NetPoint Internet News

Posted by Joe

We all know that Microsoft continues to struggle with all of the vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Now it turns out that the The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team started urging people to use browsers other than IE.

"The Microsoft browser, the government warned, cannot protect against vulnerabilities in its Internet Information Services (IIS) 5 server programs, which a team of hackers allegedly based in Russia has exploited with a Java script that is appended to Web sites."

Posted by Craig

Every week spam reaches an all time high. At Netpoint, we've waged war on spam for a number of years, working with cutting edge server tools that are now fairly common. Applications like Spam Assassin have worked with limited success, because Spammers will find work arounds to get their unsolicited messages through.

In the past we have used Realtime Blackhole Lists (RBL) to curb the infiltration of these messages. However occasionally messages get blocked from users who shouldn't be. Those that do end up on the lists can easily be removed if their mail administrator will do so. In the past we have discontinued using the lists because of the large number of complaints about blocked messages.

RBLs are databases that have either received several complaints about specific spamming incidents or have been tested and found to have "open relays" which are used by spammers to send messages through.

With spam reaching epic proportions, Netpoint, and many other ISPs are moving to take a stand. Many of our customers have noticed the a very significant drop in unsolicited messages in the past two weeks.

In fact, just two weeks, 817,000 messages have been rejected by the RBL while Spam Assassin has busted another 127,392. All together, that is almost 1 million messages

If a message is blocked by an RBL a notice is sent back to the sender with a link which provides detailed information. This information can be forwarded to their tech support people to resolve the issue.

Posted by Randi

NetPoint would like to congratulate all of the 2004 graduates, including our very own: Krystal and Joe. We're all incredibly proud of you! You deserve all that your hardwork has brought you!

Posted by Craig

The user support group will meet Thursday Evening from 7pm - 8pm. There is no topic for tonight.

There will be no Support group meeting on June 1st. The next scheduled support group meeting will be on June 17th and will cover information on digital photography.

Posted by Joe

Viruses often find ways to get into your computer via email. The e-mail could be disguised to look from someone you know, even Netpoint, but really it is not. Just a reminder to use extreme caution whenever opening any attachment. Click the link below to see some examples of viruses disguised in e-mails.
http://www.starpoint.net/emailexample.php