Email out of commission today

11 AM Monday 12/19
Best consider email unreliable today and make contacts otherwise until we made the transfer to the new server. My apologies.

9 AM Monday 12/19
This morning we are in the midst of a change of server and upgrade that is taking longer than we thought. Currently the only reliable wasy to access email is via Outlook Web access, https://exchange.ieminc.org/owa/, For some this URL is not working. In this case use the the address, https://64.55.116.132/owa/. You may have to confirm security exceptions to get to the website. Go ahead and do that.

We hope that the conversion/upgrade will be done by tomorrow. Until that time, don't worry about what you see in Your Outlook application. just use the web access. I will keep you updated here and by email when available.

The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through email

If you like me have noticed notices appearing from the IRS in my SPAM, you might appreciate the information on this page. http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html

The main message is if you have received any email purporting to be from the IRS it is likely bogus. Please protect yourself and go to the link above to find out more.

New Message Security/Discovery Service from Google - Powered by Postini

Great News!  We will soon be switching to the Google Message Discovery Service (powered by Postini). This service includes both Message Security and Message Archiving features. providing you with world-class protection against dangerous viruses and spam as well as email archiving. This service is scheduled to rollout beginning this Friday, July 28, 2011.

The primary reasons for this switch are it is a little less expensive than the one we had been using. Also, it includes email archiving(searchable by the user) for up to 10 years. This will also help us comply with legal requirements about email retention.

This is what you should expect:

1. As we add your email address to the service, you will receive an email

   notification that welcomes you to the service and the Message Center and

   includes password instructions that permit access to the Message Center.

2. You will receive a daily email notification with a Quarantine Summary

   which provides a list of messages that have been quarantined since the

   previous day. You can view the messages from the list, deliver them directly

   to your inbox or just ignore them. Virus-detected messages are deleted

   and will not appear on the list.

Please log in to your Message Center as soon as possible to review any possible

legitimate messages, prevent a sender's message from being quarantined in the future

by updating your Approved Senders List, adjust your sensitivity to spam or select

another language preference.

For more information on the Message Center and Quarantine Summary, we encourage you to take a guided tour of the service:

http://www.postini.com/webdocs/mc_resources/tour/email_security_tour/engage.html

For additional questions you may have regarding the Message Center or Quarantine

Summary, please view our Message Center FAQ:

http://www.postini.com/webdocs/mc_resources/faq_inter/faq_inter_en/engage.html

Macs no longer immune

There has been a myth going around for some years that Apple's Macintosh computer does not have viruses or malware attacking it. This is not true.


For many years, as the Macintosh only had about a 5% market share of personal computers, most hackers focussed their nefarious deeds on the Windows platform. Now with Macintosh gaining in popularity again, the tables have turned. Hackers are now turning their attention the Macintosh. I quote a recent article, This Mac security myth was busted two weeks ago when a large number of Mac users are hit by a malware known as “Mac Defender” If you have encountered this, check the Apple support site for help.

I encourage all Macintosh users to invest in Anti-Virus/Malware protection. A variety of these are displayed on the Apple website at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/. Some of the schools have purchased product, VirusBarrier X6 10.6.9 that is recommended by Apple. There is also a free product they recommend, Free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition 7.2C.

Also make sure that you have put in a password for your account(make sure you write it down somewhere for safekeeping).http://support.apple.com/kb/VI32, This is a basic protection that you can implement immediately.


For those of you with IPads, there are not yet any identified malware, but with the popularity of this device, there is no telling when it might appear. Here is an article with a few security tips, http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/03/12/top-5-things-to-do-when-you-get-your-ipad-2-setup-and-security/

Whatever you decide on please take action to protect your Macintosh computer from viruses and malware.

Additional Things To Clean The Bugs Out

Here are some guidelines that we all should use to help keep our email free of malware. (Think of it as washing your hands regularly to keep from passing any germs onto your friends.)

1.       Install a virus scanner.See the prior post about this
2.       And yes that includes the Apple computer.  These are getting infected also. We have found two in the last 2 weeks.
3.       Please make sure you scan your computer for viruses at least once a week.
4.       Make sure your Anti-Virus system is up-to-date.

Here is just some good common practices. 

1.       Do not use machines that are not under your control (e.g. public computers).
2.       Do not share your password.
3.       Do not connect to a network that you don’t have control over. (Library, Hotel network are insecure at best. If you must use one, keep it to a minimum and follow security guidelines).
4.       Change your email password every 6 months.

If we can get everyone to do their part, we can make things a bit more secure for everyone.

Help me clean up my computer!

This post is selfish. I am hoping that you all can help me clean up my email. I starting getting some odd emails that look like email delivery failures. What they are in fact is evidence that someone who has my email address has been infected with a computer virus or malware. This one is probably a trojan, which is so named because unbeknownst to you it hijacks your computer and secretly sends out SPAM. It could even be that someone accessed their email via the web on another computer that was already infected. It is all but impossible to track the source of these clever little beasties. The best we can do is each of us clean up the computers we use to ensure that we are not the sender. Here's how:

1. Shut down your email program. Both local and web access
2. Update your anti-virus software. (We have bought a copy of AVG for each of our users) There are many companies that offer these, McAfee, Trend.  Here is a free one for the macintosh. You should have  one. Make sure you do this on any computer you have accessed you email including webmail, then scan the machine for viruses.
3. Download and install malwarebytes(PC only)(select the free version), and run a scan also(quick scan is sufficient). Here is scanner for Macintosh.

I really hope you can help me clean up my email this way. Thanks in advance.

PS. This will also help everyone else that you email.

PPS. It is possible to set up regular scans with your anti-virus software that help you from ever getting infected. Check it out

Managing your email account

As we all know, communicating through email is a major part of our jobs. In order to keep our email service running at its greatest speed and efficiency, we must perform regular maintenance, just as we would any of our important tools. One of thing the primary things we must do to keep our email running well is to keep the size of the mailbox under control. The greater volume and size of emails and attachments that we now use to communicate now could threaten to overwhelm any system.

I have attached, in this message, links which will take you to some slick training pages that can make you into an informed email user with the tools to keep your email running efficiently. Especially if you have experienced odd behaviors with your email and you have never paid any attention managing the size of your mailbox, I recommend that you check out one of the following trainings.

Outlook 2003
Outlook 2007

PS. If you only use Outlook Web Access, there are no current training materials online, but there is a handy help menu that has lots of helpful hints. just click on the
 symbol in the upper right hand corner when you log in.