Rants and Raves

This is a listing of server names for various internet service providers and hosting companies I’ve complied.  Use your browser (page text) search feature to locate the one you’re interested or browse them alphabetically (this is a lengthy post).

1&1

• pop3:  pop.1and1.com
  port 110; 995 ssl
• imap4: imap.1and1.com
  port 143; 993 ssl
• smtp: smtp.1and1.com
  port 25; 587 ssl

Adelphia Internet Service

• pop3: mail.adelphia.net
• smtp: mail.adelphia.net

AT&T Internet Service

• pop3: postoffice.worldnet.att.net
• smtp: mailhost.worldnet.att.net
• nntp: netnews.att.net (dial)
• nntp: netnews.worldnet.att.net (dial)
• nntp: inetnews.worldnet.att.net (broadband

AOL Internet Service

• imap4: imap.aol.com
• smtp: smtp.aol.com

Bell Altantic Internet Service

• pop3: pop.bellatlantic.net
• smtp: gtei.bellatlantic.net

BellSouth Internet Service

• pop3: mail.bellsouth.net
• smtp: mail.bellsouth.net
• nntp: newsgroups.bellsouth.net

BlueLight Internet Service

• pop3: mail.bluelight.net
• smtp: mail.bluelight.net

Brainstorm Internet Service

• pop3: mail.gobrainstorm.net
• smtp: mail.gobrainstorm.net

Cableone Internet Service

• pop3: mail.cableone.net
• smtp: authmail.cableone.net

Charter Communications

• pop3: pop.charter.net
• smtp: smtp.charter.net

Comcast Communications

• pop3: mail.comcast.net
• smtp: smtp.comcast.net
• nntp: newsgroups.comcast.net

Compaq Internet Service

• pop3: pop3.compaq.net
• smtp: smtp.compaq.net
• nntp: news.compaq.net

Compuserve Internet Service

• pop3: pop.compuserve.com
• smtp: smtp.compuserve.com
• nntp: news.compuserve.com

Concentric Internet Service

• pop3: pop.concentric.net
• smtp: smtp.concentric.net
• nntp: news.concentric.net

Cox Communications

• East
  • pop3: pop.east.cox.net
  • smtp: smtp.east.cox.net
  • nntp: news.east.cox.net
• Central
  • pop3: pop.central.cox.net
  • smtp: smtp.central.cox.net
  • nntp: newscentral.cox.net
• West
  • pop3: pop.west.cox.net
  • smtp: smtp.west.cox.net
  • nntp: news.west.cox.net

Cypress Communications

• pop3: pop.cypress communications.net
• smtp: smtp.cypress communications.net

DirectNIC Internet Service

• pop3: pop.directnic.com
• smtp: smtp.directnic.com

Dotster

• pop3: pop.registerapi.com
• smtp: smtpauth.registerapi.com

Earthlink Internet Service

• pop3: pop.earthlink.net
• smtp: ssmtpauth.earthlink.net
• nntp: news.east.earthlink.net
• nntp: news.west.earthlink.net
• ftp: ftp-www.earthlink.net

EasyCGI

• pop3: mail.[yourdomain]
• smtp: smtp.[yourdomain]

FrontierNet Internet Service

• pop3: pop3.frontiernet.net
• smtp: smtp.frontiernet.net
• nntp: news.frontiernet.net

GoDaddy

• pop3: mail.godaddy.com
• smtp: [none]

Google Mail

• pop3: pop.gmail.com
  port 995 ssl
• imap4: imap.gmail.com
  port 993 ssl
• smtp: smtp.gmail.com
  port 465, 587 ssl/starttls

HughesNet Internet Service

• pop3: mail.hughes.net
• smtp: smtp.hughes.net

Internet America Internet Service

• pop3: pop3.airmail.net
• smtp: mail.airmail.net

iPage

• pop3: mail.[yourdomain]
• smtp: mail.[yourdomain]

IX Web Hosting

• pop3: pop.ix.netcom.com
• smtp: smtp.ix.netcom.com

Juno Internet Service

• pop3: pop.juno.com
• smtp: smtp.juno.com

JustHost

• pop3: mail.[yourdomain]
  port 110; 995 ssl
• imap4: mail.[yourdomain]
  port 143; 993 ssl
• smtp: mail.[yourdomain]
  port 25, 2626; 465, 587 ssl

Lycos

• pop3: pop.mail.lycos.com
• smtp: smtp.mail.lycos.com

Mac

• pop3: mail.mac.com
• smtp: smtp.mac.com

Mail.com

• pop3: pop1.mail.com
• smtp: smtp1.mail.com
• nntp: news.mail.com

MegaPath Internet Service

• pop3: mail.megapathdsl.net
• smtp: mail.megapathdsl.net
• nntp: news.megapath.net

Mediacom Online Internet Service

• pop3: mail.mchsi.com
• smtp: mail.mchsi.com
• nntp: netnews.mchsi.com

Mindspring Internet Service

• pop3: pop.mindspring.com
• smtp: smtp.mindspring.com

Mpower Communications

• pop3: pop.mpowercom.net
• smtp: smtp.mpowercom.net
• nntp: news.mpowercom.net

MSN Internet Service Provider

• pop3: pop3.email.msn.com
• smtp: smtp.email.msn.com
• nntp: netnews.msn.com

Netscape

• pop3: pop3.isp.netscape.com
• smtp: smtp.isp.netscape.com
• nntp: news.netscape.com

Network Solutions

• pop3: mail.[yourdomain]
• smtp: smtp.[yourdomain]

NetZero Internet Service

• pop3: pop.netzero.net
• smtp: smtp.netzero.net
• nntp: news.netzero.net

onehost worx Internet Service

• pop3: mail.emailworx.net
• smtp: smtpsecure.emailworx.net

Pacifier Internet Service

• pop3: mail.pacifier.com
• smtp: smtp.pacifier.com

PeoplePC Internet Service

• pop3: pop.peoplepc.com
• smtp: smtpauth.peoplepc.com
• nntp: news.peoplepc.com

Pipeline Internet Service

• pop3: pop.pipeline.com
• smtp: smtp.pipeline.com

Rediff Internet Service

• pop3: pop.rediffmailpro.com
• smtp: smtp.rediffmailpro.com
• nntp: news.rediff.com

SBC Yahoo!

• Ameritech
  • pop3: pop.ameritech.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.ameritech.yahoo.com
• NVBell
  • pop3: pop.nvbell.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.nvbell.yahoo.com
• PacBell
  • pop3: pop.pacbell.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.pacbell.yahoo.com
• SNet
  • pop3: pop.snet.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.snet.yahoo.com
• SWBell
  • pop3: pop.swbell.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.swbell.yahoo.com

• ---

• Flash
  • pop3: pop.flash.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.flash.yahoo.com
• Prodigy
  • pop3: pop.sbcglobal.net
  • smtp: smtpauth.prodigy.net
• Wans
  • pop3: pop.wans.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.wans.yahoo.com
• - Other -
  • pop3: pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com
  • smtp: smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com

Seanet Internet Service

• pop3: pop.seanet.com
• smtp: mx.seanet.com
• nntp: news.seanet.com

Sonic.net Internet Service

• pop3: pop.sonic.net
• smtp: mail.sonic.net
• nntp: news.sonic.net

Speakeasy Internet Service

• pop3: mail.speakeasy.net
• smtp: mail.speakeasy.net
• nntp: news.speakeasy.net

SprintPCS

• pop3: pop.sprintpcs.com
• smtp: smtp.sprintpcs.com

Sprynet Internet Service

• pop3: pop.sprynet.com
• smtp: smtp.sprynet.com

Starpower Internet Service

• pop3: pop.starpower.net
• smtp: smtp.starpower.net
• nntp: news.starpower.net

Time Warner

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  • pop3: pop-server.bham.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.bham.rr.com
• Alabama (Dothan)
  • pop3: pop-server.sw.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.sw.rr.com
• Alabama (Eufaula)
  • pop3: pop-server.eufaula.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.eufaula.rr.com
• California (Bakersfield)
  • pop3: pop-server.bak.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.bak.rr.com
• California (San Diego)
  • pop3: pop-server.san.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.san.rr.com
• California (Southern / Los Angeles)
  • pop3: pop-server.socal.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.socal.rr.com
• California (Desert Cities)
  • pop3: pop-server.dc.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.dc.rr.com
• Florida (Cantonment)
  • pop3: pop-server.panhandle.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.panhandle.rr.com
• Florida (Central Florida, Orlando)
  • pop3: pop-server.clf.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.clf.rr.com
• Florida (Cape Coral / Naples)
  • pop3: pop-server.swfla.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.swfla.rr.com
• Florida (Lake City / Live Oak)
  • pop3: pop-server.se.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.se.rr.com
• Florida (Palatka)
  • pop3: pop-server.se.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.se.rr.com
• Florida (St Augustine)
  • pop3: pop-server.se.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.se.rr.com
• Florida (Tampa Bay)
  • pop3: pop-server.tampabay.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.tampabay.rr.com
• Georgia (Ft. Benning)
  • pop3: pop-server.sw.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.sw.rr.com
• Indiana (Indianapolis)
  • pop3: pop-server.indy.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.indy.rr.com
• Indiana (Terre Haute)
  • pop3: pop-server.ma.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.ma.rr.com
• Kansas (Kansas City)
  • pop3: pop-server.kc.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.kc.rr.com
• Kansas (Colby)
  • pop3: pop-server.we.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.we.rr.com
• Louisiana (Houma)
  • pop3: pop-server.sw.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.sw.rr.com
• Louisiana (La Place)
  • pop3: pop-server.sw.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.sw.rr.com
• Louisiana (Monroe)
  • pop3: pop-server.jam.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.jam.rr.com
• Louisiana (Shreveport)
  • pop3: pop-server.sport.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.sport.rr.com
• Maine (Southeast Maine, Portland)
  • pop3: pop-server.maine.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.maine.rr.com
• Massachusettes (Athol)
  • pop3: pop-server.mass.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.mass.rr.com
• Massachusettes (Berkshire County)
  • pop3: pop-server.berkshire.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.berkshire.rr.com
• Michigan (Detroit)
  • pop3: pop-server.twmi.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.twmi.rr.com
• Minnesota (Minneapolis)
  • pop3: pop-server.mn.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.mn.rr.com
• Mississippi (Jackson)
  • pop3: pop-server.jam.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.jam.rr.com
• Missouri (Kansas City)
  • pop3: pop-server.kc.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.kc.rr.com
• Nebraska (Lincoln)
  • pop3: pop-server.neb.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.neb.rr.com
• New Hampshire (Keene)
  • pop3: pop-server.ne.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.ne.rr.com
• New Jersey (Bergen)
  • pop3: pop-server.nj.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.nj.rr.com
• New York (Albany)
  • pop3: pop-server.nycap.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.nycap.rr.com
• New York (Central Northern)
  • pop3: pop-server.twcny.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.twcny.rr.com
• New York (Hudson Valley, Catskills)
  • pop3: pop-server.hvc.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.hvc.rr.com
• New York (New York City, Manhattan)
  • pop3: pop-server.nyc.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.nyc.rr.com
• New York (Rochester)
  • pop3: pop-server.rochester.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.rochester.rr.com
• New York (Binghamton, Vestal, Johnson City)
  • pop3: pop-server.stny.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.stny.rr.com
• New York (Staten Island)
  • pop3: pop-server.si.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.si.rr.com
• North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, RTP)
  • pop3: pop-server.nc.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.nc.rr.com
• North Carolina (East Carolina, Wilmington)
  • pop3: pop-server.ec.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.ec.rr.com
• North Carolina (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High-Point)
  • pop3: pop-server.triad.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.triad.rr.com
• North Carolina (Charlotte Metro)
  • pop3: pop-server.carolina.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.carolina.rr.com
• Ohio (Cincinatti)
  • pop3: pop-server.cinci.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.cinci.rr.com
• Ohio (Columbus)
  • pop3: pop-server.columbus.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.columbus.rr.com
• Ohio (North East)
  • pop3: pop-server.neo.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.neo.rr.com
• Ohio (Western)
  • pop3: pop-server.woh.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.woh.rr.com
• Pennsylvania (Erie)
  • pop3: pop-server.ma.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.ma.rr.com
• Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
  • pop3: pop-server.ucwphilly.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.ucwphilly.rr.com
• South Carolina (Columbia)
  • pop3: pop-server.carolina.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.carolina.rr.com
• Tennessee (Memphis)
  • pop3: pop-server.midsouth.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.midsouth.rr.com
• Texas (Austin)
  • pop3: pop-server.austin.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.austin.rr.com
• Texas (El Paso)
  • pop3: pop-server.elp.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.elp.rr.com
• Texas (Houston)
  • pop3: pop-server.houston.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.houston.rr.com
• Texas (Rio Grande Valley)
  • pop3: pop-server.rgv.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.rgv.rr.com
• Texas (San Antonio)
  • pop3: pop-server.satx.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.satx.rr.com
• Texas (Heart of Texax – Waco, Temple, etc.)
  • pop3: pop-server.hot.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.hot.rr.com
• Texas (Greater Texas, Beaumont)
  • pop3: pop-server.gt.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.gt.rr.com
• Texas (Corpus Christi, Eagle Pass, Kerrville, Laredo)
  • pop3: pop-server.stx.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.stx.rr.com
• Texas (Witchita Falls)
  • pop3: pop-server.sw.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.sw.rr.com
• West Virginia (Clarksburg)
  • pop3: pop-server.ma.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.ma.rr.com
• Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
  • pop3: pop-server.wi.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.wi.rr.com
• Wisconsin (North East Wisconsin, Green Bay)
  • pop3: pop-server.new.rr.com
  • smtp: smtp-server.new.rr.com

Verizon Internet Service

• pop3: incoming.verizon.net
• smtp: outgoing.verizon.net
• nntp: news.verizon.net

Verizon Wireless

• pop3: pop.vzwmail.net
• smtp: smtp.vzwmail.net

WildBlue Internet Service

• pop3: mail.wildblue.net
• smtp: mail.wildblue.net
• nntp: news.wildblue.net

Windstream Internet Service

• pop3: pop.windstream.net
• smtp: smtp.windstream.net
• nntp: news.windstream.net

Yahoo! Mail

• pop3: pop.mail.yahoo.com
• smtp: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
• nntp: news.news.yahoo.com

• ftp: File Transfer Protocol
• pop3: Post Office Protocol (incoming mail)
• imap4: Internet Message Access Protocol (incoming mail)
• nntp: Network News Transfer Protocol (news)
• smtp: Simple Mail Transport Protocol (outgoing mail)

Notes:

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm the accuracy of most of this information; however, should you notice an error (or oversight) please contact me and I will correct it.

As I determine the encryption and ports for each provider I’ll add them as well.

Originally posted 2010-10-29 02:00:41.

Tags: Communications, Email, Technology, Web by roger
No Comments »

Ever go to a web site to enter your email address and find that it wouldn’t fit in the field they provided?

It’s amazing in a world of standards that companies (and individuals) continually ignore them and decide for themselves what’s acceptable.

HELLO!

User names (or local part of the address) can be 64 characters long, and domain names can be 255 characters long.

Here is an example of a reasonable well written validation for email addresses — if you want to see poorly done ones in action it doesn’t take too much effort to find ones that limit the entire email address to less than 30 characters!

<?php function isValidAddress( $email, $check = false )
{
##############################
# PHP Email Address Validator
# (C) Derrick Pallas
#
# Authors: Derrick Pallas
# Website: http://derrick.pallas.us/email-validator/
# License: Academic Free License 2.1
# Version: 2006-12-01a
if (!ereg(”
. ‘^’
. ‘[-!#$%&\'*+/0-9=?A-Z^_a-z{|}~]‘
. ‘(\\.?[-!#$%&\'*+/0-9=?A-Z^_a-z{|}~])*’
. ‘@’
. ‘[a-zA-Z](-?[a-zA-Z0-9])*’
. ‘(\\.[a-zA-Z](-?[a-zA-Z0-9])*)+’
. ‘$’
, $email
) ) return false;
list( $local, $domain ) = split( “@”, $email, 2 );
if ( strlen($local) > 64 || strlen($domain) > 255 ) return false;
if ( $check && !gethostbynamel( $domain ) ) return false;
return true;
# END
######
}

RFC822 superseded by RFC2822.

User names (for email) may contain:

• A to Z letters, upper and lower case.
• 0 through 9 digits
• . (fullstop, period) but not as the first or last character
• ! # $ % & ‘ * + – / = ? ^ _ ` { | } ~ – all are permitted.

The maximum length of the user is 64 characters; the domain is 255 characters; so with the @ a valid address could be up to 320 characters.

Further, did you know that user names are case sensitive (but domain names are not).  Of course many email systems treat user names as case insensitive.

For information on domain name limitation you should see IANA.

Now you know more than most developers who write code that accepts or uses email addresses!

Originally posted 2008-08-25 22:12:27.

Tags: Communications, Email, Technology by roger
No Comments »

I’ve know for a very long time that many websites that sell goods and services to consumers also sell (or trade) the email addresses they register.

SPAM (Unsolicited Commercial Email – UCE) is when any entity sends you an email soliciting money for goods or services that you have not specifically requested.

Thus, when one company provided email marketers your email address (without your express permission) they are supporting SPAM, and companies that support SPAM are no better than the SPAMmers themselves since they are making money from SPAM.

But how would you know who sold your email address?

That’s easy, for years I’ve provided each vendor I do business with a unique email address which tracks any and all mail back to them.

Recently I found that a company I purchased a couple items from — CDR DVD Media ( www.cdrdvdrmedia.com ) sold or traded my email address to an email marketer.  What’s really funny in this is that CDR DVD Media uses Yahoo! (a company that purports to oppose SPAMming and hold it customers to high anti-SPAM standards) to process orders (so it appears it’s easy for Yahoo to talk the talk, but maybe they should walk the walk and actually adopt a ZERO tolerance policy against SPAMmers and their customers that support them — oh right, that means Yahoo would cut into it’s revenue stream, and they really probably only want to prevent SPAMming from free customers).

My policy (and I recommend it become you policy) is that you NEVER do business with SPAMmers or companies that support SPAMming.  Of course, I warned of the growing problem of SPAM/UCE over 15 years ago… and it’s easy for any and everyone to see now what burying your head in the sand does to prevent greedy marketers from breaking the law (yeah — SPAM is against the law in a number of states; and often SPAMmers steal services to send out their message).

Originally posted 2009-07-31 01:00:24.

Tags: ! ALERTS !, Communications, Email, Shit List, Shopping, Technology by roger
No Comments »

Part of the Microsoft Live Essential software suite available either from Live.com (see link below) or through the Microsoft Update is Live Mail; a simple, fairly versatile email client.

Live Mail allows access to POP3, IMAP4, and Hot Mail / MSN Mail / Live Mail web mail.

Live Mail is a replacement for Outlook Express and Windows Mail (from Vista).

It’s nicely polished, and for the most part works without any major issues (like any software, it has bugs and annoyances).

One thing you may not like is the fact that Live Mail hides the menu bar (you can enable it; but even that seems to be made purposely difficult in the latest version).

The biggest annoyance I have with Live Mail is that it will not import an IAF (that’s an export file) created with Outlook Express or Windows Mail (thank you very much Microsoft for paying such close attention to customer needs).

If you have a Hot Mail / MSN Mail / Live Mail web mail account you will probably want to choose this product as an email client on your computer; if you don’t you may want to look at Thunderbird (part of the Mozilla project, as is Firefox).

The feature I like most about Live Mail (and it’s predecessors) is the ability to drag an email out of Live Mail onto my local file system and put it back (Thunderbird doesn’t have any convenient way to put a message back).  This isn’t a feature that should be a deal breaker for most anyone (if you need to do it, you know how to do it with Thunderbird — it just won’t be quite as easy).

Overall, Live Mail is a descent program, and it’s priced right — FREE.

Windows Live Essentials

NOTE:  GMail content can be access by either POP3 or IMAP4; simply follow the instructions on GMail to enable it and add it to Live Mail or any email client that supports POP3 or IMAP4 over a SSL connection (and allows you to specify the port numbers).

Originally posted 2009-11-24 01:00:40.

Tags: Communications, Computers, Email, Software, Technology, Windows by roger
No Comments »

Each and every time you encounter someone trying to defraud you make sure you report it.

Phishing scams, money scams, premium SMS message, suspicious phone calls, un-authorized phone charges, un-authorized credit card charges, etc — go ahead and visit the IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center; a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], the National White Collar Crime Center [NW3C], and the Bureau of Justice Assistance [BJA]) and file a report.

Take action and let the law enforcement community decide what’s a threat and what’s not – but DO NOT remain silent or these problems will continue.

http://www.ic3.gov/

NOTE:  If you have an un-authorized charge on any of your bills you will also want to contact your billing company and dispute the charge with them; the IC3 will not do this for you.

Originally posted 2008-10-24 13:00:38.

Tags: ! ALERTS !, Cellular, Communications, Email, Finance, General, Legal, Shipping, Shopping, Technology by roger
No Comments »

If you have a GMail account or a GMail hosted mail service you can use the information below to setup your local mail client after you enable access via the web interface.

POP:
 
host: pop.gmail.com
port: 995, use SSL
 
 
 
IMAP:
 
host: imap.gmail.com
port: 993, use SSL
 
 
 
SMTP:
 
host: smtp.gmail.com (requires authentication)
port: 465, use SSL
port: 587, use TLS

If you have a GMail hosted email server, you’ll need to sign in via:

     http://mail.google.com/a/<domain name>

or the URL provided by your administrator to make the changes, if you just have a regular GMail account sign in via

     http://www.gmail.com/

Originally posted 2008-05-19 14:18:26.

Tags: Communications, Computers, Email, Internet, Technology by roger
No Comments »

With Windows 7 Microsoft has removed email, instant messaging, address book, calendaring,  and movie maker from the Windows install.  If you run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor it will direct you to Live.com (a Microsoft) site for tools that will add back these features to Windows.

Live.com has offered most all of these tools in one form or another for over a year; and for quite some time now the entire suite of tools.

I’ll just quickly list the features:

• Live Messanger
• Live Call
• Live Mail
• Live Writer
• Live Photo Gallery
• Live Movie Maker
• Live Toolbar
• Live Family Saftey

Live Messanger is the replacement for Windows Messanger, MSN Messanger it’s substantially the same as what ever Microsoft messanger you might use — with an updated look and feel and of course, new features.

Live Call is Microsoft’s entry into the voice communications market.  I’ve never used it, so I can’t really comment on it.

Live Mail is the replacement for Outlook Express and Windows Mail (for you Vista users).  It somewhat resembles both of it’s predecessors, but carries forward many of the refinements from Windows Mail; and introduces a number of “bugs” that had been stomped out long ago in the code line (I reported several during the BETA — they still haven’t been fixed, and I expect until they annoy someone on the Live Mail team they won’t be).  On feature that has been added that many will find useful is the ability to interface with Hot Mail/MSN Mail/Live Mail web mail directly (at no cost).

Live Writer is a WYSIWYG editor for BLOGing.  It interfaces to Live BLOGs as well as a number of blogging engines and web sites.

Live Photo Gallery is Microsoft’s attempt to get some of the media sharing market.  I don’t use it, but I’m sure they’ve figured out some way to make money from it (like all the others).

Live Movie Maker is the replacement for Windows Movie Maker.  I haven’t used it.  The previous software might be fine for novices; but I prefer to use Final Cut Studio on my Mac; so I don’t think my opinion of this software is relevant to the target audience.

Live Toolbar is like most toolbars, a waste.  Whether it’s invasive like most of them or not I can’t say — I have no need for toolbars; and you probably don’t either.

Live Family Saftey is designed to limit access to questionable internet sites and content.  I’ve never used it; but I would guess like most it errors on the side of caution.

There is also a Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, and Office Live Add-In which provide access to Live features directly from Microsoft Office (why?) that you can read about on your own.

Overall, many of the “free” tools in Microsoft Live Essentials are probably well worth the small amount of time and energy to download and install.  One note, make sure you uncheck the items you don’t want (you can add them later if you change your mind) and pay close attention to the attemp to change (and lock) your browser’s home page and search tool.

Microsoft Live Essentials

Originally posted 2009-11-22 01:00:50.

Tags: Blogging, Communications, Computers, Email, Software, Technology, Windows by roger
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One of the things that the internet allows almost everyone is the ability to express their opinion in a venue that others can “hear”.

Just do an internet search on almost anything you can think of… you’ll find reviews, comments, rants, and sometimes raves!

While you rarely know anything about the individual who wrote the posting, from a well thought out post you can gather some important questions to get the answers to before making a decision, so as a tool for an informed consumer the internet can be invaluable not only in locating the “best” prices, but also in finding the “best” products and “best” vendors!

It only takes a little effort to learn a great deal about any good or service you’re considering — it’s totally up to you whether you make an informed decision or just wing it.

Originally posted 2008-12-30 12:00:06.

Tags: Blogging, Communications, Email, General, Shit List, Technology by roger
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Since I’ve given Windows Live Mail a “recommendation” I do want to be clear about about some of the specifics.

First, when you move a message from one folder (account) to another, the tree pane displaying the folders (accounts) resets you to the top of the list reguardless of where you are.  This is clearly a bug — maintaining the visual state of a program is important (and I’ve reported it — on each of the last several versions).

Second, once in a while when you send a message, the message is sent fine; however, the message windows stays open, and if it was a “reply” the icon on the original message doesn’t change.  If the message window doesn’t close after you’ve clicked “send”, you might want to check your outbox and/or your sent items to see if it’s already been sent (or you might end up sending multiple copies — and that’s just embarrasing).

By default (and this is true of most all of the “newer” programs) the menu bar is turned off (the classic, file, edit, view, tools… help).  You can of course turn it back on, and you actually have to if you want to access some of the “advanced” features.  Personally I haven’t decided which way is best; I certainly like the fact the clutter is reduced, however I think I would like it more if I could easily add some of the feature to a “custom” tool bar rather than having to turn on the menu bar…

The program color codes your accounts; it uses some seemingly random selection process, but you can change them.  Most of the colors are muted, but there’s a pretty good selection.

The program allows you to determine the order of accounts in the tree pane (which is a great improvement over Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail where you had to prefix accounts with number or special chacters to get them to sort in anything other than “alphabetical”… and technically it was still alphabetical, it’s just you had a character or two at the beginning that wasn’t part of the “name”).  They could improve the interface of moving folders a little — like add a “move to top” and “move to bottom” instead of just “move up” and “move down”

They’ve done a nice job with the visual elements of the program; it takes some of the ideas from the way Outlook presents information and trys to keep everything “simple”.

And I’ve saved what could be the best new feature for last.. the “Quick Views” — basically, you have a great deal of control over this, but by default it shows you things like “Unread e-mail”, “Unread from contacts”, “Flagged items”… and if you’re like me and have a ton of email accounts, it’s really nice to be able to zero in on those new message quickly, and find those flagged message.

It also has SPAM and Phishing filters; but I tend to depend on my ISP to do that, and find that a second level of SPAM filters create more problems…

Originally posted 2008-05-12 00:27:10.

Tags: Communications, Computers, Email, Technology by roger
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AT&T offers three separate services through their U-Verse branded advance communications offering.  This post will deal with high speed internet.

Essentially AT&T U-Verse internet is DSL broadband — though at much higher rates that you’re likely used to… the particulars of the speed offering depends on the package you pay for.

• Max Turbo – Up to 24 Mbps downstream Starting at $65/month
• Max Plus – Up to 18.0 Mbps downstream Starting at $55/month
• Max – Up to 12.0 Mbps downstream Starting at $45/month
• Elite – Up to 6.0 Mbps downstream Starting at $43/month
• Pro – Up to 3.0 Mbps downstream Starting at $38/month

Upstream bandwidth increases with downstream, and is generally much more generous than AT&T’s older ADSL plans; though the pricing of the lower bandwidth U-Verse services aren’t as attractive as the older AT&T ADSL plans (particularly with the promotions you can probably still get for the older ADSL combined with voice or even “naked” DSL plans)..

Not shown on their ordering information is a 30 Mbps downstream plan to be offered later this Summer that will ahve a 5 Mbps upstream.

Remember from my earlier post — you must use the AT&T residential gateway.  The gateway is a descent piece of consumer technology, though I’m not sure it’s a very high performance internet router.

My tests of it show that it’s definitely capable of sustaining the advertised bandwidth of your connection (and you really get the bandwidth your order); however, my tests also show that the router isn’t capable of sustaining a large number of simultaneous connections without rather dramatic performance degradation.

Which mean in plan old English — if you’re going to do Peer-To-Peer file sharing, the AT&T residential gateway will not be your friend… you’re probably going to end up having to reset it every day or two to keep it running well (I’ve noted that simply shutting down the connections doesn’t seem to help — but that could be that other P2P nodes are continuing to bombard your IP address).

For most people P2P isn’t a requirement, and certainly most people won’t be doing P2P much — and if they do, they certainly understand how to discontinue P2P services and reset the connection (remember it affects voice and video when you reset) when they need high speed connectivity for something else.

My gut tells me that the equipment is operating as designed — and intended to enforce a “fair use” policy by penalizing individuals who try and do P2P (after all — unlimited really doesn’t mean as much as you want, it means as much as your provider is willing to let you have).

And my gut feeling about the router operating as designed is further re-enforced by the fact that a great deal of though has been put into the design of the software and interface for the router… it will do pretty much anything any use will need for it to do (don’t think along the lines of a Cisco router with IOS, think along the lines of a prosumer / SOHO router).

Overall, my feelings are that the AT&T U-Verse Internet is a good deal, that it performs well, and at the high speed levels (well, not at the highest — I think there you’re getting gouged) it’s a reasonably fair price, and a very solid technology.

U-Verse Internet is really all I wanted from AT&T; and it’s the one service I will keep.

Originally posted 2010-05-17 02:00:38.

Tags: Communications, Email, Technology, Web by roger
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