================================================ Special SSCC News: Change in SSCC's Email Policy ================================================ Note: The policy changes described below are ONLY APPLICABLE TO PEOPLE WHOSE COMPUTERS CONNECT TO THE INTERNET THROUGH AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP) or non-SSCC departments on campus or from another campus or business. For those people whose computers are connected to the internet directly through the Social Sciences building or whose computers are connected through DoIT's or SSCC's modem pools, this change will not affect you at all. -------------------------------------------------- New Rule: Use your ISP's SMTP Server to SEND Email -------------------------------------------------- Starting after Wednesday morning's downtime, SSCC users who connect to SSCC's mail system through an ISP or a campus department not associated with the SSCC will not be able to use SSCC's email server for OUTGOING messages. You can still use SSCC's email server to read your mail but you will not be able to send messages out to the internet through our server. Modern mail programs, e.g., Eudora, Netscape, Outlook Express, and PC PINE, allow you to specify different email (SMTP) servers for incoming and outgoing messages. If you are one of the small number of people affected by this change in email policy, you must configure your mailer to use a different SMTP server for outgoing messages. Contact your ISP or departmental computing staff to determine the appropriate hostname for its SMTP server. As a minor side benefit to this change, people using ISPs will get better performance when sending mail by using the ISP's SMTP server instead of SSCC's. ------------------- Who is not Affected ------------------- Users whose computers connect to the internet in any of the following ways will not be affected and need do NOTHING about this matter: - through a networked computer in the Social Sciences Building; - through a computer in Rural Sociology, the Applied Population Lab, UW Survey Center, or the Institute on Aging (if you think your agency should also be on this list, contact CONSULTANT); - through DoIT's or SSCC's modem pools. The only people affected are those using some other ISP or those who use a computer at another part of campus, through UW's resnet, or at another institution with its own network connection, such as another campus or business. --------------------------------------- How to Set Up your Eudora Email Session --------------------------------------- To change your system so that it uses your ISP's outgoing SMTP server, go to the Tools item on the Eudora menu bar and select Options. In the Category box, select the item called "Sending Mail". In the field called "SMTP Server", it probably says "ssc.wisc.edu" or "unix-mailhost.ssc.wisc.edu". Change this value to whatever is appropriate for your ISP or department. Do not leave it as an ssc.wisc.edu address, as this will not work after Wednesday morning. ----------------------------------------- How to Set Up your Netscape Email Session ----------------------------------------- In the "Edit" menu select "Preferences...". Under "Mail & Newsgroups" select "Mail Servers". In the box labeled "Outgoing mail (SMTP) server:" replace the existing entry with the hostname of your ISP's or department's SMTP server. ------------------------------------------------ How to Set Up your Outlook Express Email Session ------------------------------------------------ In the "Tools" menu select "Accounts...". Highlight your email account name and click on the "Properties" button. Click on the "Servers" tab. Replace the entry in the box labeled "Outgoing mail (SMTP):" with the hostname of your ISP's or department's SMTP server. ---------------------------------------- How to Set Up your PC Pine Email Session ---------------------------------------- At PC PINE's main menu, type S for "SETUP" and C for "Config". Move your cursor down two lines to the line titled "smtp-server". Select A to "Add Value". Then, enter the name of your ISP's SMTP server. Then, press return to accept the value. Type E to "Exit Config". PINE will ask if you want to accept the changes. Type Y to agree to the change. ---------------------------- Why the Change is to be Made ---------------------------- With the expansion of the internet and email in particular, many companies distribute massive amounts of advertisements through email. The more unscrupulous advertisers use other people's email systems to distribute this junk email. Recently, one or more of these unscrupulous advertisers has been using the SSCC email system to distribute thousands of commercial junk email messages to people not even at SSCC. This has led to complaints from a variety of quarters directed both to SSCC and to the UW administration. It has also led to threats to prevent any email coming from SSCC to be allowed to arrive at a variety of sites. The solution to the problem was to install new software that limits the computers that can send email through our system to the outside world. See 'Who Is Not Affected', above.