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LexiConn – February 2005 Newsletter
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In this month’s issue:
* Urchin stats upgraded to latest version 5.702
* SBC & other major ISP’s blocking port 25 for sending email
* php / MySQL software upgraded to latest versions
* phpBB2 forum software upgraded to version 2.0.11
* Account Manager / Knowledgebase upgrades

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Urchin stats upgraded to latest version 5.702…

The Urchin stats software has been upgraded to the latest version. Major changes include:

- Faster, more accurate processing
- UTM code upgraded to be smaller and more accurate
- Enhanced Urchin Traffic Monitor to track clicks inside Flash objects
- Improved identification of Mozilla based browsers so that Firefox, Camino, and other Mozilla browsers are identified with better granularity

Urchin is an industry leading web analytics software solution that analyzes web traffic for your website and provides accurate and easy to understand reports on your visitors – where they come from, how they use your site , how many visitors browse your site, and more. You can review past data, generate reports for certain date ranges, and export the data to applications such as Excel or Microsoft Word.

Details on adding Urchin to your site (only $5 per month) and an example of the stats it tracks can be found in our knowledgebase at:

http://support.lexiconn.com/kb/index.php?ToDo=view&questId=19&catId=41

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SBC & other major ISP’s blocking port 25 for sending email…

SBC has recently begun blocking port 25 for sending out email through a 3rd party SMTP outgoing mailserver. This will affect anyone who has set their SMTP server to their domain name. Many other major DSL and cable modem providers such as Earthlink and Cox are also blocking the use of port 25. For these ISP’s, they are requiring their users to use the SMTP server assigned by the ISP.

These measures have been put in place by these ISP’s to try and crack down on spam coming from compromised personal computers, so they can better monitor and control email going through their network. This presents a problem for those individuals wishing to use their domain as the sending server. Users can still keep their email address at their domain if they switch the SMTP server to that of their ISP’s.

LexiConn has made a change to the SMTP servers on our network to help clients continue to use their domain name as the SMTP server. We have made port 26 available for sending out email in addition to the standard port 25, as most ISP’s are not blocking port 26, a rarely used port. In order to try this, you would need to change the outgoing SMTP port setting in your email program from port 25 to port 26, and then you can set the SMTP server to that of your domain.

More detailed instructions can be found in our knowledgebase at:
http://support.lexiconn.com/kb/index.php?ToDo=view&questId=98&catId=12

More details on SBC’s policy can be found in their help docs at:
http://support.sbcglobal.net/article.php?item=4640

SBC also has a form you can fill out to ask that the block be lifted from your account.

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php / MySQL software upgraded to latest versions…

PHP on all shared hosting servers has been upgraded to the latest version, 4.3.10. This upgrade contains mainly security fixes and small bug fixes. The current version is backwards compatible with previous versions, so no php scripts / software should have been affected.

MySQL has also been upgraded to the latest version, 4.0.23. This new version includes many enhancements and bug fixes, providing a more stable and robust database solution. The new version is backwards compatible with previous versions, so no changes should need to be made to existing scripts.

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phpBB2 forum software upgraded to version 2.0.11…

phpBB2, the php/mysql forum software that can be installed in any account, has been upgraded to the latest 2.0.11 version. Any new installations of the software will use this new version. The new version contains an important security fix and small bug fixes.

Previous installations of phpBB2 have all been patched against the latest security flaw that resulted in over 50,000 forums being hacked or defaced. LexiConn patched all older version of phpBB2 a few weeks before the security hole was made public. We are proud to announce that NO phpBB2 forums hosted with LexiConn were exploited due to this latest security hole.

More information on this upgrade and security hole can be found at:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=240636

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Account Manager / Knowledgebase upgrades…

The list of email aliases and POP boxes in the Account Manager under “Email Options” has been enhanced to display these entries in alphabetical order. This should allow for easier management of these entries.

We have completed the help docs for each page in the Account Manager.

LexiConn has also updated its internal billing system, introducing more efficient processing, improved automation, and the addition of American Express as an accepted payment type. The new system now updates the online billing status daily. This status, which can be found in the Account Manager, offers users the ability to:

* View past invoices
* View invoice details
* View outstanding balances
* View payments made
* View complete billing contact information

There is now a direct page for making a payment securely, which can be found at:
https://lexiconn.com/lexiconn/makepayment.html

We have also completely redone our Knowledgebase, updating it with more answers to common questions, offering tutorials on common software, redesigning the layout, and improving the search feature. It is a very useful resource to check if you are having a problem with your hosting account. You may browse through it at:

http://support.lexiconn.com/kb/

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Remember, to be kept up to date on the latest happenings at LexiConn, register on our News Forum at:
http://support.lexiconn.com/news/profile.php?mode=register

Sincerely,
- The LexiConn Team