0. New Spam Assassin Software 1. Expanded DSL Area 2. New Suggestion Box 3. Pay Online Form 4. Online Help Areas Redone 5. Liberty Changes 0. For the past several months, we've been working hard to reduce the amount of spam (unsolicited junk email) that reaches your in-box. Back in July of last year, we implemented new Spam Assassin software on the free.midcoast.com (also called kona.midcoast.com) server. The software is now available on all midcoast.com addresses, and is already turned on for lincoln.midcoast.com customers. Spam Assassin is a program that runs on our server, so there are no special programs you need to download. The software scans all incoming email, looks for spam-like features in the email, and assigns those features a certain number of "points." For example, big red text might be worth .6 points, or the word Viagra might be worth .8 points. You can then adjust the total number of points at which an email will be considered junk mail. That number is called your "threshold." When an email is received that scores more points than your threshold, the mail server adds the letters PJM (Possibly Junk Mail) to the subject line. Let's use the example scores above. Let's assume that my threshold is set for 1 point--anything that scores 1 point or more will be considered spam. If someone sends me an email with big red text, the score will be less than the threshold, and the system won't tag it as junk. Likewise, the word Viagra only scores .8 points, so it, by itself, wouldn't be tagged as junkmail. But if an incoming email had both big red text, AND the word Viagra, then the total points would be 1.4, pushing it over the 1.0 threshold, and thus would be tagged as Possibly Junk Mail by the system. The really great thing about this new system is that it is totally customizable by you! There are three basic settings: the threshold (which we've already talked about), the white list, and the black list. Email addresses contained on the white list will never be considered junk mail, no matter how many points they receive. People on the black list will be considered junk, regardless of their points score. This handy feature allows you to make sure that you'll always get mail from your online auction closings, or from the online retailer of your choice. Just add them to your white list. Hate that same email you get over and over from someone who calls himself "Some Bozo"? Just add that address to your black list, and his mail will always be treated as junk. After you have the Spam Assassin set to your liking, you can have a couple of things done with your junkmail. You could choose to still receive it, but have it filtered to a special folder. (Instructions for setting up such a filter are available. For Eudora, go here: http://www.midcoast.com/help/email/eudora/index.html. For Outlook Express, go here: http://www.midcoast.com/help/email/oe/index.html.) Or, you could have us delete messages marked as PJM before you get them. We really recommend doing this in two steps; first, make sure the Spam Assassin settings are set to your liking. Then, once it's tagging the junk, but leaving your good mail untouched, contact us and ask us to delete it for you. For more information on Spam Assassin, and how it works, please see our page here: http://www.midcoast.com/help/email/spam.html. Remember, if your address ends in lincoln.midcoast.com, free.midcoast.com, or kona.midcoast.com, this feature is already turned on for you. If your email is just plain midcoast.com, then you must ask to have it turned on. Just drop a line to help@midcoast.com, and say you want the junk mail filter turned on. 1. Expanded DSL Area Tidewater Telecom has installed the necessary hardware to enable us to increase the size of our DSL coverage area. DSL is now available in Union, as well as increased coverage within the greater Damariscotta area and Lincolnville Beach area. We have maps of the new areas, and you can see them at the links below. The coverage area is within the blue lines. Damariscotta: http://midcoast.com/mis/dsl/damariscotta-dsl-2003.jpg Union: http://midcoast.com/mis/dsl/union-dsl-2003.jpg Lincolnville: http://midcoast.com/mis/dsl/lincolnville-dsl-2003.jpg The Sheepscot area has been added to the Damariscotta coverage area since these maps were provided to us. In addition to the increased area, the monthly cost has also dropped, from $89.95, to $59.95. If you live within the new coverage area, and would like DSL for your home or business, please fill out our DSL Interest Form: http://midcoast.com/mis/dsl/dslreque.htm. If you have any questions, please call Patrick in the Rockland office: 594-8277, ext. 112. 2. New Suggestion Box In our continuing efforts to provide you with excellent customer service, we've added a suggestion box to our front page (http://www.midcoast.com/help/suggestions/). If you've got an idea that you'd like to see implemented, fill out this little form, and we'll consider it. And it really does work! See below! 3. New Pay Online Form One of the first suggestions to come into our new suggestion box is a pay online form. So, we did it! If you would like to make an online credit card payment, you can go to https://www.midcoast.com/mis/payments/, and make a payment online. To protect your private information, the form is located on a 128-bit secure server. 4. Our online help webpages and our useful software pages have had a redesign and a thorough spring cleaning. Our help pages located at http://www.midcoast.com/help/ are an exclusive section of our website for MIS customers only. Technical help and customer service related pages are located here. The help pages include all of our written instructions, special instructions available only online, connection trouble tips, services listings, current modem phone numbers, and online forms for requesting various account changes. The useful software pages contain Windows and Macintosh software downloads as well as links to software download sites on the internet. 5. For Liberty (589 exchange) customers only: During the next month we will be moving away from using the 589-3380 number. We have long maintained two different Liberty numbers for modem compatibility reasons. With the two statewide 500-numbers (1-500-699-7201 and 1-500-699-7200) complementing the 589-3003 number, 589-3380 is no longer needed. When the 500-numbers were first installed last years, Northland and Verizon had some problems to work out. They've been worked out, and many Liberty customers use them successfully. If you are using the 589-3380 number, you should change to one of the three newer numbers. If you need help changing the number, contact our office! If you have switched and have trouble, these tips may be useful: http://midcoast.com/help/connectissue/index.html If you have any issues or troubles related to switching to our other numbers please contact our office. Thanks!