On the web: • email: • Fax: 614-875-7761
May 2005
SPAM ASSASSIN - EMAIL SPAM TAGGINGWEBMAIL DEBUTS
NORTON ANTI-SPAM (NAS)
REMOTE ACCESS, LIMITED INFORMATION (RALI)
Did you know... UPGRADE CYCLES
Loaner Equipment Agreement
Click Here For Printable Version
From The President's Console
An exciting year is unfolding here at INFONETICS. As always, new services, features, functionality and benefits await inside this newsletter.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
This month we offer a trio of articles dealing with our email services. First up in the spam wars is SpamAssassin, our new server-based spam tagging agent. Following that is Norton AntiSpam, an excellent desktop partner in combating spam. Finally, read about WebMail, our new on-line email reading program for reading mail when you're away from your familiar Microsoft Outlook email program.
Remote Access Limited Information (RALI), for special customer/partners, is gaining popularity and offers a powerful yet inexpensive way to extend access to your INFONETICS software and data. This is yet another way of using your INFONETICS software to provide value add services to select customers of yours.
It's been a very busy time since we last updated you with this newsletter. In that time, we have developed quite a list of new customers to welcome;
- Lisa, Sandy & Miss Edna at Marse Welding Supplies in Metairie, LA
- Ken, Mack, Randy, Linda & Lisa of Montgomery Industrial Gases in Montgomery, AL
- Kathy & John of Sheeley Service in Wauwatosa, WI
- Joe, Dave, Carol, Sandy & Denise of Greco Gas in Tarentum, PA
- Mike Sr., Mike Jr., Jim, Greg & Josh of Advanced Gas & Welding Solutions in Eastlake, OH
- Judy, Judy (#2), Andrea, Amanda & Kris of Chickasha Industrial & Welding in Chickasha, OK
- Bruce, Karen, Todd, Tina, Jim & Scott of United Welding Supply in Portland, OR
- Chuck, Joe & Chuck (#2) of Compressed Gases of Augusta, GA
As always, we're glad you've placed your confidence in INFONETICS.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
SPAM ASSASSIN - EMAIL SPAM TAGGING
Email has been one of the most powerful tools brought forth by the Internet age. Spam, or unwanted email, has in some cases nullified its benefit by overwhelming one's inbox with unneeded junk and trash. INFONETICS has launched a frontal assault in the spam wars by implementing a new spam tagging agent - SpamAssassin - with its web/email hosting service.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
SpamAssassin is server-based spam tagging software that inspects all email that passes through INFONETICS' email server, rates the likelihood that it is spam, and if high enough, tags the subject line with [SPAM] before passing it on to your email program. You will notice some email messages now appearing with [SPAM] as the first part of the subject line, as well as setting a special value in the message header. INFONETICS has been internally testing the quality of this spam tagging agent and is quite encouraged by its accuracy, and in particular the lack of mis-tagged legitimate email. While some spam still slips by SpamAssassin, no legitimate email appears to be incorrectly tagged as spam.
Microsoft Outlook has the ability to create various email handling rules that will allow you to automatically delete messages tagged by SpamAssassin.
To do this, start up Outlook and create an email rule to deal with spam tagged email. A rule that looks for the word [SPAM] in the subject line could be created, however this may inadvertently redirect legitimate email that simply contained that text as part of its subject line. Rather, it is better to create a rule based on the presence of a specific variable set by the SpamAssassin tagging software; X-Spam-Flag: YES.
Click on Tools, Rules Wizard, then Click on New... to create a new rule. In the first step of the wizard, choose "Check messages when they arrive". Next, choose "with specific words in the message header". Then click on specific words and enter X-Spam-Flag: YES as the text. It is very important that this text be entered verbatim, and case sensitive. Finally, specify how to dispose of the email by choosing "delete it". Click on Finish to complete the creation of this rule, giving it a name of SpamAssassin.
This new rule will be run on all incoming email, and will result in all email tagged with the X-Spam-Flag: YES variable in the message header being automatically moved to your Deleted Items folder. You will still have access to these emails within that folder.
Another option would be to create a new folder, perhaps named SpamAssassin, and have the rule specify spam be moved to that folder. Or, choose "permanently delete it" as the action to be taken. This change should only be implemented once you've assured yourself that SpamAssassin is correctly identifying spam and not incorrectly tagging legitimate emails.
For an additional layer of spam filtering, we suggest you consider Norton Anti-Spam. This email tagging agent integrates with Microsoft Outlook running on your PC and provides additional, customizable, features for identifying spam.
Please let us know if you like this new spam tagging feature, and in particular if you find any cases of legitimate email that is incorrectly identified as spam. Future enhancements to this software under consideration include deleting the spam from our server without forwarding it to your email program. This would greatly reduce the bandwidth consumed by passing large amounts of spam between our server and your desktop.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
WEBMAIL DEBUTS
Have you ever wanted to check for new emails, while you're away from your main computer. INFONETICS email services offer WebMail, a quick and easy way to check your email online.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
What WebMail IS:
WebMail permits an INFONETICS email customer to login to our server and read, reply to, and send email, from any computer with Internet access. While it doesn't replace Microsoft Outlook, it does allow you access to email that hasn't been downloaded to your PC from our server. Some common uses include checking mail while you're out of office and away from your PC. WebMail can also be used to remove large emails from our server before pop'ing (downloading) with your PC's Outlook. This is especially helpful for mobile users who may be connecting to the Internet via dialup and cannot afford the time needed to pop all their mail.
What WebMail IS NOT:
WebMail is NOT a replacement for Microsoft Outlook as the usual Sent Items, Deleted Items, and additional folders/storage are not available with this online server-based form of email. In fact, even new emails received may only be retained on our server for a limited period of time. Furthermore, if your regular PC has been left on with Outlook running, then all of your email has likely already been pop'd down to your PC and therefore no longer available on our server. So remember to shutdown Outlook before leaving so that new emails will spool up on our server.
WebMail DOES NOT provide any means for accessing messages that have already been pop'd down from our server to your PC. Nor does it provide any spam filtering, though SpamAssassin will be tagging the subject lines of those emails it has determined to be probable spam.
How To Use WebMail:
Open any web browser (Internet Explorer) on an Internet connected PC. Then enter the following URL/address: infonetx.com/webmail. (Note; the www. is optional, slash must be a forward slash, and "webmail" must be all lowercase). The INFONETICS WebMail login page should then be loaded. Enter your email login and password. This is the same login/password used by the Outlook program running on
your PC. If you are unsure of your login/password, just call our office and we'll look it up for you. This login is also affectionately known as your "s" number since it starts with a lowercase "s" followed by a 7 digit number. It is NOT the login/password you use to access your classic INFONETICS software on your company's server, nor is it some variation of your email address. It is a separate login/password used to access only your email stores on our server.
Once logged in, you'll find an Inbox showing all the emails temporarily backlogged on our server. Click on an email link, and it will open up for reading. Other buttons exist to reply to messages, or compose new ones. To delete emails (spam), simply checkmark the box on the line, then click the Remove button. Note; there is no "undelete" feature, so once an email has been deleted from our server it cannot be recovered.
When you return to your normal PC, just fire up Outlook. Any emails you've left on our server will then be pop'd down to your PC as normal.
Configuring WebMail Settings:
You may want to personalize your settings before using WebMail to send messages. Click on the Options then Personal Information links to configure such options as Full Name, Email Address, and Signature text. (If you forget to configure this information, your emails will appear to have been sent by your "s" number, or worse yet, whomever configured the email account prior to you.) Other links within the Options section can be used to configure screen/highlighting color schemes and personal preferences.
WebMail, while not as powerful as your Microsoft Outlook email client, certainly can provide quick, occasional access to email stores spooled on our server and may prove to be an especially valuable tool to the mobile road warrior. So keep the URL/address, login and password with you whenever you travel.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
NORTON ANTI-SPAM (NAS)
Spam tagging at the server level provides a terrific first line of defense in the spam wars. However, the sensitivity to spam must be kept to a reasonably low level on any server based spam tagging software to prevent mis-tagged legitimate email (false positives). An additional layer of protection can be implemented on the desktop using Norton's Anti-Spam (NAS) software in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook. Together, SpamAssassin and Norton Anti-Spam create a terrific combination nearly eliminating the scourge of spam.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
Some have described NAS as doing a "spooky" job at identifying spams, and moving them to a special Norton AntiSpam folder.
Once installed, NAS integrates tightly into your Microsoft Outlook program. A new set of buttons are created on Outlook's toolbar for manually marking (or unmarking) spam. In the rare occasions when spam slips past both NAS and SpamAssassin and appears in your inbox, simply select it and click on "This is Spam". NAS will move the email to the special Norton AnitSpam folder. NAS will also modify its internal spam rules to look for similar style emails, from similar email senders, so as to prevent future spams from eluding it. Similarly, if legitimate email is tagged as spam and moved to the NAS folder, you can select
it and click "This is not Spam" to move it back to your inbox and in the process retrain the software.
The Norton Anti-Spam program itself maintains statistics on the number of emails scanned, how many and what percentage are valid emails versus spam, and how many were correctly and/or incorrectly identified. NAS comes with a one-year update service to monitor lists of known spammers, and enhance its software and spam identifying algorithms.
For a copy of Norton Anti-Spam, please contact any INFONETICS representative.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
REMOTE ACCESS, LIMITED INFORMATION (RALI)
General purpose, high-speed Internet access is rapidly becoming available and has become the defacto method for connecting your branch operations and home-based users to your INFONETICS server. Fast, inexpensive and easy to setup, Remote Internet Terminal Access (RITA) and it's big brother Virtual Private Networking (RITA+VPN) has revolutionized connectivity. Remote Access, Limited Information (RALI) promises to do the same for building extranets to your most important customer/partners. Extranets is a generic term that describes the process of building special purpose methods of providing access to corporate database information directly to your most special customers. In our case, we'll use the same tools that RITA does; general purpose Internet access combined with our pre-configured terminal emulator.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
Here's how it works;
Your customer simply starts their "RALI" program which automatically connects to your server, and logs in per the auto-login setup which was pre-configured for them. Once logged in, they have access to a typical INFONETICS menu, though limited to only those programs you wish to allow them.
For instance, they may have access to "Post Orders" with the ability to view things like their previous order history, purchasing totals, your inventory parts and quantities, as well as the ability to add new orders. They will not be able to see information for other customer ID's, and they typically will not be allowed to change or void existing orders. Viewing inventory history is disallowed though as it would expose other customers information as well as purchasing history.
If you choose to give access to more information, you might consider allowing access to the "Quick View A/R Inquiry" report for payment history, as well as "Cylinder Master Report" and/or "Print Rental Invoices" for cylinder activity and rental billing history. "Serial Number Reports" can also be configured for RALI access.
What you need;
To offer RALI to your customers, you'll need the following; First, Internet Access (INET) setup by INFONETICS with your static IP address, and either Remote Terminal Internet Access (RITA) or the more advanced/secure "VPN" version (RITA+VPN). Of course, you may already have these services up and running for your branch operations. Then, you'll need a copy of our PC/Networking software suite, INFONET-LX, for each RALI user.
Finally, you'll need to decide the programs to which you will allow access, and have INFONETICS setup the appropriate menus and user login/passwords. W will pre-configure the INFONET-LX networking suite with your server's static IP and auto-login information prior to installation by the end-user so that they can simply run the installation program on their PC and be up and running. You may wish to provide some on-site support to the customer, instructing them on how to use the INFONETICS programs they now have access to.
Not Web Browser Based.
It is important to note that RALI does not use a web browser interface. Instead, RALI provides your end-user with the ability to directly access your server and run your INFONETICS software, albeit with limits on what data they can access. Since each end-user's RALI must be specially configured and loaded on their PC, it is not intended as a general-purpose tool for your entire customer base.
As you can see, RALI offers extremely powerful ability for special customers to seamlessly access your data. This "value-added" service can solidify and enhance your relationship with these customers, giving them another outstanding reason to do business with you.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1
Web: • E-mail: • Fax: 614-875-7761May, 2005
Did you know... UPGRADE CYCLES
INFONETICS has developed a reputation for offering new hardware technology at reasonable pricing without the need to replace softwares or peripheral devices. This is due, in large part, to INFONETICS early adoption of standard PC hardware technology. Many customers report that their former software vendor required a near complete repurchase of operating systems, software and licenses every five to seven years as technology changed.
INFONETICS, Inc. • 1729 Gateway Circle • Grove City, OH 43123 • Phone: 614-875-2006Page 1