KNOWLEDGE BASE

If you have a question that isn't answered below please contact EHW Tech.

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Connection Problems

 1. I keep getting disconnected, can you please help me?

2. I am having problems connecting, can you help?

 

Browsing

1. What search engines are available?

2. Are there any dangerous websites that can harm my computer?

3. Browsing appears to be really slow or sometimes no data comes through at all. How can I speed things up or obtain data flow again?

4. There are some terms that you have used that I don't fully understand, such as spyware. Where can I obtain more information about these?

 

Email (general)

1. Do you have a webmail feature so I can check my email on a different internet account or computer?

2. I keep getting an error message that my account username or password are wrong. What is happening?

3. I keep getting "spam" through my email, how can I stop this?

4. Does EHW Tech have virus protection on their mail server?

5. I have received a virus alert from EHW Tech, should I contact you?

 

Email (issues)

1. Points to Consider 

2. I'm connected but I can't send or receive email

3. I can receive email but I can't send

4. I can send but I can't receive email

5. I can't find the attachment received with my email

6. I can't get all of my emails, the server times out and I get an error message

7. I sent an email to a group of people and I got an error 'one of the addresses is invalid'

8. My friends say they cannot send me any email

9. I  keep getting the same email repeatedly

10. I  am getting two or three of each email

11. Shortly after I receive email I cannot browse the Internet (dialup) 

12. I try to delete old email and it is still there

13. I  am having to type my password every time I retrieve my email

14. A secure server (SSL) is giving me an error message

 

Viruses

1. I think I have a virus, what can I do?

2. Does EHW Tech have a virus protection facility on the email server?

 

Spam and Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE)

1. What is Spam?

2. What is UCE?

3. How did they get my email address?

4. Why can't the EHW Tech Email server just delete this stuff for my ehw.net.au email account?

5. Will genuine messages coming to my ehw.net.au address get lost by mistake?

6. What can I do to stop getting spam?

7. How do I set up a filter or a rule?

8. Ok I am still lost is there an easy way to filter spam?

 

ANSWERS

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Connection Problems

1. I keep getting disconnected, can you please help me?

• The most probable cause would be that you have a virus or spyware. Please update your virus scanner to the latest definitions and perform a scan. Ad-Aware is a program you can download for free to perform a scan for spyware. Make sure you update it first though. Visit our downloads section for more information.

• You have an overly long phone cable attached to your computer. Try changing cables even if it was working previously.

• Your modem could be having problems or be faulty. Unfortunately it's probably best to get a technician to look at it.

• Failing all the above solutions, it could be your telephone line. Make sure call waiting isn't enabled and you have no other devices attached to the line such as faxes or cheap telephones. It could also be that your telephone line is noisy. Get a Telstra technician to come out and test it.

2: I am having problems connecting, can you help? [There could be a few reasons why you can not establish a connection]

• If you are getting an error to do with your username or password, then you need to make sure you are typing it in correctly and your capslock key isn't on. Your account could also be de-activated due to an overdue bill. Please ensure your account is up to date and paid for.

• If you are getting a no-dial tone or other similar error, such as remote end not answering then it could be your telephone cord. Please use a shorter different cable to test. There is also an option to turn off "wait for dial-tone before dialing". Uncheck the box and then try dialing again.

• Your modem could be having problems or be faulty. Try connecting again, but this time have a phone attached to the same line and have a listen to see if your modem tries to dial out. If it doesn't then your modem could have a problem.

• Your telephone line could be having problems. Does your line appear to be noisy when you are talking to people? If so get a Telstra technician to come out and check.

Browsing

1. What search engines are available?

• There are quite a few available. EHW Tech recommend you use Google for your search engine (http://www.google.com). Other ones you can try are Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile, Lycos, Altavista and Anzwers.

2. Are there any dangerous websites that can harm my computer?

• There certainly are. Ones that you should try and stear clear of are hacking, cracking, pornographic and warez sites. These can contain trojans or other viruses that can infect your computer and allow people to control it. This however is an extreme case. They may also install spyware on your machine and you must be wary of everything they ask you to install. As a rule of thumb, if you don't trust the site don't accept any agreements from them. For more information on scanning for viruses or spyware you can check out our downloads section.

3. Browsing appears to be really slow or sometimes no data comes through at all. How can I speed things up or obtain data flow again? [There could be a few things that are causing your browsing to be slow. First you need to check the simple things]

• Are any of your programs updating? Such as anti-virus, or Windows Update or your firewall.

• You may have a virus or spyware. For more information you can check out our downloads section.

• If you can not receive any data, again check for viruses or spyware. This could also be due to your firewall causing problems. Please make sure you have configured it right.

• What speed have you connected at? Double click on the two computer screens that are flashing down near the clock and you can see your connection speed there. If you have started connecting at a lower speed than normal you could have a problem with your phone line, cable or modem.

4. There are some terms that you have used that I don't fully understand, such as spyware. Where can I obtain more information about these?

• There is a great site that you can do a search for computer related terms to fully understand what they mean. Webopedia is the site and it can be found at www.webopedia.com.

Email (general)

1. Do you have a webmail feature so I can check my email on a different internet account or computer?

• Yes we do. Just click on the link at the very top of the site that says "Webmail Login" and it will take you to our webmail service.

2. I keep getting an error message that my account username or password are wrong. What is happening?

• The first thing to check is whether or not you have your capslock key on while typing in your username or password. Make sure when you type in your username you are not putting @ehw.net.au afterwards. If this still doesn't fix the problem your account could be locked out due to an interruption while you were receiving email previously. Please wait about an hour for the account to unlock. In the meantime you can check your email via our webmail. To access our webmail feature click on WebMail at the top of our site.

3. I keep getting "spam" through my email, how can I stop this?

• Unfortunately because of the nature of spam there is not a lot you can do to stop it from coming. EHW Tech recommends using a spam filter to filter potential spam so it is easier for you to manage your emails. You may also set up rules to move the potential spam into another folder. You can read more about rules in your email program help files. You can take a few steps to minimise the chance of getting spam through your email. Never enter your email address into a site that you don't trust. Never reply to spam you have already received. Never give out your email address to people you don't trust.

4. Does EHW Tech have virus protection on their mail server?

• Yes we have implemented virus protection, but you still need to have an up to date anti-virus program on your machine as we do not guarantee 100% protection. The responsibility is on the user to be aware of what emails and attachments are viewed.

5. I have received a virus alert from EHW Tech, should I contact you?

• This is just an alert to notify you that we have blocked a virus that was being sent to your email account. The main purpose of this notification is to let you check who the email is from and what the subject of it is. If you recognise the sender and email you can contact us, quoting the reference number, so we can retrieve the email and allow you to view it.

Email (issues)

1. Points to consider There are various approaches to resolving email sending and receiving problems whilst using an email client. Points to consider are:

• Server settings (incoming POP and outgoing SMTP)

• Username and password of the account/s you are using

• The presence of antivirus software and how it is configured for scanning emails

• The presence of a firewall and how it is configured

• The options settings within your email client

2. I'm connected but I can't send or receive email

• Check to verify the 'incoming' (POP) and 'outgoing' (SMTP) server settings, username and password has not been changed by someone else or an antivirus software and that everything is typed correctly.

• Server settings must be exactly as specified by EHW Tech or you could be reading lots of error messages.

• Capital letters in the wrong place or a missing 'dot' could be part of the problem.

• If you have added an additional email address with EHW Tech, you must also create the new email 'identity' in your email client for your email client to handle that email also

• Turn off all antivirus software and firewalls while testing the email. Check and remove extra accounts or inactive accounts of your old ISP that could be causing the problem or error messages.

• Check your 'outbox' for any email with an incorrect email address or an email going to a recipient with a full mail box. Email clients seem to 'send' before trying to 'receive' email.

• Make sure if the email client is set to 'leave a copy of messages on the server', it is also set to 'delete from the server when deleted from deleted items'.

• Disable or turn off all antivirus software and firewalls and try again.

• Disconnect from the Internet, close all programs, reboot the computer, reconnect and try again.

• If you get the same result, contact EHW Tech to verify your account is active and have them review your connection and check your mail box for very large emails or a full mail box that could be causing a problem.

• If the account is active and all the settings in your email client are correct, it may have become corrupt. The easiest way to resolve this is to delete the email account and recreate it within your email client.

3. I can receive email but I can't send

• If your antivirus software gets updated automatically, try turning it off and preventing it from starting when Windows starts. Then you can reboot the computer, get online, test the email both ways. If it works, you can turn the antivirus back on. If the email does NOT work, continue to the next step.

• Check and / or correct the 'outgoing' (SMTP) server settings.

• Check the 'outbox' for any email with an incorrect email address or an email going to a recipient with a full mail box. Email clients seem to 'send' before trying to 'receive' email.

• Check for antivirus software that is set to 'scan outgoing email' and if you cannot find the setting, disable the software while you test the email and look for other problems.

• If the antivirus has a firewall, you may have to turn it off. Some antivirus firewalls will not stay turned off or get disabled unless you UNINSTALL them.

4. I can send but I can't receive email

• If your antivirus software gets updated automatically, try turning it off and preventing it from starting when Windows starts. Then you can reboot the computer, get online, test the email both ways. If it works, you can turn the antivirus back on. If the email does NOT work, continue to the next step.

• Check and / or correct the 'incoming' (POP) server setting.

• If you have multiple accounts setup to receive email from more than one ISP, check all the POP settings for all the accounts. One bad setting may cause the email client to stop processing altogether, until you fix that problem.

• Check the scanning configuration of any antivirus software and turn off any firewall that is part of an antivirus software (personal firewall / Internet security). Some antivirus firewalls will not stay turned off or get disabled unless you UNINSTALL them.

• Login to your online mail box (webmail) and look for any extra large email that could be causing the error and blocking all the other emails or if the mail box is almost full.

5. I can't find the attachment received with my email

• If the email is larger than 10 KB and does not have a 'paper clip' symbol next to it, DO NOT OPEN IT. Contact the sender by phone or a separate email asking them if they sent you that email, giving them the date, time and size of the email. If they cannot remember sending the email to you, DELETE IT, it could be carrying a virus or worm.

• Check the security and option settings to see if your email client is set to open or handle attachments.

• Check your antivirus software to see how it handles attachments. Some can 'chew up' a good attachment and then label it as unreadable.

• Ask the sender if they had a problem attaching the file. The file could have gotten damaged before it was sent to you.

• Look in the options section of your client for a way of increasing its 'read' capacity (number of lines or headers).

• Ask the sender to test the attachment, by sending the same email to themselves first and then try opening the attachment themselves, before sending it to you. You may get a good attachment after all.

6. I can't get all of my emails, the server times out and I get an error message

• There could be a large email your antivirus software is taking too long to scan that causes a time-out situation.

• Your email client may be set to 'not open attachments'.

• Logon to your mail box on the Internet and look at the first or last unread email. That could be one of the emails causing part of the problem.

7. I sent an email to a group of people and I got an error saying that one or more of the addresses is invalid or rejected by the mail server

• Review the spelling of the addresses. Someone may have given you a misspelt address or you may have one saved in your address book.

• Use copy and paste to send the message to each address individually, the bad one will come back as 'undeliverable mail'.

• Delete the email with multiple addresses from the 'outbox' to stop the same error message occurring.

• One of the recipients may have a full or corrupted mail box, an inactive, suspended, or closed account.

• The recipient's email server may be off-line for maintenance, repairs or some other unknown reason.

• When you find the problem address, remove it from your address book until things get straightened out.

8. My friends say they cannot send me any email

• Send yourself an email to see if it works for you.

• Logon to your online mail box to find out how full it is. If it is almost full, start printing or deleting old email.

• If you cannot logon to your online mail box, contact EHW Tech to see if your account is active and everything is OK.

• Make sure they typed your email address correctly. Ask the sender to spell it to you.

• Make sure you have not blocked them or their ISP accidentally when blocking 'SPAM' from someone else at their ISP.

• Ask your friends to find out from their ISP if there is problem with their SMTP server.

• If anyone else can send email to you and you can receive it, tell your friends the problem could be on their end.

9. I keep getting the same email repeatedly

• Your email client may be set to 'leave a copy of messages on the server', but not set to 'delete from server when deleted from deleted items'. In this case, you have already deleted these old email from the email client, then you perform 'send and receive' and the same old email show up again. To correct this, you have to enable both boxes or neither of them in the 'advanced' account properties.

• One of your more recent emails could have a problem and since email clients usually download the older email first, some of the older ones can get downloaded again before getting to the newer one that stops the download and causes an error. This is when you get to see the same old email again. Find the problem email in your web mail box, read it on the Internet and delete it.

10. I am getting two or three of each email

• Whoever sent the email may have double-clicked the send button.

• You may have two or three accounts setup in your email client with the same information.

• Your client may have more than one email account with different email addresses but all the email goes into one mail box in the client. This happens if the email client is not capable of dividing the email into separate mail boxes. Everyone gets to read everyone else's email. (No privacy)

11. Shortly after I receive email I cannot browse the Internet (dialup only)

• Your email client may be set to 'disconnect after sending and receiving', uncheck the box under Tools, Options, Connection. If you cannot find it, search the Help section of the email program.

• Your Internet connection may be so unstable that the server at your ISP disconnected your modem. Ask your phone provider for assistance in removing any static or line noise that may exist.

• Other equipment like fax machines, credit card machines, caller ID boxes or cordless phones that are hooked up on the same phone line could be causing part of the problem. Disconnect any other equipment from your phone line.

• Check that you don't have call waiting enabled on your phone line. If it is enabled and a call comes through whilst you are connected to the internet, your connection will drop out.

• Upgrade your modem drivers or reinstall your modem.

12. I try to delete old email and it is still there

• Your email client could be set to 'leave a copy of messages on the server' but not set to delete them, so when you do 'Send and Receive' after you have already deleted the old email from the client, you can get another copy of the same old email.

• Your mail box on the Internet could be full, locked or jammed and is not deleting the email, login to your webmail and try deleting from there.

• Your email client may be damaged and is not deleting from the server as it is set to do. Reload or update it.

13. I am having to type my password every time I retrieve my email

• You did not select the option to 'save or remember password' when creating the account or identity.

• Your email client may be damaged and is not remembering the password, or has become corrupt. Try deleting your email account and recreating it.

• Scan for viruses, update or reload it.

• Check for spelling errors or incomplete spelling in the account properties.

14. A secure server (SSL) is giving me an error message

• Look in the account properties of the email client for any secure server boxes that should NOT be checked.

Web Space

1. Do I have any personal webspace and how much do I have?

• We supply each internet account with 20mb of space. This space is shared by the email account, but can certainly be used for hosting websites.

Viruses

1. I think I have a virus, what can I do?

• It is advised that all customers keep an up-to-date virus scanner on their machine and perform regular scans. If you do not have one, please purchase one. Alternatively you can perform an online virus scan or contact us to book your machine in for a removal at a cost. To read more about performing a free online virus scan visit our downloads section. Also, please make sure you have your Windows up-to-date or else you will leave yourself open to viruses and attacks

2. Does EHW Tech have a virus protection facility on the email server?

• Yes we do, but be aware that you still have to have an up to date anti-virus program installed on your machine. It is up to the customer to be wary of emails and attachments that are viewed.

SPAM and UCE

1. What is SPAM?

• Spam is any message that is posted an unacceptable number of times to one or more groups or Email lists. The term has incorrectly become associated with any unwanted Email such as ads. The appropriate term for unwanted ads is Unsolicited Commercial Email. The Australian Communications and Media Authority have compiled some information regarding spam and unsolicited email. Please visit http://www.acma.gov.au to help the fight against spam.

2. What is UCE?

• UCE stands for Unsolicited Commercial Email. UCE is any email that you didn't request to receive that solicits goods or services. For example, an Email that tries to attract you to a particular web site. Sometimes the word spam is incorrectly associated with this type of Email. The appropriate term for unwanted Email ads is Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE).

3. How did they get my email address?

• And who are they, anyway? In this context, "they" refers to any individual or group who sends spam or UCE. Email addresses are acquired through a number of sources. Example: Remember that on-line sweepstakes you entered to win a new car? One of the fields you filled out was for your Email address. The group running the sweepstakes probably collected all the registrants Email addresses and then sold them to anyone willing to pay.

• Another technique is to search any and all web pages for Email addresses. In today's world, information about us is marketing gold and some groups will do whatever it takes to get that information. The real question is what can be done to minimise the sources of this information.

• Review Privacy Policies and Statements - Because of the current backlash of ill-will about the buying and selling of personal data, many companies have opted not to participate in this practice. (However, they still collect personal data.) To assure the public about the intended use of the data they collect, many companies have statements about their privacy policies. Before you give a company personal information, you should review their privacy policy with regards to that information and how it will be used.

• Don't Allow your Email Address to be Given Out - Many web pages that collect personal information (free Email account sign-up pages, on-line shopping sites, etc.) have check boxes that give permission to the company collecting the information to make it available to other companies. By default, these are often set to allow the distribution of information. Make sure you select the option to not allow distribution (usually by unchecking the allow box).

• Don't Put your Email Address on a Web Page - During the late 1990's, it was all the rage to create personal web pages. That time reflected a naive and childlike period on the Internet. Many of us included all kinds of personal information, including our Email addresses, on our web pages. Some people quickly realized the wealth of information available through the web and wrote programs to scan web pages for Email addresses. (These programs are sometimes referred to as web crawlers, spyders, or web-bots.) To avoid having your Email address harvested by a web-bot, don't put it on a web page. If you feel you must put your address on a web page, consider creating a graphic image of it (and don't use a mailto link).

• Don't Give out your Email Address - Many sites require this piece of information to register or use the site. So what can you do? Several companies offer free Email. Consider creating an Email account you use specifically for times when you don't want to give out your main Email address. Or, use a bogus address. The program collecting the information doesn't know if the address you've entered is correct or not. It only checks to see if it follows the rules: name@host.domain. Be careful if you do this: if you're requesting information (such as a forgotten password) from a company and they typically contact you via Email and you give them a bogus address, how will you get the information?

4. Why can't the EHW Tech Email server just delete this stuff from my ehwtech.net.au Email account?

• In general, EHW Tech only blocks emails when there is great probability that the incoming message is harmful to the EHW Tech's own computing and networking systems. Viruses and worms fall into this category. EHW Tech does not block any customer emails. It is the customers responsibility to ensure that the customer has sufficient protection against malicious emails.

• It's important to recognize that the problem of spam and unsolicited commercial Email has no perfect solution, be it technological or legal. You should regularly inspect your spam folder to identify any messages that you don't consider spam.

5. Will genuine messages coming to my ehwtech.net.au address get lost by mistake?

• Tests indicate that with the filters' sensitivity set to detect about 80% of the incoming spam, there should be very few, or even no, cases where genuine mail is mis-identified as spam. However, the system will be monitored carefully, and if you believe that you're not getting mail that you expect, you should contact EHW Tech calling the Internet Support Services team.

• It does sometimes happen that our mail servers refuse a genuine message from a legitimate source. This means that the machine trying to send the message has been seen in the past to deliver spam, and its administrators need to take action to secure it. The error report that goes back to the sender explains this, and it's up to the sending side to fix their problem.

6. What can I do to stop getting SPAM and UCE?

• Due to the nature of SPAM and UCE in reality its very difficult to stop it. The most common approach is to block it. There are two basic methods of doing this - server-side blocking and client-side blocking.

• Server-side blocking is done on the computer that hosts the mail service and can block messages based on either the origination site address (using a "black list" of offending sites) or scan the message for possibly offensive content, keywords, or phrases (XXX, make lots of money, etc). Either of these methods has the undesirable affect of occasionally blocking legitimate messages.

• Client-side blocking blocks messages by using filters, rules, or other tools within the client Email reader program.

7. How do I set up a filter or a rule?

• Client-side filtering processes messages by using filters, rules, or other tools within the client Email reader program. When a UCE is received, a filter can be created using the from Email address and a rule to immediately move the message to the trash. Some clients have additional technology built in to help determine if a message is UCE. One disadvantage to client side blocking is that you can have thousands of rules which can totally crush the performance of your computer. With that said, instructions for creating filters and rules in your Email client can be found by reviewing their online Help files. Help can be accessed via the menu bar of your email client.

8. Ok I am still lost is there an easy way to filter spam

• A third party program such as Spamfighter will filter mail from known suspicious mail servers from your inbox and place them in a seperate folder. Caution is advised when using this or any other third party software as they are only as good as the databases they check the mail against. It should also be stated that third party sofware is not supported by EHW Tech.