On 31 Oct 2007 at 21:24, Your Computer Guy wrote:

> Are you unable to receive and send email or just send...Some isp's block
> port 25 for smtp and you must change it to port 587..Then test from
> outlook.

  Port 25 is the standard port for SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol).  
Port 587 might work IF you have some reason to believe that the mail server 
you are trying to reach is listening on that port.

  Many spambots include their own SMTP engine, and so try to send each spam 
email directly to the email server of the targetted recipient.  To the ISP, 
an infected client is suddenly connecting on port 25 t random hosts all over 
the Internet.  Followed, within 24-72 hours, by a flood of complaints that 
the ISP is hosting a spam source.
  So what more and more ISPs do is say "Okay, if you are a customer of ours, 
sending legitimate emails, send them to *our* SMTP server to check for spam 
and forward them."  And they block port 25 access outbound from any machine 
on their network *except* their own SMTP server, which clients can reach 
without trying to send out of the ISP's network.

  As you can see, there's a bit more to it than just "block[ing] port 25 for 
smtp".  If you are encountering this sort of block, your ISP should be able 
to help you configure your email client to use their server.
  The one situation this fails to address is mobile users, who may connect 
ot one ISP in the morning and another in the afternoon.  In that case, 
knowing about a non-standard port (eg 587) to a specific server becomes a 
necessary alternative.

David Gillett

      "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
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