Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is spam?
A. From the recipient's point-of-view, spam is simply junk email. A more technical
name for it is unsolicited commercial email (UCE). Messages are typically sent
to a list obtained from a "Spambot" or to a list obtained by companies that
specialize in creating email distribution lists. Spam is roughly equivalent to
unsolicited telephone marketing calls except that the user pays for part of the
message since everyone shares the cost of maintaining the Internet. Spammers
typically send a piece of email to a distribution list in the millions,
expecting that only a tiny number of readers will respond to their offer.
Some apparently unsolicited email is, in fact, email that people agreed to receive when they registered with
a site and checked a box agreeing to receive postings about particular products or interests. This is known as
both opt-in email and permission-based e-mail.
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Q. What is DRN doing to keep my e-mail free from spam?
A. DRN has created a multi-tier filtering system incorporating the best-of-breed products and technologies to help provide a complete and thorough email protection system virtiually illiminating te-mail threats before customers receive them.
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Q. What should I do with spam I have received?
A. DRNs e-mail filter is designed to block in excess of 95% of spam from reaching
your inbox. Sometimes when a new type or variation of spam message is used, A
few of these unwanted messages may get through. To help maximize you filters
effectiveness, you can do the following things:
- Review your Approved Mailing List. Do you have other email addresses
forwarding to this account? Check to be sure your addresses are NOT on the
Approved Mailing List.
- Forward your spam. Participate in keeping the filters accurate by sending
your unfiltered spam messages AS ATTACHMENTS in email to abuse@drtel.net. This does not guarantee that
these messages will be filtered in the future, but will make it more likely.
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Q. What is phishing and how do I protect myself from it?
A. Phishing (pronounced "fishing") is a scam where the perpetrator sends out an
email message that appears to come from a well known business, such as eBay,
PayPal, MSN, Yahoo, BestBuy, CitiBank and America Online, in an effort to phish
for personal and financial information from the recipient.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns users to be suspicious of any official-looking email message that
asks for updates on personal or financial information and urges recipients to go directly (don't use the
links given in the suspicious message) to the Web site of the company to find out whether the request is
legitimate. If you suspect you have been phished, forward the message to
uce@ftc.gov or call the FTC help line, 1-877-FTC-HELP.
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Q. Why did I get email that wasn't addressed to me?
A. Have you ever received an email message that appears to be addressed to someone else? Chances are very
good that it wasn't by mistake. Spammers often use the Bcc: (blind carbon copy) function of email when
sending spam.
Except when it is mis-used by spammers, the Bcc: field can actually help to avoid spam. When sending a
message to many people, it is considered good email etiquette to use Bcc:. This way when email is sent to
many people, no one person will know other recipients' email addresses. If the email falls into the hands of
a spammer, the spammer will not be able to "harvest" all of the addresses.
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Q. Why am I getting "Returned mail" messages when I didn't send the message?
A. A virus and/or worm may have infected your system. Make sure to update your anti-virus software and run a
full system scan. The more likely scenario is that an email virus and/or worm may have infected one or more
computers of someone else, and these people probably have your email address in their address book or inbox.
The virus tries to spread itself by sending messages to many other users, using the address book of the
infected computer. The virus will also use a false address (yours) as the "Reply-to:" or "From:" address. If
any of the messages that the virus sends bounce back, you will receive that message.
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Q. How large of an email message can I send or receive?
A. To protect the functionality of mailboxes belonging to those with slower Internet connections, the maximum
message size is 15 Megabytes.
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Q. How do I change my email password?
A. To change your password, Contact DRN Customer Care. Note: your email password is also your password for
connecting to DRN Dial-up Internet.
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Q. How can I forward my email to another address?
A. E-mail forwarding can be done through the web-mail interface.
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Q. What is the mail server information I need to setup my email software (i.e. Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Entourage, etc.)
A.
To set up your email software, such as Outlook Express, you will need the following information.
Username: Your DRN Username
Password: Your DRN Password
Email Address: Your DRN Username@drtel.net
Incoming (POP3) Mail Server: pop.drtel.net
Outgoing (SMTP) Mail Server: smtp.drtel.net
For further assistance, local technical support is available by calling XXX-9002 where XXX is the prefix for your telephone exchange (i.e. 349 for the Ellendale area). Help is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
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