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Information on CrystalOak's new web
hosting company
BTW: Some of you have noted problems with sending emails from your CrystalOak account. The reason goes like this: in a POP3 session, a client "pops" a web mail server by sending an identifying username and password, then requests service. Before spam became such a problem, "popping" a server was typically only done before requesting incoming email. Servers would forward outbound email without checking the credentials of the sender. But nowadays most "responsible" web hosting companies are requiring credentials before sending outbound mail. Unfortunately, some of the mail programs out there (Outlook and Outlook Express leap to mind) do not automatically "pop" the server before trying to send an email. Once the mail server receives the "pop" identification, it will open a service window, typically 10-20 minutes, where it will accept send and receive message requests from the client. So there are a few workarounds that you can try if you're fighting this problem. Under "Tools" in outlook or express, choose "Options". Set your mail program to check for new mail every 10 minutes or less. This will cause the program to keep your credentials fresh with all the mail servers you're attached to. Look around in the options area, and also look at the options available for each mail account under the "accounts..." area of the "Tools" menu. Newer versions of Outlook and Outlook Express now have a flag you can set to force the program to pop the server before it attempts to send a message. (The following instructions are for Outlook Express, but Outlook is nearly the same.) Under the "Tools" menu select "Accounts...". Highlight your CrystalOak account and choose "Properties". Choose the "Servers" tag and under the "Outgoing Mail Server" area click on the box labeled "My Server Requires Authentication" if it's there. If you have this box, click on the "Settings" button beside it and choose the option "use the same settings as my incoming mail server." If you're stuck with an older version of these programs and you don't want to be checking your mail every 10 minutes (perhaps you're on a dial-up & don't want to hog the phone while you're working on emails) then there is a manual workaround. Force the program to pop the mail server by checking for new mail right before you send your message. Choose "Send and Receive" on the "Tools" menu, then choose "Receive all". This will cause Outlook (and Express) to pop all mail servers and gather any new mail. You will then have a fresh connection that will accept the outbound email. Do NOT attempt to accomplish this by choosing "Send and Receive All" instead of "Receive All". Outlook's default is to try to send outbound messages before it pops the server and before it retrieves inbound messages. So you'll lose lots of time and tear your hair out because the program will have to time out the server (usually 1-2 minutes) before it comes back and complains that it can't send your message. I am told that Eudora is a great non-Microsoft mail program that doesn't have any of these problems. I haven't tried it myself; I'm on an older version of Outlook Express (about 15 months old) that has all the problems I've outlined above. I set it to check for new mail every 10 minutes, and that has solved the problem. But it defeats the purpose of having MailWasher pre-screen emails and trash junk. Since I abandoned my MSN email address I haven't had a spam email problem, so I'm using this workaround. It works great for me because I'm on DSL and so I have an always-on connection that's reasonably high speed. If someone needs a workaround for another program, or needs more help getting a CrystalOak email account back online, email me & I'll work with you one-on-one to get you up & running. |