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Category: spam

new IT partner for Oast House Media

New IT support partner

Oast House Media have always worked closely with IT companies. Having a good safety net for this service is vital for us as we get many enquiries from our clients about: emails (especially iPhone users) anti-spam/junk emails broadband connectivity laptop, PC and phone repairs telecoms A few of our clients already have some form of IT support but the vast majority call us! For the record, OHM does have a general understanding about the above but we do not have the skill levels most technical issues throw up, that’s why we use a trusted IT partner and in this case an IT expert recommended by one of our Thanet based...

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junk mail and spam from e-forms

High volume email clients use Office 365

Over the past couple of years we’ve been spending more time working with high volume email users. By definition, these are normally companies with more than 3 email accounts (per web name) and/or using the imap mail delivery system. Our mail servers are limited to a storage capacity of 500mb or less, this is more than enough for pop3 users (usually office desktop devices) but we are seeing an increasing usage from iPhone device users, that’s because the iPhone/imap email process doesn’t delete a message from the server after it has been viewed. This so called ‘stacking’ is removing valuable server space from other web services. As from 1st January...

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junk mail and spam from e-forms

Web forms, good or bad for spam?

If you have a website then you most likely have a form, usually on the contact page. Do they work? Analytics companies live and die using forms, they can gleam data and monitor trends. Insurers and price comparison websites for example will ask you to complete a paged form, ie: page one = name, telephone no. email… page 2 = requirement or reason for your enquiry, then pages thereafter go into more detail. It’s well know within the marketing trade that most folk give up after the first page when they see the data required so they delete the site. However, the page one information goes to the call centre...

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spam messages

New security for WordPress log-in page

We’ve noticed an increase in some websites getting spam attacks, usually the comments area on posts which is a tad annoying as we turn comments off on posts (do you?). To try and stop anonymous comment spam we’ve added a new Captcha log-in with a simple maths question. This stops [ro]bot log-in but we’ve also added comment blocking software to help protect your web pages and our servers. Not all clients have this free service yet but as we edit and update pages we will automatically add. Are you getting comment spam? Contact OHM today and we will prioritise your installation.

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Internet scams affect Kent businesses, be aware!

There’s a lot of press coverage about Ransomware scams at the moment, there’s also the Microsoft scam when the ‘IT Support’ guy calls you and requests access. We had that one, had some fun with them before they put the phone down. The old web name scam is back again, guy calls offering you a similar web name to you existing for about £200. Just stay aware and let staff know not to open emails that look suspicious.

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windows XP cyber attack

Windows XP hack is a warning to us all

Windows XP is an operating system (OS) looking after all the functionality on a PC, it’s the room that everything happens in on your screen. Over 400 million copies of XP have been sold (and many more used illegally!) making it one of the most successful programs ever developed. Sales ceased for PCs in 2008 (Netbooks 2010) and replaced by the unpopular Vista OS and then Windows 7. XP support ceased in 2014 but the OS still remains popular in Africa and China. Targeting an old OS made a lot of sense if you’re into destroying businesses and peoples lives in general. With no updates to protect against malware and...

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anti-spam filters

Anti-spam filters, more customer feedback

Back in September 16 we put a special offer on the table for all clients having spam email problems, see: new-anti-spam-filter-making-a-big-difference Many clients have taken up the offer with 100% success rates, read the original news blog for more about the offer and how it works but read this first… “Just a note to say how pleased I am with the filter you put on the pop email addresses. We were drowning in spam [200 a day or more] and after about 5-7 days we are back to normal levels of just 1-2 a day!” Judy escortdrycleaners.co.uk

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email quaratine list

Legitimate emails going to junk folders

Just had a client complaining that here marketing emails to bulk and individual recipients are not being delivered, or going to the junk folder! The samples we looked at were OK but contained ‘trigger’ words (and attachments) that some spam detection software will pick up like ‘special offer’ for example. There are probably more reasons why a message shouldn’t reach its destination than you can imagine, a long list of tick boxes every message has to get through. Using a public email address is almost certain to get filtered (like a yahoo or hotmail acc). Some attachments are not accepted, email formatting comes into the equation as well. Government and...

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anti-spam filters

New anti-spam filter making a big difference

Last week (WE 9/9/16) we put a special offer out to clients who use our email services. It’s in response to the massive increase in targeted spam hitting everyone these day. Following week and one client already has something positive to say: “Morning Nigel. FYI this appears to be working as I have not had any junk so far……saves me so much time. We may even be able to get on with the website.” Wendy, Nicholas Harris Interiors This is the offer… Getting loads of spam? We have a fix! We’ve had a few clients contact us about high spam volumes recently on email accounts (pop3, imap, forwarders hosted by...

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