IHOT FAQ for E-Mail 

1. How do I delete my E-Mail from the IHOT Mail Server?
   
   In general there is a setting in your E-Mail Client (Outlook Express, Outlook, Etc) program which has to be unchecked to remove the mail that has been dowloaded to your e-mail client.  Check help in your client program for the location of this check box.
   
2. I received a notice that I was over my Quota for Mail. What does this mean? 
   
   All users accounts have a E-Mail box on the system. This E-Mail box stores the e-mail messages on the server, awaiting you the user to download them to your PC. Each E-Mail message take up space on our hard drives. Each users is allocated 10 mega bytes of disk space to store there mail. If you have receive a E-Mail from support about your Mail Box being over Quota, you have exceeded the 10Meg limit on our servers. Until you delete your mail by downloading it to your PC all mail sent to your will be returned to the sender. .
   
3. Why does IHOT have E-Mail quota's? 
   
   Simply put,  we have to. Every user with a account has a e-mail box. Each mail box stores your mail. Each E-Mail message needs to be stored on the hard drive. All users share the same hard drive. There isn't unlimited disk space available. Everyone must share this space. Also the larger the e-mail box is in size, the slower and longer it takes to download and view your mail. We have to limit the disk space used by each user.
   
4. 550 or 553 Relay Denied Error
   
   When sending mail, the error message "550 Relay Denied" is given by the SMTP server (Eudora may display "This message is not acceptable to your SMTP server. The message is not sendable until the recipient has been changed.") and mail cannot go out.
   
   Solution: Most Internet Service Providers restrict access to their outgoing mail servers to prevent SPAM from being sent through their mail servers. If you are getting the "550 Relay Denied" error message, the outgoing mail server cannot verify who you are and will not allow you to send mail.
   
   Mail Relay is when you connect to a mail server on another domain and try to send mail. For example, if you are connected to the internet through IHOT and then try to send mail using Earthlink's, verizon, covad or any other mail server. Historically, mail relay was fine - SMTP servers did not check to see who was sending the mail and would simply pass the mail on, no questions asked. But unsolicited bulk mailers (SPAMMERS) have taken advantage of this to send huge volumes of mail with fraudulent return addresses (so as not to be traced) - which slows down the server for the paying customers who have the right to use it and slows down servers everywhere with all that junk mail.
   
   One of the ways to restrict access to an outgoing mail server is to verify that the computer is on the ISP's local network. When you dial your modem and connect to your ISP, your computer is given an IP address that identifies you as being a part of that ISP's network. If you have two ISP's and dial up to one and then connect to the other's mail server, it may prevent you from relaying mail because your computer is not identified as being on the local network for the provider whose mail server you are sending through.
   
   For example, if you connect to the internet with your IHOT.com account and try to send mail using Earthlink's mail server, you will get a 550 error. To fix this, you should try to use the SMTP server for the provider you have used to dial up and connect to the Internet.
   
   Eudora 6 introduces SMTP Relay Personality that allows you to use send mail from one Personality but send it in a way that is acceptable to the SMTP server. You can learn more about this feature at http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2107hq.html. 
   
   
5. Whenever I send mail using Outlook Express I get a "550 Relaying Denied Error" How do I fix this?
   
   You need to be Authenticate in order to send mail using the IHOT.com network.
   
   Open up Outlook Express.
   1) Click Tools.
   2) Accounts.
   3) Mail Tab. Highlight the Mail Account and go to "Properties" on the Right Hand Side.
   4) Server Tab. Make sure that you have the Outgoing Mail Server set to : mail.ihot.com
   5) Under the "Outgoing Mail Server" (toward the bottom of the page)Make sure that you have a check mark in the box that says: "My Server Requires Authentication"
   6) Click "Apply" then "OK" Close out the whole program.
   
   If you have multiple accounts, you'll need to make this change on all of them. 
   
6. My dial up connection is always hanging up when I user Outlook Express and check my mail. 
   
   Check your Outlook express setting under Tool, options, Connections. Uncheck the box "Hang up after sending and receiving" 
   
7. In my mail box are messages that have been returned to me that I never sent out. Why is this happening?
   
   The most likely cause of this is a message that was sent with a forged e-mail header. What happens is a messages is created and the e-mail is sent our with the return address field in the message header is forged with a real e-mail address. This is usually not a manual operation but done by a spammer or by a computer that has been infected with a virus. They have a list of valid e-mail address and this list is used to fill in the return address field of the message being sent. The message is sent out to thousands of addresses and many of them are bad address. Since the message couldn’t be delivered the message is returned to the sender, which it thinks is you. You get this message back in your mailbox and you can receive many of these messages. All you can do is to delete these messages. Trying to report them won’t do much because the message have to be traced back to the sending machine, which most likely is off shore somewhere and not under any legal jurisdiction. If you have a spam filtering service it may not filter these types of messages. 
   
8. I subscribe to IHOT Postini Virus and Spam filtering service and I’m still getting receiving spam in my may box. Why is this? 
   
   No Spam filtering service is perfect. Spammers what to get them messages, good or bad, to end users mail box. Spam filter, like our Postini service, are always being updated to capture and filter out the spammer messages. It has to be said that no spam filter is perfect. The spammers are always looking for new way to get them e-mail to your mailbox. For every new type of trick they come up with, the filtering software or a service (like the Postini service we use) needs to create new filter to counter there new approach.
   
   If you are using our Postini Virus and Spam filtering service then they are some thing s you need to check. Just because you have subscribed to the service this will stop all spam from being delivered to your mail box. Postini is configurable using your Personal Message Center. Depending on your filter settings you may still be receiving some amount of spam. If you increase your filter setting to a higher setting then this will make the filtering more aggressive. There are tips and additional help that are accessible from within you Postini Messages Center. 
   
9. I have changed my Postini setting to the most aggressive setting and am still getting spam. Why is this? 
   
   No Spam Filtering service is perfect. You will always receive some spam in you mail box. See the answer above. One item that we have found to be problem is in the approved sender/recipients list in your Message Center. If you have put a e-mail address or a domain name in the approved sender/recipients list then any mail from that address or domain will not be filter for Spam. This doesn’t apply if a virus comes from that address or domain.
   
   One example we have seen is a user that put a domain name in the approved Sender/Recipients list, like HOTMAIL.COM. This would allow any mail from any e-mail address at HOTMAIL.COM to NOT, I repeat NOT, be subject to spam filtering because you have approved all mail from that domain. It isn’t a good idea to approval complete domains unless you understand what you are approving. See the help section in the Postini Message Center for additional information. 
   
10. If you are having problems with accessing your E-Mail using a E-Mail client, (like Outlook, Outlook express, etc) and it is asking for your password, check the error message displayed and see if the "server" is ihot.com. If so then the error is within your e-mail client. You can correct this issue by changing the "Incoming mail server (POP3)" to the correct setting of "pop3.ihot.com (in lower case and without the quotes". You can also check on the link below to see the correct e-mail setting.