Most people come to mxtoolbox.com to use our Free Tools or MxWatch Server Monitoring. In addition to our Free Tools and MxWatch, we also offer Business Email & Web Security Services. Both our MxWatch and Email services come with complimentary support. Our team of Support Technicians and Account Managers are dedicated to meeting your needs and addressing any concerns or questions you may have. The end goal is to build an ongoing business relationship where all of your Email, Monitoring or Web Security needs are fulfilled. Unlike some companies, we aren’t here to sell you something once and never work with you again. We strive to constantly and consistently exceed our customer’s expectations. You may ask, how do we do that?

Listening
We know that when you are having a problem with your server or email it can be very stressful. As a Consultant, System Administrator or the guy in charge of the server, you need immediate resolution as we understand that email is the lifeblood of any business. We also know how frustrating it is to call a provider and not be able to reach someone. That doesn’t happen at MxToolBox; you have a direct line to our team. Our Support Technicians work hard to listen to your issue and then provide solutions. We don’t do lip service here, we will either offer a solution or work with you until we find one.

Training
Our Technicians are continually training and participating in continuing education so they can stay ahead of the game. Technology is changing rapidly around us and it is our obligation to understand those changes.  As your provider, it is both our responsibility and our pleasure to pass on that knowledge. We also host Forums and a Technical Blog as another way to pass on the good word.

Resolution
Every business has their share of complaints and we work with our team to ensure that problems are dealt with immediately for quick resolution. We work hard to take responsibility for our mistakes and you won’t get caught in a transfer loop or passed around from one place to another. Typically your issue can be resolved with any team member that picks up the phone.

The Extra Step
Just like at your local hardware store we won’t point you to “Aisle 3” and go on with our day. Instead we take pride in leading you to the solution if possible. We’ve built online knowledge bases for all of our tools and products, we are available by phone (866-MXTOOLBOX), email, Support Ticket, Twitter, Facebook or distress signals. You can either reach out to us directly by one of the methods above or delve into our helpful documentation to find the answer yourself.

Referrals
Referrals are a great sign that you are happy with our services and support. We want you to know how much we appreciate your stellar feedback and we will reward you for spreading the good word. Active customers that pass on referrals can receive a 15% discount on their next quarterly invoice. If you’re not already on one of our Business Email or Web Security Services, reference this newsletter when you contact us and we’ll offer you 10% off any new service purchase!

We are here to help you solve problems, not be another problem you have to deal with. Our team prides itself in being highly available and knowledgeable. Pick up the phone today, put us to the test, we’re standing at the ready. Stay tuned for future newsletters that will spotlight the individual members of our team (Chad, Brendan, John, Peter, Douglas, Wendy, Brian or Jeremy).

Copyright 2012 MxToolbox Inc. 12710 Research Blvd. Austin, TX 78759

People all around the world rely on our

Q: Are Blacklists credible organizations?  
A: Some are; some are not.

Q: Is MxToolBox a credible organization?  
A: Absolutely!  We are here to help you understand blacklists and how they can affect your business. We also understand how time consuming they can be and we are here to offer you a solution!

Q: Does inclusion of a blacklist on the MxToolBox Super Tool have any effect on my email delivery?  
A: Absolutely not.  We simply report that your IP Address is listed.  The effect that it has on your email is 100% dependent on the recipients who choose to use said blacklist as a spam-filter on their email servers. For instance, if your IP is in the blacklist database and the recipient uses it as a filter; your emails will likely bounce and they won’t accept them.  If your IP is not listed, your mail should be accepted in the majority of cases. This also doesn’t mean the recipient server won’t mark you as “Spam” based on content.  If that’s the case, keep in mind your email was still accepted by the recipient server.

Q: Does inclusion of a blacklist on the MxToolBox Super Tool advocate the use of a blacklist?  
A: Absolutely not.  Again, we are simply here to report the data of the blacklist databases.  For blacklists that have a bad reputation for the listing criteria and/or delisting protocol, the problem is not that MxToolBox reports the data; we are here to help alert you.  The problem is the organizations that choose to use said Blacklists as a tool despite their [the blacklists] poor reputations.  We’re here to help you understand that and to make recommendations on how to solve the problems!

A good example is the NOMOREFUNN Blacklist whose website is currently down.  We are aware of the NOMOREFUNN site issue; However, their database is still returning positive results and we will continue to provide those results as long as they are active.

The number one thing about which you need to be concerned is whether or not there is any effect on your outbound mail delivery.  If you are getting bounced or returned messages or your recipients are not getting your messages, then you should be concerned that you have a bigger problem at hand.  Most blacklists can be contacted for removal once you’re cleared up any issues in your network.

Regardless of what is causing the problem, MxToolBox can offer you a solution that includes Spam & Virus Protection with Outbound Blacklist Managment. If you run your own email server, we can offer you Emergency Mail. If you are hosted and are looking for a bigger, better and more secure environment, we can provide Email Hosting, MxToolBox Supported Google Apps for Business & Microsoft Office 365. No matter which service you choose, MxToolBox is going to take care of your email.

Please feel free to contact our Customer Care Team by emailing sales@mxtoolbox.com or simply call 1-866-MxToolBox (698-6652) with any questions or to learn how you can put the Blacklist issue behind you forever!

Copyright 2012 MxToolbox Inc. 12710 Research Blvd. Austin, TX 78759

Why do businesses choose MxToolBox vs. other email solution providers?

Most people come to mxtoolbox.com to use our free tools and to get a better understanding about blacklists and why their company may be on one. The vast majority of those visitors to our website actually buy services from us because we end up knowing more about why they are experiencing problems than their current provider does.

We know that there are many different email and web security options available in the market today but we are committed to being the very best. To prove that, we routinely go above and beyond what many of our competitors are willing to do.

Let us wow you with our “Top 5 Reasons” why you would be crazy to let anyone other than MxToolBox handle your company’s email:

1. No one provides Outbound-reputation protection against blacklists like MxToolBox does. Over half the people that hit our site already have another Spam-Service provider and/or existing Hardware and Software and yet they still have problems.
   
2. No other company provides Email Hosting & Collaboration Suites, Email Security, Email Continuity, Web Security and Server/MailFlow Monitoring– ALL from one source! 
   
3. We don’t believe that spam-filtering is all you need… We build inbound-spam protection which includes inbound message continuity with web access and outbound blacklist protection, with no hardware or software – All the protection your company needs is our Total Perimeter Security!
   
4. We know all providers are different. That is why we have the best breed of solutions to meet and exceed your company’s requirements. 
   
5. We have the SuperTool that brought you here – Why would you go anywhere else?  Plus – we have a Rock-Star Customer Support Team – Highly Available and you can understand us!

 Not to mention we give you a 30-day no-risk, no obligation trial on any of our services.  Please give us a call today at 866-MXTOOLBOX (866-698-6652) or email us at feedback@mxtoolbox.com to fix your email headaches for good!

Copyright 2011 MxToolbox Inc. 12710 Research Blvd. Austin, TX 78759

In the spirit of our “Top Holiday Email Related Tools”, we thought we would start another list each January as our Resolution List.  However, this list won’t be your typical list that includes “drink less soda” or “run a marathon” (all good things!), but will be more along the lines of what you can do to further protect your Email and Network Infrastructure.

Open Relay / Lock Down
In the past it wasn’t such a big deal to have your server as an open relay, but these days even having it open for a few days will more than likely invite spammers to infiltrate your network. An open relay is when an SMTP server is configured to accept anonymous connections to your servers’ IP Address or allow anonymous servers to relay off your server. If you continue to operate with your server as an Open Relay, your server will more than likely end up on a Blacklist which will cause outbound delivery issues.

To ensure that your mail server is not an Open Relay, we recommend only allowing email delivery on your public IP address for email addresses you own. If you have people outside of your network that need SMTP service, employ VPN, SMTP Authentication, or have them use a 3rd party SMTP server.

Another step that we recommended is to block outbound port 25 traffic only to your email server. To do this, simply make a rule on your firewall that stops outbound port 25 connections. Make a single exception for your email server. Lastly, we highly recommend keeping your server secure and running Anti-Virus (don’t forget to run updates!).

Web Security – Locks on the doors, but not the windows?
Now that you have secured your network by closing that pesky Open Relay, you have essentially locked all the doors into your network.  But have you left a window open?  Online threats have shifted their attention from launching attacks through email systems and have begun targeting web browsers as an often unguarded entryway into your infrastructure.

The firewall that protects your business network is configured to stop connections that originate from the Internet. However connections that originate from within your network are automatically granted access. Without this ability your employees would not be able to access any online resources outside of your network. One of the greatest security concerns on the Internet today is malware. This malicious software is often distributed via web pages and is designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s knowledge or consent. Currently 85% of dangerous web activity is attributed to malware which makes proactive Web Security a necessity for every business. The most critical role of Web Security is to prevent malicious code from being brought in to the network; however, it can also be used to control access and generate reporting on your web usage if desired.

Blacklist Protection
One of the most common security challenges for companies is keeping their organization’s email off of Blacklists. When your company gets Blacklisted it will cause major trouble for your business and it will slow down your communication with current customers, prospects and in general the outside world. Email communication is a critical and profit dependent function of any business and this type of communication interruption is both time consuming, costly and completely 100% avoidable.

If you find that your company’s IP has been Blacklisted, what can you do? Well that is where MxToolBox can help! With Email Service through MxToolBox you won’t have to worry about Blacklists. Our highly trained IT professionals will not only help you find the root cause and eliminate your current Blacklist problems, but we can proactively implement solutions to keep your system protected and secure.  

We hope that you are able to check off most of what we have covered. If you haven’t and you have further questions or need further assistance, please contact us at (866)-698-6652 or info@mxtoolbox.com and we’ll be happy to help!

Even if your company has not had its productivity hampered by any of the issues described above, now would be an ideal time to review what our Total Security Package which offers top-shelf Spam and Virus, Blacklist Protection and Web Security can do to further insulate and protect your company. With MxToolbox you can rest assured that  your company’s email and web browsing is safe and secure.   

Copyright 2011 MxToolbox Inc. 12710 Research Blvd. Austin, TX 78759

1. Mailflow Monitoring – Last year we recommended our Server Monitoring to help take the guessing out of server management. Earlier this year we released our Mailflow monitoring which is design to test your server end-to-end to detect problems that most monitoring services miss. We understand that even short email delays can be costly for your business. Our solution provides complete mail flow visibility by detecting issues with inbound or outbound mailflow.
2. Send Test Email– This tool is from Wormly and is pretty cool. All you have to do is enter your SMTP server and then a sender and recipient. Then just hit the button and it shows you the SMTP conversation.
3. Traceroute– We’ve had this one on our list for a couple of years now. This year, we’ve found a new tool that does all the work for you! Traceroute tracks the path that a packet takes from your computer to a destination address. A traceroute also shows how many times your packets are being rebroadcast by other servers until it gets to the final destination.
4. DNS Check – This tool can help troubleshoot potential problems with your domain, web and DNS. It checks each step in the chain that links hostname to IP address. If it finds a problem, it flags for attention.
5. Sender Score – This tool is a free email reputation service that can give an indication of the trustworthiness of an email source. The list is complied by Return Path and may help you pinpoint if you have a sender reputation problem.
6. Quick Zone Check – Performs a series of checks on your name servers and email servers. Returns WHOis, MX, Name Server and more info all in one place.
7. Blacklist Monitoring & Delisting Support – The MxToolBox Blacklist Tool checks your IP against a list of over 150 Real Time Blacklists. We also now offer Blacklist monitoring and Delisting Support.
   
   Last but not least, we would like to include three of our own Free Tools which help make troubleshooting, diagnosing, and monitoring your email easier. We have been providing our free tools since 2003 and we are proud to continue giving back to the email community.
   
   
8. Blacklist Lookup– The MxToolBox Blacklist Tool checks your IP against a list of over 150 Real Time Blacklists. If your mail server has been blacklisted, some email you send may not be delivered.
9. ping@mxtoolbox.com – MxToolBox Ping is one of the Free Tools provided by MxToolBox to help you determine if Inbound and Outbound mail flow is working. Simply send an email from your network to ping@mxtoolbox.com and the tool will look at the email headers of your message and send you a notification back immediately. Please note that the subject and body do not matter. The response email will include several helpful troubleshooting tools including your Outbound IP, server hops, any transaction times or delays and it can help trace the route your email is taking to discover any outbound gateways you might be using.
10. MxToolBox Free Tools – We mentioned this tool last year but once again we have made some updates! All the familiar tools you are using on a daily basis are still there but we have added Ping, Trace, SOA, TCP, HTTP and HTTPS. These have also been added to our Server Monitoring so you can monitor those commands as well.

As always we are open to your tool suggestions as well. Please feel free to share!

Copyright 2011 MxToolbox Inc. 12710 Research Blvd. Austin, TX 78759

We have been supporting our Business Email Products (Spam & Virus Filtering, Emergency Mail and Hosted Email) for years and we take pride in sharing all the knowledge we can with our customers and non-customers. We hope that these articles help you maximize the impact of your efforts by utilizing MxToolBox, our Free Tools, Server Monitoring and Business Email Products to their fullest potential.

Copyright 2011 MxToolbox Inc. 12710 Research Blvd. Austin, TX 78759