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The information here provides a snapshot of the current issues we are working with at SCN Helpdesk. Our goal is to provide as much useful information to you as is possible, to make SCN work for you. Helpdesk volunteers respond to email and voicemail inquiries daily. We try to resolve any problems with your account within 48 hours of receiving your request for help.
| SCN Helpdesk e-mail address: help@scn.org |
| Voice mail: (206) 365-4528 |
Slowness - SCN computers have been working hard to deliver all those thousands of mail messages spawned by recent virus/worm activity. So, when you login to check your mail, or to connect to the SPL computers, or to track down your lost cat on the web with Lynx, it might take a while to get things done.
Downloads for You - Here's a new page for you to look at. It has a small collection of software that Helpdesk volunteers use to when working with SCN. If you decide to use one of these programs, you will be in sync with Helpdesk.
GCI Script Repaired - As of a couple days ago, the cgi script has been repaired, and is now functioning.
Disks Strike Back - After toiling in the SCN salt mines for 8 to 9 years, two of our hard disk drives have escaped their labors to a better place. In a final act of vengance, these drives managed to cause a system shutdown over the weekend. SCN security forces were able to thwart any significant loss of data these disks may have had access to. In order to prevent this action from inspiring copycats, all remaining disk drives have been reprogramed to remove any memory of the event.
Cgi Script Disabled - Web builders take note. Due to a bug in our cgi script, we have disabled it until such time as the bug is fixed. This means your form based web mailers will not work for a while.
Keep Contaminated Email From Reaching Your Computer - If you use POP3 to read your SCN email, you may be accidentally downloading computer virus' to your PC. Consider using a POP3 mail checking utility before you download your email. Most of these programs are very simple and easy to use. The advantage is that they are usually configured to only download the basic message information such as who it is from, and the subject line, leaving the whole message intact on the SCN server. With this information, you can quickly pick out the most obvious spam/virus messages to delete, before they ever reach your PC. Then, you can safely download the remaining messages from known persons using your regular POP3 email software. There are lots of these programs to choose from, many of them free. Here's one that you might want to try that we've had some experience with. Poppy for Windows
Corrupt Password - Or is it? Sometimes, Users report that their password must be corrupt, as they are unable to login to their account. Generally, these people are attempting to read their email with webmail, or POP3 client such as Eudora or Mozilla Firebird. When the computer fails to read the mailbox, it can report back to you that your password doesn't work. Usually, the real story is that your SCN mailbox has been damaged. The mail software is unable to tell you what is happening, because it doesn't know so it tells you your password isn't working. If you tell us that you are unable to login to your mailbox using Webmail or POP3, we will generally be able to figure out exactly what the problem is and repair it for you. Please remember that when you contact helpdesk for assistance that you give us as much detail regarding exactly what you were doing when you encountered the problem.
Delayed Mail Delivery - Mail delivery has been delayed this week due to a large amount of incoming spam. We have seen messages delivered several days late. SCN volunteers have been intervening to hasten the delivery of messages waiting to be delivered. Please let us know if you are looking for a specific message that is more than five days old.
Dialup Connections - SCN Users are reporting problems with the dialup lines this week. If you try to connect to SCN through a dialup connection, you may get nothing, or you may get bunches of letters and characters that are unreadable. We're looking into the problem, but as of today it remains unsolved. Keep trying to connect, and we'll keep working on things at this end to solve the problem.
Manage Your Pine Mail With Aggregate Commands - If you are a Pine email user, you may want to look into aggregate commands. Aggregate commands let you select and handle multiple messages based on a variety of things such as date or size. For example, you could select all your messages before October 1, to delete them or move to another folder. Or, you could select all the messages from one folder, save them to a file and download to your PC.
First, set Pine to enable the use of aggregate commands, by going to the Pine main menu. Select (S)etup, (C)onfig, and scroll down to “[ ] enable-aggregate-command-set”. Put an [X] in the box, and save the settings. From your Pine message list, select multiple messages with the semi-colon key; use the meunus at the bottom of the screen to complete the task. Once you have messages selected, you then use the A key to (A)pply a command to the selected messages, again using the menus at the bottom of the screen. It can be a bit confusing at first, but once you use it a few times to learn its' tricks, you may grow to find it one of Pine's most useful features. Give it a try, and if you run into trouble, ask for help at the Helpdesk.
Spam and Viruses - This week, many SCN Users are reporting problems with a specific email. The email claims to be a Microsoft Security Update, and has various subject descriptions to that effect. The message is rather large, and many users report their mailbox is filled with them. Once your mailbox is full, our system then blocks any new incoming messages for that account. Right now, our best advice is to check your mail frequently, and delete any of these messages. Make sure that if you use an email client such as Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, or Eudora, that you set it to not automatically open or execute attachments. SCN Systems Operations volunteers are working on strategies to prevent this, and future spam messages from affecting our services. The task is challenging, but we are committed to making the necessary improvements to keep spam at SCN to a minimum. For more information on spam prevention, please see our web page at SCN Spam Info and also check out Email Abuse.
Attention Outlook email users, currently an email worm known as Swen.A is spreading. Microsoft does not email critical patches.
New Accounts - Occasionally, spam will become such a problem for some people, that their account becomes virtually unusable. If this is you, we have a solution. You can receive a new account, just for the asking. Send a mail message to the SCN Registrar, and tell them that your account is inundated with spam, and please issue a new account. Contact the SCN Registra.
This webpage is edited and maintained by volunteer members of our Helpdesk.