our servers.
As with all ISPs we check this to be a responsible member of the Internet
Community and do our part in fighting spam. This keeps msn and other users from
sending out mass e-mails. We know our users and trust them to use prudence and
responsibility in their e-mail usage. We don't know their users therefore we
block this feature. If you are using our primary in California group of phone
numbers you should never have a problem. Occasionally we have seen problems with
some of the Off Network back up numbers we also use. We try our best to keep
outbound mail flowing but there is a chance we missed something as it is hard to
manage our over 5,000 phone numbers at times making sure outbound works for all
of them. If you think it's a real issue write support@xprs.net and let us
address or try this go to your e-mail settings and try changing the outgoing
server to mail.xprs.net and click on the box which says my outgoing e-mail
server requires authentication.
I sent an e-mail it came back undelivered how come?
There should be a reason contained in the box you will see something like while
talking to blahblah.com they replied user has reached quota or unknown user or
any of many messages. This means that the email reached the domain and they
refused for the reason they give. With other Internet Service providers we see
lots of quota exceeded or has reached limit.. Be rest assured your friends
aren't getting these messages we don't block messages do to user over quota.
That's the kind of thing which separates us from the rest.
How do I access my e-mail when traveling? or from other computers?
If you are dialed in to one of our 5,000 phone numbers set e-mail up the same
way. If you are borrowing a friends machine and want to check e-mail go to
http://xprs.net/squirrelmail here you can view and send to your hearts content.
I want to change my e-mail password how do I do this?
You need to know your old password to do this go to or go to http://xprs.net and
click on e-mail forwarding. Put your username in domain name which is xprs.net
and then your password and click enter. This logs you into your user control
panel click edit and change your password there. From here you can set up
aliases forward mail change password and more.
I want to forward my e-mail how do I do this?
As above Go
Here a security opens click ok and then when the new window opens click user
administrator login. Alternatively you may go to
http://66.81.6.6 put in your u and click on e-mail forwarding. Put
your username in domain name which is xprs.net and then your password and click
enter. This logs you into your user control panel click edit and change your
password there. From here you can set up aliases forward mail change password
and more.
I signed up for Postini Anti-virus and spam filtering now what?
Postini couldn't handle the mass amounts of spam we were receiving so we had to
build our own system to handle the volumes of mail we get. You can now log into
your web mail and set spam filters as described in the setting up spam filter
link on main page.
How come I'm getting so much junk e-mail?
Because somebody has gotten hold of your e-mail address and has you on a list.
With a new e-mail account be cautious when giving out your e-mail address to
companies online read their privacy policy. Don't post to bulletin boards.
Spammers use spiders which harvest all posted e-mail addresses on web and on
boards. Even large providers sell your addresses to others. Yahoo will do this
and others too.
E-mail and Virus Scanning @ The Express Network.
Recently you may have noticed the subjects in your e-mail might have been
modified prior to delivery. Possible modifications you may have noticed is the
word or words [Spam?] or [Virus?] or [Possible Spam Contents?] or [ This is
Spam?]. At the moment we are modifying e-mails with the words [Possible Spam
Contents?] or [ This is Spam?] . This header may change as we experiment with
this new system.
Why does The Express Network Filter my e-mail:
Xprs has been a recent target of e-mail spammers world wide. For many years we
enjoyed the absence of spam being directed at us. Now the problem here and
everywhere across the web has become catastrophic. Costing business
multi-millions of dollars in addressing this issue. The spammers were able to
bring booger.xprs.net, our main mail server, to its knees several times in the
past couple months.
The first thing for you to understand about spam is this, the return address
almost always is forged. Spammers actually use software which rotates the return
address with each message that is sent out. This makes blocking by the from
address: ineffective. In the past the issue simply could be addressed by
blocking the IP address of the offending computer, however this too is
ineffective as now the IP addresses of computers are rotated. The IP address is
a unique number which each computer on the web has.
How do I find the IP address of the e-mail sender?
If you right click on the message in your inbox and then click on properties
then details you should see the full header of the message which shows the path
the e-mail has taken to your computer. Read from the bottom of the message to
the top. The first IP will usually be the source. This can be tricky though as
different techniques are utilized by spammers to hide the source. There are
resources on the web which can help you in evaluating the source of the e-mail.
http://spamcop.net is a free service register with them and then copy the info
in the details and paste into the submission form at spamcop. Their engine will
evaluate the headers and give you a summary. If you believe you are able to find
the source of the e-mail you can do what we do go to http://www.arin.net and
submit the IP to find what network it came from.
So why can't you just block the source IP of the spammers?
That will work with amateur spammers but here is what the professionals are
doing. Just like they are rotating the return address they are using compromised
computers around the world, open relay machines, and open proxies to send their
e-mail, so the source IPs are always changing. They use lists of thousands of
machine's which they relay through. This list is continually added to as more
machine's are compromised. The spam e-mail you get have these IP numbers in them
as the source. Pacbell.net, earthlink, msn, etc, these are users who are usually
unaware that their machine's are being utilized in this way, these along with
major unsecured mail servers which allow anyone to relay e-mail from.
So I get a couple of pieces of Spam what's the big deal?
Yes you may only get a couple of pieces of spam but we get hundreds of thousands
of pieces a day. These e-mails are not directed to our normal users but the
spammers have been using what's called a harvest attack or dictionary attack
against xprs. Which is they send a@xprs.net aa@xprs.net basically randomnames@xprs.net
hoping to get a few hits. All of these messages have forged return addresses so
our server sends back a reply to a forged address to notify that there is no
known user at xprs by that name. When you have hundreds of thousands of e-mails
coming in then going back much of our resources are wasted on trying to notify
bogus return addresses that there is no user at xprs by that name.. Are
alternative is to blackhole the message which is just to delete it and not
reply. Unfortuantely then the spammers believe that its a hit and continue to
bombard that address. Also e-mail sent to a legitimate xprs.net customer if
there is an error with it, such as the e-mail address typed wrong. The sender
would not receive a reason delivered back to them from us stating why the e-mail
didn't arrive at xprs. Valid e-mail needs a reason why it was not delivered.
A brief description of the Filtering Process's at Xprs:
Currently we are using two machine's to evaluate each e-mail which comes into
us. Our first server freeway.xprs.net is usually the first stop 66.81.6.9
freeway checks the incoming mail against a couple of lists http://spamcop.net
then http://njabl.org these are lists of known spammers, known compromised
machines, known open relays. Freeway also checks that the return address is from
a valid domain name. If the source of the message is on this list of known
spamming machines it denies the e-mail and returns the error to check http://spamcop.net
or http://njabl.org because the machine that sent the e-mail is blacklisted.
This eliminates the bulk of junk incoming to xprs maybe 80,000 messages a day.
The message is then forwarded to maisygirl.xprs.net 66.81.89.3 for further
evaluation. maisygirl scores the message utilizing spam assassin using certain
criterion it checks for foreign characters keywords it looks at the header for
similarities with other spam and more. She also utilizes a learning filter
called bayes where with each spam message she processes she becomes more
educated on the particulars of the spam reaching xprs. She then utilizes her new
knowledge to better evaluate future spam arriving. Maisygirl doesn't reject
messages she only scores the message. Currently if the score is greater then 6
she rewrites the subject to contain the phrase [probable spam contents] or [this
is spam]. Maisygirl also screens for virus and if a virus is found she
quarantines the virus and rewrites the subject to say {Virus?}and notifys the
sender and receipient. The message is then forwarded to booger.xprs.net
66.81.6.15 also 66.81.6.21 this is where you pick up your mail from.
So why don't you just delete the spam rather then score and deliver?
There is a chance of false positives the ultimate decision should be made by our
users on what they want and what they don't want. You can determine what to keep
and throw away. There are filters in your outlook express and most e-mail
programs to automate this task.
Ok I understand now but how do I set-up my filters?
That depends on what e-mail client you are using? In outlook you can do this.
Let's take a look at one of the headers of our messages.
Return-Path: <d4ulgzfdj@earthlink.net>
Received: from booger.xprs.net (root@localhost)
by xprs.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id h4V8iJj15143
for <support@xprs.net>; Sat, 31 May 2003 01:44:19 -0700
X-ClientAddr: 66.81.89.3
Received: from maisygirl.xprs.net (maisygirl.xprs.net [66.81.89.3])
by booger.xprs.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id h4V8iJ715138
for <support@xprs.net>; Sat, 31 May 2003 01:44:19 -0700
Received: from 66.81.89.3 ([61.149.55.125])
by maisygirl.xprs.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id h4V8jpD10408
for <support@xprs.net>; Sat, 31 May 2003 01:45:54 -0700
Received: from myz7.4gfx.com ([149.247.201.216]) by 66.81.89.3 with ESMTP id
<072258-22452>; Sun, 01 Jun 2003 03:40:34 +0300
Message-ID: <x-170fcs34xbp3zh53$i5@tj6brhtzepa>
From: "Alma Mcdonald" <d4ulgzfdj@earthlink.net>
To: support@ xprs.net
Subject: {This is Spam?} In Debt? Get Help NOW! e emxtmkcvb niz
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 03 03:40:34 GMT
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="D08C1_A._86589.5A_8EE9"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information
X-MailScanner: Found to be clean
X-MailScanner-SpamCheck: spam, ORDB-RBL, SpamAssassin (score=24.2,
required 6, BAYES_99, CONSOLIDATE_DEBT, DATE_IN_FUTURE_03_06,
FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK, HTML_50_60, HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_04,
HTML_IMAGE_RATIO_04, HTTP_ESCAPED_HOST, HTTP_EXCESSIVE_ESCAPES,
HTTP_USERNAME_USED, MIME_HTML_ONLY, MISSING_MIMEOLE, PLING_QUERY,
RCVD_IN_DSBL, RCVD_IN_RFCI, REMOVE_PAGE, TRACKER_ID, USERPASS)
X-MailScanner-SpamScore: ssssssssssssssssssssssss
Status:
Here maisygirl gives the score 24.2 wow that's got to be spam.
notice the line in the header X-MailScanner-SpamScore: ssssssssssssssssssssssss
there are 24 s's so the subject was rewritten by maisygirl to say {This is
Spam?}
You could go to outlook and create a folder called spam and now create a filter
which moves anything that has the word Spam in the subject to this folder.
Remember we rewrite the subject to say spam on anything with a 6 or greater
score.
The easiest way:
Right Click on INbox add folder/ spam click on tools/ message rules/ and add the
rule if the subject says Spam then move to folder Spam.
Or you can set up a filter utilizing xprs's unique scoring system.............
we use 6 by default...... increasing the score lets more spam through but less
chance for legitimate email from being sent to the spam folder. Decreasing the
score blocks more spam but increases the likely hood of valid e-mail being sent
to the Spam folder.
Here is how to choose your scoring.
To create a filter (or rule), Click on Rules Wizard in the Tools menu.
Ensure that you are using the correct Inbox folder to filter on - this should be
the one with mail.xprs.net in it, NOT the Exchange Server.
Click on New, and select 'Start from a blank rule' and 'Check messages when they
arrive'. Click Next.
Select 'With specific words in the message header'.
The Rule Description section of the window should now say "Apply this rule after
the message arrives with specific words in the message header" - click on
specific words, which will be underlined.
In the "Specify a word or phrase to search for in the message header:" box,
enter the number of 's' symbols you wish to trigger the rule on, i.e. the spam
score. Initially it is a good idea to set it at 6, i.e. ssssss, which is the
same as the system threshold. Click on Add and then OK.
The Rule Description box should now say "Apply this rule after the message
arrives with ssssss in the message header". - click Next.
You now need to tell it what to do with it, it is strongly recommended that you
select "move it to the specified folder".
Now click on specified (underlined) in the Rule Description box, and you are
presented with a list of folders that you can move it to. Typically there will
be options to put it in 'mail.xprs.net ', 'Mailbox Lastname, Firstname'. It is
recommended that you create a folder called Spam or Junk (via New, if you do not
already have one) in mail.xprs.net , and click to confirm.
Unless you have any exceptions you want to put in, click on Next and then
Finish.
Click on OK in subsequent dialog boxes to finish off the rule definition.
Remember, you can adjust the settings at any time in the future if required.
Remember periodically to check this folder for valid e-mail which may have been
mistakenly sent there.
There are also server side solutions you can use utilizing procmail in
squirrelmail on xprs.net I will write a help file eventually regarding this.
This is where we are currently working to enhance the service we provide our
valued customers.
Have fun.............. and thank you for using The Express Network.
You may set up another email account@xprs.net
by going here http://xprs.net/email.shtml