LISTSERV®
Do you need to have an on-going email discussion with a group of people, where each person’s comments are sent to every person in the group? You could do this with a long list of addresses in your email, but there is a much easier way. L-Soft’s LISTSERV® software manages all aspects of your email group including subscriptions, distributions and more.
Please refer to our Schedule of Rates for information on LISTSERV® pricing.
Need help with or looking for information about your LISTSERV® mailing list? Visit our LISTSERV® Resources.
Virus Filtering
A generally accepted estimate is that about 99.8% of all computer virus infections come from email. Our experience indicates that between one and two percent of all email is infected.
The computer industry has developed two approaches to virus filtering: one at the PC level and one at the enterprise level.
PC-level protection requires that you install and maintain virus prevention software on every PC. The advantage of this solution is that it not only protects against email infection but also infection from USB thumb drives, Internet downloads, etc. However, this approach can also be expensive and very difficult to maintain. The problem is keeping every PC updated. A user may opt to buy virus protection software but end up not keeping it up to date with the latest “signature files,” which describe new viruses.
The second approach is to install an enterprise email filter, which looks at all of the email going to one or more email servers. WVNET is currently running this type of virus filtering. The way virus filtering is done on an enterprise server is that each message is broken apart (decoded); the individual files are scanned and removed if infected (or disinfected, if possible); and the message is re-created and sent on its way.
WVNET filters all e-mail coming to any of our email domains.
The enterprise email filter provided by WVNET protects an institution/agency from external virus infection. It does not protect against infection of one internal user by another internal user. To protect against this type of problem requires the redirecting of internal mail to WVNET for filtering. If you are interested in this additional level of protection, WVNET staff can discuss the pros and cons with you. An enterprise e-mail filter has the advantage that it can be maintained at one location, and it protects against the source of approximately 99.8% of all viruses. The virus filtering software we use has been recognized as one of the best available. We get updated virus signatures for any new viruses every hour. Since we started running this product, we have discovered that by the time the press is discussing a virus or we get a warning from the state, we have already been filtering the virus. There is nothing wrong with using both approaches (i.e., both desktop and enterprise filtering). In fact, many experts recommend that you do this for those administrative PCs over which you have greater control.
See our Schedule of Rates or contact our Business Office for details and service options.
SPAM Filtering
WVNET has discovered that more than half of all e-mail coming to our e-mail server is unsolicited advertising called “SPAM.” This flood of unwanted e-mail is not just annoying for the user — it also places a heavy burden on e-mail servers, which handle all of the mail. By putting SPAM filters in place, WVNET has cut the traffic to our e-mail server in half.
One problem with SPAM filtering is that although most users love to have you remove SPAM, there are a few users who want to receive some SPAM. One person’s SPAM is another person’s favorite e-mail. WVNET does maintain a list of “good” SPAM sites. For example, the Powerball Lottery can e-mail you the latest winning numbers. This was originally flagged by our filter as being SPAM. As soon as we were told that users wanted this e-mail, that they had signed up to receive it, and that the Lottery e-mail server wasn’t being used for other SPAM, we exempted the lottery site from the SPAM filter. We are always willing to look at particular e-mail servers and exempt them, as long as they are not being used to flood SPAM to the majority of users.
Benefits
- Enjoy professional management of an enterprise-wide filtering solution for SPAM and viruses. This includes constantly updated virus signatures and dynamic access to multiple major SPAM-source databases — all for one low budgeted cost and with no additional load on your staff. We can do some customization of the SPAM filter depending on your needs.
- Save approximately half of your mail server’s capacity by preventing SPAM from ever reaching your server. This avoids unnecessary e-mail server upgrades and reduces the size of mail systems backups.
- Improve user productivity by reducing or eliminating the time spent every day separating the useful correspondence from the useless clutter.
- Create a more wholesome educational environment through the reduction or elimination of salacious solicitations.
- Close the source of as much as 99.8% of the viruses in your organization’s computers. This reduces the load on your support services, improves user productivity, protects your intellectual property and administrative resources, and facilitates secure collaboration and information sharing within your campus communities.
See our Schedule of Rates or contact our Business Office for details and service options.