PARKBITS.COM

Internet services for the discriminating user

 Frustrated user

Account Setup Information

Email Setup
Email Client:
 To setup an email client on your PC, you will need to enter
  1. Your new email address
  2. Your new account (user) name
  3. the incoming email server
  4. the outgoing email server (usually)
You will also need to enter your new password, usually when you first access the account. Use the email address, account name, and password as shown in your accout setup message. Use the incoming and outgoing servers as shown below.

Newer email clients like Thunderbird figure out most of the settings automatically based on your new email address. However, you will need to override the account name because it is not the same as the name part of your email address. For incoming and outgoing server settings, see below.
Webmail Access (Recommended)
 For webmail access, you will need your new account name and password. Click here and enter those in the popup window. After your first login, you may want to click on options->personal information and add your full name, signature, etc. For secure (SSL encrypted) webmail access, use https://mail.opost.com/sqmail/
Email Incoming Server:
 mail.opost.com
You can use IMAP or POP3 protocols. IMAP is recommended in order to take advantage of spam filtering and other optional features. The advantage of POP3 is that new email is always downloaded to your computer, and you will be able to access it when offline.

You can specify a secure connection (SSL/TLS) if available in your email client (Recommended). The first time you connect, you may need to confirm a security exception because Thunderbird or other email software does not recognize the certificate authority. Some devices may not support making a permanent exception. For such devices, a connection security of type of 'none' must be used. The setup should look something like this Thunderbird example:
Email Outgoing Server:
 mail.opost.com
In the outgoing server window, check the "authentication required" box and use the same as for the incoming server. Check the port value and change it to 587 if necessary.

We recommend selecting "secure connection" (TLS) also. You may need to confirm a security exception for the first outgoing message sent. The setup should look something like this Thunderbird example:

Other Ports: Some older software may support encrypted connections but not STARTTLS. For those, port 465 (SSL/TLS) should work. In rare cases, some netwowrk service providers have been observed to block the standard outgoing port 587. If port 587 consistently does not work, especially if it always hangs or times out, it is probably blocked. In that case, port 9024 may save the day.
Spam Filtering
Setup:
 Spam filtering using SpamAssassin is available on ParkBits email accounts. SpamAssassin is an open source system which is aggressively maintained to detect the latest spamming techniques yet have very little chance of a false positive. Spam filtering can be enabled for any email account by request. Click here to request spam filtering to be turned on or off for your email account. With spam filtering enabled, you can choose either of two ways to handle the messages found to be spam:
  1. Put them into your inbox as usual but with "{Spam?}" added to the beginning of the subject line. This will alert you to spam, and you can also setup filters in your local email software to automatically move the spam messages to a separate folder.
  2. Put them into the folder spamfile on the server. This avoids even downloading the spam messages; yet you can still check for mis-categorized messages if necessary. For this option, your local email software should be configured to use IMAP to access the ParkBits mail server. This allows you to keep mail folders on the server, including the spamfile folder. These features are also available with webmail access to your account.
Web Site Setup
FTP Server:
 ftp.opost.com This is the access method used by website editors such as Dreamweaver. Use the name and password provided with your account setup info. Secure ftp (sftp, scp) may also be used. See here for more information on FTP use.
Directory setup:
 There are four subdirectories initially in your web area:
  • htdocs/ - This is where normal web files should go. They will have extensions like .htm, .html, .jpg, .gif, .pdf, etc. You may also use SSI (.shtml) files. There is a default index.html file provided. This is what browsers get for the url http://www.yourdomain.com/. You should customize this file first.
  • cgi-bin/ - This is where cgi-bin files typically go. They will have extensions like .cgi, .pl, etc. Such files may also be placed in the htdocs/ directory if desired.
  • admin/ - Other files can be put here that should not be accessible to web browsers.
  • logs/ - This holds the logs that record activity on your website.
Normally, there is no reason to put files in your top-level directory. Any such files cannot be seen by web browsers.
Application software: For installation of easy-to-use application software such as WordPress, phpBB, and others, contact us.


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