Computer woes

electricaldoctor

Well-Known Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
May 14, 2008
3,538
Thousand Islands, Rockport, Ontario.
Boat Info
1988 390 EC
Engines
454 Mercruiser Gassers
Our home port is Rockport, Ontario and we are out for a week of cruising in the Cayton, NY area. We are taking advantage of the WiFi service here at Islander Marina. We get access to the internet and we can receive our e-mail messages without any problems. The only thing is that we cannot send out any new messages. What is going on here guys? Is there some setting that needs to be changed in our e-mail setup?

~Ken
 
Probably your SMTP setting... Are you using Outlook Express? Who is your usual internet provider at home?
 
The free WiFi signal that you got was unsecured. He could of blocked you from sending out.
Plus he can see everything on your computer !!. Thats the bad part about free WiFi. :smt021
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Probably your SMTP setting... Are you using Outlook Express? Who is your usual internet provider at home?

We use MS-Outlook for our e-mail and our internet provider at home is W.T.C. (Westport Telephone Company) We had this same problem when we were in Florida back in April of this year. I asked for advice from the CSR membership and somebody sent me a setting change and all was well for the remainder of our vacation. I should have saved that setting change. If I get this resolved, I will definitely save it for future reference.

~Ken
 
My guess is that WTC outbound mail server (SMTP server) doesn't allow you to connect without authenticating from a non-WTC IP address (like the one you're using now and the one in Florida). In Outlook account settings, look for the setting for your SMTP server that says "my server requires authentication". Then, click that "on", and then add your WTC email userID and password. That should allow you to send your email out.
 
The free WiFi signal that you got was unsecured. He could of blocked you from sending out.
Plus he can see everything on your computer !!. Thats the bad part about free WiFi. :smt021

Wayne, you might be having too much fun in the basement with Garth. Unless the marina manager is a super hacker, he can't see a darn thing. Free WiFi doesn't automatically mean your PC is compromised one bit. You need to ensure your personal firewall is correctly tuned, and that you don't have any open shares enabled. I'm using free WiFi at a different marina from my own right now, and noone can see anything on my pc.
 
But how many people know that ??. Just saying thats all. :smt001

Unless the marina manager is a super hacker,
He doesn't have to be that smart to see who is on his internet. :grin:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't get it. What do you think he can see? The IP address you've been assigned? Your computer name? Your MAC address? Those are about all he can see. I don't think he can see much more than that unless you've left your PC "open" somehow...
 
My guess is that WTC outbound mail server (SMTP server) doesn't allow you to connect without authenticating from a non-WTC IP address (like the one you're using now and the one in Florida). In Outlook account settings, look for the setting for your SMTP server that says "my server requires authentication". Then, click that "on", and then add your WTC email userID and password. That should allow you to send your email out.

Thanx for the suggested cure to my problem. I entered the WTC user ID and password and it still does not work. Seems to me, when I was in Florida earlier this year, it was suggested that I change the outgoing SMTP setting from it's current setting of 25 to ???. I seem to remember that it was a three digit number something like 587?? I tried this number and it does not work, so it must be something else.

~Ken
 
Thanx for the suggested cure to my problem. I entered the WTC user ID and password and it still does not work. Seems to me, when I was in Florida earlier this year, it was suggested that I change the outgoing SMTP setting from it's current setting of 25 to ???. I seem to remember that it was a three digit number something like 587?? I tried this number and it does not work, so it must be something else.

~Ken


Try SMTP port 2525. Maybe port 25 is blocked at that particular marina.
 
Two Peas is on the right track. Either, a) the ISP you are currently hooked to recognizes you as "foreign" on their network and will not allow you to send email; or, b) port 25 (SMTP) is being blocked; or, c) an antivirus or firewall is blocking your traffic.

To prevent spammers from relaying their crap through other networks, most ISPs will not allow outbound email from folks that are not their customers. If entering the correct SMTP authentication for WTC did not solve the problem, then you may have to use your WTC webmail instead of Outlook.

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/bizmail/pop/pop-27.html

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/9129

http://www.squidoo.com/cannot-send-mails
 
Connecting to unknown wifi hotspots with just a laptop and no VPN to a "safe place" is very insecure and dangerous...

My 2 cents.
 
Alot of ISP's have gone to blocking port 25 when trying to connect to email services outside of the ISP's network.

I run a webhosting company and we provide our customers an alternate port. We use 587 which is the standard alternate port but your ISP for the email might use something else or may not have one at all.
 
Connecting to unknown wifi hotspots with just a laptop and no VPN to a "safe place" is very insecure and dangerous...

My 2 cents.

I agree that doing things like online banking from Starbucks or a "safe" marina is a bad idea but doing things like checking the weather, reading the news, checking email, etc is not necessarily dangerous on public wi-fi. A person can't just sniff your IP address and take control of your computer -- especially my Macbook Pro. Sure, they can intercept your data but if it's just weather.com or the WSJ, who cares?

I think of it as reading in public...anyone can look over my shoulder and see what I'm reading but they're not going to magically steal my credit card number unless I have it laying on the table in plain site. Same with wi-fi.

This can start a huge debate but I think doing non-sensitive stuff from public wi-fi is not unsafe.

I see your point but I think "dangerous" depends on what you are doing.
 
I agree that doing things like online banking from Starbucks or a "safe" marina is a bad idea but doing things like checking the weather, reading the news, checking email, etc is not necessarily dangerous on public wi-fi. A person can't just sniff your IP address and take control of your computer -- especially my Macbook Pro. Sure, they can intercept your data but if it's just weather.com or the WSJ, who cares?

I think of it as reading in public...anyone can look over my shoulder and see what I'm reading but they're not going to magically steal my credit card number unless I have it laying on the table in plain site. Same with wi-fi.

This can start a huge debate but I think doing non-sensitive stuff from public wi-fi is not unsafe.

I see your point but I think "dangerous" depends on what you are doing.

Well... this is the problem.

Most of the "free" wifi hotspots will come up with a web page and say "click here" to login to the Internet. People set up rogue wifi hotspots all the time and when you "click here" on the rogue link, you now have spyware on your computer... game over. Happens all the time.

I could easily go into a marina, let's say "Bay Creek Marina", and create a rogue wifi hotspot called "Free Bay Creek Marina wifi". You click on it... "click here" to continue... and I see everything you do from here till eternity... PC or Mac... doesn't matter. So read your non-secure stuff but when you get home and login to your bank, I'll get you. I could set up a hotspot in the Atlanta Airport and get control of 1000's of computers in a single day...

I have a router tied to a wifi antenna and the router logs into the wifi hotspot... if it can't do it and establish a VPN to the office... it doesn't happen.
 
The other simple thing to do is ask people to create an "account"... 80% of the people will use the same username and password as they did for their bank.
 
Gary the hacker.

I agree with Gary you can get trojans/viruses like that. But if it's just an open wifi that doesn't require any of that logging into your bank account with SSL will be pretty hard for them to get your info without installing something on your computer since it's encrypted.
 
Well... this is the problem.

Most of the "free" wifi hotspots will come up with a web page and say "click here" to login to the Internet. People set up rogue wifi hotspots all the time and when you "click here" on the rogue link, you now have spyware on your computer... game over. Happens all the time.

I could easily go into a marina, let's say "Bay Creek Marina", and create a rogue wifi hotspot called "Free Bay Creek Marina wifi". You click on it... "click here" to continue... and I see everything you do from here till eternity... PC or Mac... doesn't matter. So read your non-secure stuff but when you get home and login to your bank, I'll get you. I could set up a hotspot in the Atlanta Airport and get control of 1000's of computers in a single day...

I have a router tied to a wifi antenna and the router logs into the wifi hotspot... if it can't do it and establish a VPN to the office... it doesn't happen.

Very true and that would get my father in-law every time...but those show up as peer-to-peer or adhoc networks, yes? That would be your clue to stay away. This is also why you should never check "remember this network" or "automatically connect every time" when your computer prompts you. I also always use my Mac in public because I am not aware of spyware that affects the Mac.

Either way, excellent point and illustration. Common sense prevails....
 
Gary the hacker.

I agree with Gary you can get trojans/viruses like that. But if it's just an open wifi that doesn't require any of that logging into your bank account with SSL will be pretty hard for them to get your info without installing something on your computer since it's encrypted.

Look up "man in the middle attack"

or just read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,943
Messages
1,422,707
Members
60,927
Latest member
Jaguar65
Back
Top