Media72 Hosting Articles and Tips

We have updated all servers with the latest version of ClamAV, this software is used by our Mail Guard system. The release is mostly a security update so no new features this time I'm afraid.

We have been trailing some new spam detection settings that should offer better spam detection for everyone. These new settings are going to rolled out over the next few days.

As a result you should see less spam emails being missed by our filters. Our trials improved spam detection significantly with no increase in non-spam emails being falsely marked as spam. It's our belated christmas gift to you!

Happy New Year everyone!

We all like to feel secure, it makes us feel all warm inside. At Media72 we like to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, that's why we provide secure connections for control panel, email and data connections. Why should you use secure connections? Quite simply, if you don't, unscrupulous characters on the internet could grab your password or any information contained within the files you transmit. That means any text within an email or a file you upload or download.

In this article we show you how to secure all of your connections so that everything you transmit to and from our servers is encrypted and secure. You should be able to connect securely with any host, if you can't find details on how to do this with your host you should contact them and ask them to provide you with connection details. If you don't know the difference between POP and IMAP or why you should use one method over the other take a look at our "Which Mail Connection Method Should I Use?" article before reading on. After secure email connections we go on to cover Secure FTP to finish things off.

Secure Email Connections

Most modern desktop email applications have the ability to connect securely to an email server. We will cover the setup of Outlook Express, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail, if you use another application to view your emails you should still be able to use this guide, although the option names may be slightly different. In this article we will assume you have already setup your email account and want to change the settings to use a secure connection. Select your email client:

• Outlook Express Configuration
• Thunderbird Configuration
• Apple Mail Configuration

Outlook Express:

Step 1 (POP): To setup Outlook Express to use secure connections with POP select "Tools > Accounts..." from the menu then select the "Mail" tab. From here highlight the account you want to edit and click the "Properties" button, under the "Servers" tab change "Incoming mail (POP3)" and "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" to the name of the server you are on, in this case bingo.media72.net (see fig. 1).

Step 2 (POP): Select the "Advanced" tab and check "This server requires a secure connection (SSL)" under both "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" and "Incoming mail (POP3)". Make use that the "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" port is 465 and the "Incoming mail (POP3)" port is 995 (see fig. 2). Click "OK" then "Close".

Step 1 (IMAP): To setup Outlook Express to use secure connections with IMAP select "Tools > Accounts..." from the menu then select the "Mail" tab. From here highlight the account you want to edit and click the "Properties" button, under the "Servers" tab change "Incoming mail (IMAP)" and "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" to the name of the server you are on, in this case bingo.media72.net (see fig. 3).

Step 2 (IMAP): Select the "Advanced" tab and check "This server requires a secure connection (SSL)" under both "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" and "Incoming mail (IMAP)". Make use that the "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" port is 465 and the "Incoming mail (IMAP)" port is 993 (see fig. 4). Click "OK" then "Close".

Thunderbird:

Step 1 (POP): To setup Thunderbird to use secure connections with POP select "Tools > Account Settings..." from the menu. Choose "Server Settings" under the account you want to edit from the list on the left. Change the "Server Name" to the name of the server you are on, in this case bingo.media72.net. Under "Security Settings" check the "SSL" option and make sure the port is set to 995 (see fig. 5).

Step 1 (IMAP): To setup Thunderbird to use secure connections with IMAP select "Tools > Account Settings..." from the menu. Choose "Server Settings" under the account you want to edit from the list on the left. Change the "Server Name" to the name of the server you are on, in this case bingo.media72.net. Under "Security Settings" check the "SSL" option and make sure the port is set to 993 (see fig. 6).

Step 2 (SMTP): Select the "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" option from the list on the left, it's at the bottom of the list. Select the account you want to edit and click "Edit...". Change the "Server Name" to the server used in step 1, make sure the "Use name and password" box is checked. Under "Use secure connection" check the "SSL" option and make sure the port is 465 (see fig. 7).

Apple Mail:

Step 1 (POP & IMAP): To setup Apple Mail to use secure connections with POP and IMAP click "Mail > Preferences > Accounts", from the account list on the left select your account, under the "Account Information" tab change the "Incoming Mail Server" to the server your account is on, in this case bingo.media72.net (see fig. 8). If you use your own domain for this option you will receive a security popup every time you connect.

Step 2 (POP): Next click the "Advanced" tab, here make sure the "Use SSL" box is checked, the port should change to 995, if not change this manually yourself (see fig. 9). Make sure "Authentication" is set to "Password".

Step 2 (IMAP): Select the "Advanced" tab and check the "Use SSL" box, this should change the port to 993, if not change this manually yourself (fig. 10). Make sure "Authentication" is set to "Password".

Step 3 (SMTP): Under the "Account Information" tab make sure the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" option is set to your media72 account and click the "Server Settings..." button. Change the "Outgoing Mail Server" to your server, in this case bingo.media72.net, then check the "Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)" box and make sure the port is 465. "Authentication" should be set to "Password" and your account username and password should be entered into the fields below (fig. 11).

Thats it, now just test your connection be sending and receiving mail, if everything works you are now using secure connections for your emails.

Secure FTP

Secure FTP is just as important as secure email connections. Files containing password in plain text are often uploaded via FTP. Using secure FTP connections is as simple as selecting the TLS/SSL, or secure SFTP option (SFTP will only work for accounts with shell access enabled) in your file transfer application. The following is a list of applications that support secure connections

• CuteFTP (windows)
• WinSCP - only spports SFTP (windows)
• Interarchy (mac osx)
• Transmit (mac osx)

After following this guide all of your communications with your website should be secure and encrypted. Now you can feel safe and secure knowing that no one can grab your data as its being transfered to and from the server.

You may have heard of POP and IMAP before but not known what they mean or the difference between them. In this article we will look at the difference between the two connection methods and tell you which method is best for you. We also take a brief look at web-mail and how this fits in.

What is POP?

POP (Post Office Protocol) is popular method of transferring emails from your online account to your own computer. When you connect to your mail server using POP you generally transfer your email from the server to your local computer, the copy on the server is then deleted. POP connections are the most widely supported with desktop mail applications such as Outlook and Apple Mail.

Advantages of POP:

• More mail applications support POP than IMAP.
• Amount of email storage is only limited by your computer hard drive.

Disadvantages of POP:

• Not possible to access your email from more than one computer.
• If your hard drive crashed you loose all your emails unless you made a backup.

What is IMAP?

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is slightly less popular than POP but also has some major advantages. The main difference IMAP offers is that it keeps messages on the server. This can be a big advantage if you want to access your email from many locations.

Advantages if IMAP:

• Access all of your emails from any location including web-mail.
• Access your emails from multiple computers, or have more than one user on the same mail box.
• Emails are stored on the server, if your computer crashes you don't loose your emails.

Disadvantages of IMAP:

• Amount of email storage is limited to your account size.
• If you haven't setup your mail application to download all messages offline reading is not always available.

Which method should I use?

That's up to you, there is nothing wrong with either method. If you want to store large amounts of email but only have a small amount of storage space, or your mail application doesn't support IMAP, POP would be the best method for you. If accessing you mail from any location is important to you or you want to use web-mail along with a desktop mail application IMAP would be the option to go for.