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Antivirus

Top Signs Your Computer May be Infected

Scott Blake is a Senior Network Engineer with Tech Experts.

Ranging from minor spyware and adware to complete system lock-outs courtesy of ransomware, infections have become a standard in today’s high-speed electronic age.

Even when using the latest state of the art detection software, the most modern systems are prone to infection.

Some basic low-level forms of adware and spyware are add-ons called toolbars. A toolbar is an add-on to a web browser, putting another bar at the top of your browser window below the address bar.

They can come in several different forms and functions. Some are helpful and pose no threat to your system. Others serve as a reporting tool for the toolbar’s designer.

They can collect data on surfing habits such as websites visited and search topics used. This data is then transmitted back to the designer and sold off to advertisers who, in turn, use the information to start spamming you with their client’s websites and ads.

Building off of the spam generated from the data collected from the adware and spyware, you will start to see more and more pop-ups on webpages and possibly even on your desktop.

Sometimes, these pop-ups are harmless and very easy to remove, but more often, they are the beginning stages of an invasion of malicious programs.

The pop-ups use false and misleading information to scare the user into believing they are already infected and they need to download “their” software to clean the infections.

What ends up happening is that you think you are downloading one program to clean your system, but you are really downloading and installing additional programs in the background.

I have seen instances where one so-called program install downloaded nine additional programs in the background. None of the additional programs had anything to do with “cleaning” or “speeding” up your system. They just wreak havoc on your operating system.

Through these malicious programs, more dangerous infections can occur. High-risk level malware, trojans, and viruses become residents on your system.

From this point forward, you will start to experience extreme slowness or even a complete inability to browse the Internet. You will start to see an increase in spam email and email messages containing attachments or web links to strange web addresses.

The attachments are what you need to be very cautious about. A very high-risk level malware called Crypto is primarily transmitted through these infected attachments. Once infected, the Malware spreads though your system, encrypting all of your data.

After that, there is little hope of recovering any of your data.

Viruses, malware, trojans and malicious programs are lurking on the web at every turn.

The most important thing to remember is “knowledge is power.” Don’t fall victim to the overwhelming number of companies advertising that their products can and will clean your computer of these nasty bugs and speed up the performance of your computer at the same time.

The truth is that the vast majority of these companies will install a ton of “freeware” programs on your system that will bog down your CPU and eat up your memory resources.

Once these programs are installed, get ready for Pop-Up City. It turns into a giant game of Whack-A-Mole just trying to close all the windows and pop-ups generated by these programs.

Several of these programs will also inject a proxy server into your Internet settings. This will severely limit your Internet browsing and even redirect you to predefined webpages in an attempt to lure you into purchasing additional programs to remove the programs you already installed.

For additional information or if you think you may have a virus or spyware infection, contact Tech Experts at (734) 457-5000.

The Human Factor In Network Security

Scott Blake is a Senior Network Engineer with Tech Experts.

As you’re aware, disaster can manifest in many forms. In the past, we have included articles about weather-related events and how to best prepare your business against disasters.

However, there is another type of disaster that’s unlike flooding or fires that can also have devastating effects on your business.

The Human Factor
When it comes to safeguarding your business both physically and virtually, you have the power and controls available to give the edge against company espionage, cyber-attacks, or absent-minded employees.

It comes down to three basic areas: Software, Hardware and People. Once you have a firm grasp and control over these areas, you will have reduced your risk level considerably.

Software
Make sure all of your company’s electronic devices – from company-owned smart phones, tablets, laptops, workstations and servers – are running anti-virus and have a firewall in place.

While some devices are easier to secure and manage than others, this is a critical area, so be sure to make the best attempt to cover all your devices.

Be certain that your data storage devices are running backups and the backups are indeed good. As an added form of protection, encrypt your data being stored, making sure you save the key offsite as well.

Business_People_Group_laughing backupThat way, if your data is comprised either through internal access or external, it will become very difficult to use the data that was stolen.

The size of your company and the amount of sensitive data you have will dictate the frequency of your backup schedule. Remember, it never hurts to be overprotective when it comes to your data.

Hardware
Have security/firewall devices in place. Make sure they are fully configured for your business and that the firmware is up to date.

A lot of security devices add increased measures through the firmware updates.

They often have the ability to fully lock down your internal network as well. Restrict Internet access to only websites necessary for your business operations.

If your business offers Wi-Fi access for either internal use or guest use, make sure that controls are in place to limit access to your company’s internal network. The best precaution is to place the guest Wi-Fi on a completely separate network.

While Exchange mail servers can increase overhead, they will also add a level of increased security to combat against viral infections being delivered via email and attachments.

I’m sure everyone is well aware of Crypto-Locker and its variants. The majority of Crypto-Locker infections were delivered through infected PDF files sent as attachments.

People
By nature, humans are (and will always be) the most random aspect to safeguard your business from. It is vital that you run full background checks on any employee that will be given access to sensitive data or hardware.

Restrict the use of portable media such as flash drives and external hard drives while employees are working on or in the server room. Some companies may go as far as banning all portable media devices entirely.

Be proactive in actively monitoring your employees and watch for any changes in behavior, appearance, attitude and tone of speech. These can all be signs something is wrong.

If you have questions or you’re looking for suggestions, call Tech Experts at 734-457-5000, or email us at info@mytechexperts.com.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

Online Banking: Safety And Security Precautions

Printby Jeremy Miller, Technician
There are many avenues of attack when banking online safely. Many people simply use a computer that is attached to the Internet with little to no precautions at all. Some bank online even if they know there are issues with their computer or virus infections on their computer.

I will cover three levels of precaution that you can take to ensure your online banking information stays secure: simple, advanced, and paranoid. As the level of precaution increases, it will be more time consuming and difficult but worth it if you want to keep your online banking experience safe and secure.

Simple Precautions
To keep your information secure you must make sure that your computer is fully up-to-date with all Windows Updates and other software patches. Software vendors like Microsoft release security patches regularly to close exposed security holes in their software. Without patching hackers can use known-vulnerabilities to attack your computer.

Next you must make sure that you have anti-virus software installed and it is up-to-date with the latest virus definitions. You must also have your anti-virus run scans regularly to make sure the computer is clean of any known infections.

You should always look in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) bar to make sure the web address you are accessing is the correct one. Also make sure that the first five characters are HTTPS.

This will ensure that your traffic is encrypted, which will make your entire web traffic look like gibberish. If your first characters are only HTTP and not HTTPS then hackers would be able to read your password in plain text.

Lastly, you must only do online banking from trusted-networks like your home network or in some cases your work network. Anyone else attached to your network has the possibility to access your bank information if they have the know-how.

To be sure you are on a secure network, you should not use online banking from public or free networks that anyone can access. When you do this you ensure that only you and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can view your online traffic.

This will also protect you from man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM).These attacks are when a hacker is in between you and your target destination usually a router. Hackers using MITM attacks will be able to see all unencrypted traffic.

Advanced Precautions
You must ensure you are implementing all simple precautions, including a few more steps you can take to up your protection level.

Run a full virus scan before accessing your online bank account each time. Your system will be clear of known infections, plus it gives you significantly less risk of an infection since your last scan. A full scan looks at every file on your computer and checks it against a known virus database.

You can also configure Windows Firewall to prompt you before allowing traffic in or out of the computer, or you can install a software-firewall to scan your active Internet traffic.

The firewall will prompt you with pop-ups to ask if specific connections are allowed. This will allow you to approve or deny all traffic on your computer. Usually firewalls have different settings to allow you to choose the level of security this firewall will provide.

Paranoid Precautions
This is the most secure of the three and implements the previous precautions. It would be best to boot to a new operating system every time you need to access your online bank account. You need to know how to change your computers boot order and how to create a bootable USB drive or disk.

There are a number of free operating systems that you can load onto a disk or USB drive. WinPE will allow you to boot into a portable version of Windows. This will be a clean installation with no additional software installed.

You can also use the more widely available bootable Linux distributions as a clean bootable operating system to access your bank information. Ensure you are getting your distribution from a reputable vendor.

Most Linux distributions are free. Downloading a reputable vendor will ensure that there isn’t malicious software pre-loaded into the operating system.

If you are interested in enjoying a safer browser experience you can contact us and we can answer any questions or concerns as well as help you implement any of these precautions.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

Top Tips To Avoid A Virus Or Malware Infection

by Michael Menor, Network Technician
Malware is short for “malicious software.” It includes viruses and spyware that get installed on your computer, phone, or mobile device without your consent.

These programs can cause your device to crash and can be used to monitor and control your online activity. Criminals use malware to steal personal information, send spam, and commit fraud.

Avoid Malware
Scam artists try to trick people into clicking on links that will download malware and spyware to their computers, especially computers that don’t use adequate security software. To reduce your risk of downloading unwanted malware and spyware:

Keep your security software updated. At a minimum, your computer should have anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall. Set your security software, internet browser, and operating system (like Windows or Mac OS) to update automatically.

Don’t click on any links or open any attachments in emails unless you know who sent it and what it is. Clicking on links and attachments – even in emails that seem to be from friends or family – can install malware on your computer.

Download and install software only from websites you know and trust. Downloading free games, file-sharing programs, and customized toolbars may sound appealing, but free software can come with malware.

Minimize “drive-by” downloads. Make sure your browser security setting is high enough to detect unauthorized downloads. For Internet Explorer, for example, use the “medium” setting at a minimum.

Use a pop-up blocker and don’t click on any links within pop-ups. If you do, you may install malware on your PC. Close pop-up windows by clicking on the “X” in the upper right-hand corner of the title bar.

Resist buying software in response to unexpected pop-up messages or emails, especially ads that claim to have scanned your computer and detected malware. That’s a tactic scammers use to spread malware.

Talk about safe computing. Tell your kids that some online actions can put the computer at risk: clicking on pop-ups, downloading “free” games or programs, opening chain emails, or posting personal information.

Back up your data regularly. Whether its text files or photos that are important to you, back up any data that you’d want to keep in case your computer crashes.

Detect Malware

Monitor your computer for unusual behavior. Your computer may be infected with malware if it:

  • slows down, crashes, or displays repeated error messages
  • won’t shut down or restart
  • serves up a barrage of pop-ups
  • displays web pages you didn’t intend to visit, or sends emails you didn’t write

Other warning signs of malware include:

  • new and unexpected toolbars
  • new and unexpected icons in your shortcuts or on your desktop
  • a sudden or repeated change in your computer’s internet home page
  • a laptop battery that drains more quickly than it should

Get Rid of Malware
If you suspect there is malware on your computer, take these steps:

  • Stop shopping, banking, and doing other online activities that involve user names, passwords, or other sensitive information.
  • Update your security software, and then run it to scan your computer for viruses and spyware. Delete anything it identifies as a problem. You may have to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

If your computer is covered by a warranty that offers free tech support, contact the manufacturer.
Before you call, write down the model and serial number of your computer, the name of any software you’ve installed, and a short description of the problem.

  • Tech Experts offers technical help on the phone, in our office, or in your home or business, based upon what is most convenient for you.

Telephone and online help generally are the least expensive and most time efficient, but you may have to do some of the work yourself. Bringing the computer to our office is usually less expensive than having a technician visit your business or home.

  • Once your computer is back up and running, think about how malware could have been downloaded to your machine, and what you could do differently to avoid it in the future.

 

Malware: What Does It Look Like And How To Prevent it

By Tech Experts Staff
The most common issue among users for both home and businesses alike are malware infections.

While malware is a generic term for malicious software, the fact is all malware slows your computer down and brings potential security risks along with it.

Malware can be anything from viruses, trojans, and spyware to “PC Optimization” programs that really do your computer more harm than good.

While some are more serious issues than others they all have negative effects on a workstation or a server so they all need to be taken seriously.

What does malware look like? In most cases an unusual window will open up, something you do not recognize.

Many times malware looks like the speed up your pc programs or could even be designed to look as if it’s antivirus software. It is very common to see software like this requesting credit card information to purchase the software and remove the so called infections.

Do not ever give credit card information out on your computer unless you’re absolutely certain it is a program you’ve downloaded and setup.

One example is your antivirus software will sometimes let you extend a subscription that is expiring via credit card.

“How can I even get a virus, I have antivirus software installed?” This is the single most common question we have from clients that come in for virus infections on their computers.

It is a common misconception that antivirus software means you cannot get a virus. The fact is antivirus software is strictly preventative.

The way antivirus software works is the antivirus vendor makes a virus definition based off of a virus. This definition is what allows the antivirus software to find and stop viruses from infecting a computer. That being said, someone has to get infected before the antivirus companies have an example virus to make a definition for.

Due to this everyone, whether they have antivirus software or not, are susceptible to viruses.

The difference between someone with antivirus software installed and someone that does not is that the person with it installed is not susceptible to infections after a definition has been made, while the other is.

“If antivirus does not completely protect me then how do I keep from getting viruses?” This is the follow up question we always get. For starters, safe browsing habits help to greatly reduce the chances of getting a virus infection.

Do not click on ads. The most common place for someone to get a virus is the ads on websites like Facebook that are very appealing and tend to catch users eyes.

Another thing that can be done to reduce the chance of infection or at least the severity of it is to use a standard user account. Society as a whole has a bad habit of always using the administrator account on a computer for everything they do.

The problem with this is that if a user does download a virus, the virus is now working on an account that has full privileges to the entire computer versus an account that only has permissions on a very small part of it.

Aside from having good browsing habits the best thing you can have on a workstation or a server is a high quality antivirus. Paid antiviruses tend to offer other features to help further protect your computer. We sell a Managed Vipre Antivirus that has very high detection rates and is business grade software. It is very light weight and does not slow down computers.

If you are interested in looking into our antivirus solution to help protect your business or residential computers let us know.

How To Know If You Have A Virus Infection

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
There is a lot of anti-virus software on the market today. They are created from many different software developers. All of them are a little different in how they protect your system.

There is no guarantee that your anti-virus software can protect you from any virus out there.

First let’s look at how anti-virus software works. Anti-virus software is usually installed on your computer, then it is scheduled to scan your computer regularly. A virus scan will scan each file on your computer for a “known” virus signature.

A virus signature is a piece of code that is known to your anti-virus software manufacturer as a virus. If your anti-virus detects a signature it will either remove it or ask you how to handle the file. You should remove any viruses that your anti-virus finds for you.

Most anti-viruses come with heuristic protection as well, which is when your anti-virus is able to detect suspicious activity on your computer.

Viruses are known to leak information, such as online banking information, or any other personal or confidential information.

They can lie dormant waiting for a specific user interaction before becoming active. They have the potential to cause unrepairable damage to computer operating systems.

There are many ways to get a virus on your computer with having an anti-virus software installed. The main reason is that virus developers have studied many different anti-virus software, and have been able to write viruses that cannot yet be detected by most anti-viruses.

The reason your anti-virus software cannot detect a newly written infection is because the anti-virus manufacturer has not yet seen the virus and does not have a signature in the database for it. This is the big reason why you should keep your anti-virus software up-to-date.

Another reason that your anti-virus software might not detect a virus would be because you trusted it.

Have you ever saw a pop-up on your screen asking for your permission to allow a program to run? If so then you may have allowed a virus to infect your system.

The last most common cause of infection is attempting to “Speed up your PC.” There is a lot of software out there that claims to speed up your PC for free. The problem is that good software is not free. Some free versions of software can actually slow your computer down, to promote the paid-version.

Also when downloading this software, there is usually a few links that look like download links.
If you click on the wrong one, you may install a virus. Also once you do get the right link, there are usually additional software included during the installation process.

You should always pay attention to every screen during the installation process to make sure you are only installing what you intended to install. There are a number of ways to detect if you may have a virus on your computer.

Your computer should behave regularly. This means your computer should not have any drastic changes day-to-day.

If you have lost access to something, or cannot connect to sites or services that you normally can you may have a virus. If you are browsing the Internet and your address bar does not go directly to the site you want, you may have a virus.

Also if your computer takes longer to startup than usual, this may be a sign of a virus.

If you have any of these symptoms on your computer or if you would like to proactively manage your computer’s security, you should contact us for assistance.

We recommend regular check-ups for your computer to prevent any malicious activity on your computer. You can contact us to work out a plan to combat malicious activity on your computer that will be simple and easy to understand.

 

Steps To Improve Your Virus Protection

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
Many people have asked lately how their computer might get infected by viruses. There are a large number of ways that a virus can get into your PC.

So you need to be properly protected so that in the event viruses find their way onto your system they will be eradicated.

The most important part of improving virus protection is starting with good reputable antivirus software. These usually do require that a little bit of money be spent, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

There are a lot of antivirus software providers making it difficult to choose which antivirus to purchase.

When choosing an antivirus application, you want it to protect against known threats and irregular behavior or heuristics. Heuristics is a form of “artificial intelligence” which monitors patterns of behavior similar to malware activity.

You will always need to make sure that your antivirus software is up to date.

In some software, where it is okay to fall behind on an update, here and there to maintain functionality in some proprietary software, this is not true with your antivirus software.

Each update contains another list of viruses that have been found in the wild. Antivirus software usually costs a periodic fee that must be paid to continue your subscribed service.

This subscribed service is the updates to the antivirus software, and you will want to make sure that your subscription does not run out.

Once you have an antivirus program installed, you will want to schedule it to run at a time when your computer is on but not in use. This will keep your computer clean and not slow down your work.

Another serious measure of protection is keeping all applications on your computer up to date. Windows updates all the time to fix any new security vulnerabilities that become discovered.

All of the programs that you have installed on your computer must remain up to date as well. These applications update to improve the application and to fix security vulnerabilities.

If for some reason you have to keep an outdated version of software on a computer, then is is even more important to protect that software against viruses.

Even the best antivirus software cannot protect against all viruses. This is where backups are useful. You should back up your network constantly, and your workstation weekly.

Having backups on and off site is the best way to prevent costly disaster from striking your company. You will need to monitor your backups on a regular basis in order to confirm that the process is working properly.

Without testing, your backups may be corrupt and you would have no way of knowing.

We offer managed antivirus, backups and services such as patch management. This means that for a low monthly cost we can manage all of your computer updates and backups.

We can take the hassle out of which updates you should or should not install. We can also offer a cloud based backup solution to protect you from losing data that cannot be easily replaced.

The Best Ways To Protect Yourself From Malware

By Tech Experts Staff
Users who bring their computers in to repair malware infections invariably ask the same question: “Why didn’t my antivirus stop me from getting viruses?”

So, you’re probably wondering, “If having antivirus software on my computer won’t protect me from viruses, what will?”

The fact of the matter is that while computer users are told they have to have antivirus on their PCs or risk getting infection, a machine can still get a virus despite antivirus software being installed.

Antivirus not foolproof
Antivirus software is designed to help prevent your system from becoming infected, but it isn’t foolproof. Antivirus software is constantly updated, but can be out of date for hours or even a day or two when a new infection is discovered.

Virus definitions are used to detect viruses and prevent them from gaining access to your computer. Automatic updates in antivirus software like Vipre download the updated definitions to protect your computer.

It’s the time period between when a new virus or malware is released, and the software companies can update the definitions, that your system is vulnerable.

How to protect from malware
Although no antivirus software, even the most expensive versions, offers guaranteed virus protection, antivirus software is a must have. We’ve seen a number of infections where clients have said that they were on legitimate sites at the time the infection hit their computer.

Even legitimate websites have the chance of malware being coded into them by hackers, causing that website to send the malware onto your computer.

So, the absolute best thing you can do is to have antivirus software installed.

The next best step is to be cautious about what you are looking for on the Internet. Many times, users looking for “free” items on the Internet don’t suspect that they might as well be searching for free viruses.

Hackers are crafty – targeting people looking for free downloads is an easy way to spread an infection.

Some of the most common risky items to search for are “screensavers,” “free games,” “work from home,” and “taxes.”

With the search terms shown here, it’s easy to see how computer users could easily be tricked into downloading a file or application that was laced with a virus.

Cautious browsing
The second step to preventing infections on your computer is a combination of common sense and caution.

While it may not be common knowledge as to what is and is not safe to click on while on the Internet, really what it comes down to is using common sense. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, even on the Internet – if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. It’s very important while browsing the Internet that you do not click on anything that just catches your eye. Many times, people have a tendency to click on ads, and because of this, ads have a high risk of containing malware. Don’t click on ads!

The second part, be cautious refers to everything you are doing that involves the connection to the Internet.

If you are using email, make sure you were expecting an email from the person sending it. Opening forwarded emails is a bad habit.Many viruses attach themselves to email accounts and send a lot of spam and forwarded messages which unsuspecting users click on and mistakenly download a virus onto their machine.

So to sum everything up, you should always have antivirus software installed on your computer and keep it up to date.

Even if you think you are a computer pro, keyloggers and many other items can get into your computer and run in the background undetected sending away your private information.

Always use common sense and extreme caution as to what you click on. Nothing is free and you don’t ever know for sure who or what is on the other end of that email you just happened to get in your inbox.

If you think you may have a virus or malware on your computer, or just want it checked for safety’s sake, give us a call or bring your computer in and we can check it out.

It is all too common to see viruses on machines but not actually see anything different on the computer other than it “running a little slow.”

Free Antivirus Software: No Bargain

Free antivirus software may seem like a bargain, but it’s not. In this tough economy, getting something for free is always a good thing, right? Short answer: It depends on your tolerance for risk.

Here are some issues to consider before you delay an investment in network protection and use “freeware” instead. First, free antivirus software doesn’t provide the comprehensive protection you need against today’s biggest online threats. So when you trust your computer, applications, files and identity to free AV software, it can end up costing you more in time, aggravation, and money than you ever imagined.

Most free antivirus software is really just bait that some software companies use to lure you in. It’s usually a “light” version of one of their paid products that offers only limited protection against today’s online threats.

After you install most free antivirus software, you can expect to be hit with a barrage of annoying, time-wasting pop-up alerts telling you that it only provides basic” protection. Then you’ll receive recommendations to switch to one of the software maker’s paid security products for “complete” protection.

Another point to keep in mind: Experts agree that today’s biggest online threats come in forms that free antivirus software doesn’t stop. Threats such as rootkits, bots, keyloggers, hackers, phishing scams, and infected websites breeze right past most free antivirus software.

These threats can pose an even bigger danger than viruses, not only to your computer and files, but to your bank account as well. They can lead to a hard drive crash, system failure, or worse, identity theft. Also, free antivirus software is generally reactive. That means it only deals with threats after they’ve attacked and had an opportunity to do damage to your computer and files.

When you build your own security suite using standalone free security software, compatibility issues can cause conflicting alerts and even hard drive crashes. That’s even more time wasted – and a whole load of aggravation you don’t need.

So what’s the bottom line? Free antivirus software simply doesn’t provide the comprehensive protection you need in today’s online world. When you add up the various costs listed above, free antivirus software isn’t free at all.

How To Keep Your E-mail Off The “Naughty” List

Someone’s making a list and checking it twice, but it isn’t Santa. Due to rising e-mail abuse and spam, hundreds of servers at various companies now monitor e-mail accounts to make sure those accounts are not sending out mass e-mails.

If that e-mail account is assumed to be sending spam it is put on the “blacklist.”

Once on the blacklist, your e-mail account is virtually SHUT DOWN because your e-mail is blocked by hundreds or thousands of servers and your message can’t be delivered.

Big companies who give out e-mail addresses like AOL, Google, and Comcast, for example, will cut off e-mail service to anyone who sends an e-mail to a large number of people at once.

Because of this, even if you or your employees innocently send a message to 100 of your clients, you could be without e-mail for days or weeks.

So, how do you prevent this costly and frustrating downtime from happening to you?

Read these tips to find out:

Protect Your Server
Spammers LOVE to find e-mail servers that don’t have a proper firewall, anti-virus, and intrusion protection.

They get a high from hacking into these servers and then using them to send out thousands of e-mails. Plus, with no protection in place, tracking and catching these spammers is nearly impossible.

The right protection will also prevent malware from being installed on your server, which can automatically send spam without human interaction.

Don’t Allow Employees To Forward Messages
Unless it is for work –only related purposes, make a policy that no one is to forward messages like jokes, photos, or videos outside the company.

If just four of your employees send out this kind of an e-mail to 30 of their contacts, that’s well over 100 people receiving junk mail on the same day from the same e-mail server. This puts you at high risk of being blacklisted.

Have Your Clients And Prospects “Opt-In”
Sometimes companies end up on the blacklist because someone on your list complained and reported your message as spam.

If you have your clients and prospects agree via an opt-in form that they want to receive communication from you and confirm their permission, then you’ll have better protection against that.

Also make sure you keep good records of these optins. That way, even if you do get blacklisted, you should be back up and running fairly quickly.

Make Sure Your E-mail Is Set-up Properly
In addition to protecting yourself from hackers and invasions with software and firewalls, you also need to be sure that your e-mail is configured correctly and set-up to block outside relays.

If you’ve got the wrong setting in your e-mail account, you could wind up blacklisted, without any e-mail for days or weeks.

Keep Your E-mail List Up-To-Date
If someone asks to be removed from your list and you ontinue to send messages to him, the chances of him reporting your company as a spammer is pretty high.

Avoid this by using in-house lists (instead of purchasing one) and contracting your list to verify the information.

We use and recommend iContact. They’re excellent commericial email service. To sign up for a free trial, or for more information, go to: http://icontact.extole.com/a/clk/37L8x