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General Questions
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What are the minimum hardware and software requirements??
To use TVCOnline basic services, the following hardware and software are required.
- Pentium 200MHz (or equivalent)
- 64MB RAM
- At least 10MB of free hard-drive space
- A 28.8kbps or faster modem
- Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional
or
- Mac OS 8.0 or greater
- 68040-based processor or better
- 16 Megabytes of RAM
- 20 Megabytes of free hard drive space
- 28.8kbps or faster modem
To use the TVCOnlineXL Web Accelerator
The minimum hardware and web browser requirements for Intel based PC are
- Internet Explorer 4.0 (or later)
- Netscape Communicator 4.0 (or later).
Macintosh
- PowerPC G3 processor at 333MHz
- 128MB RAM
- 6MB of hard drive space
- OS X 10.2 or later
- Safari 1.0 or later
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What modem standards does TVCOnline support?
TVCOnline, to serve it's customers better, has now
upgraded to the V.92 & V.44 standard.
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How are VIRUS infected emails handled??
TVCOnline scans each message and if it is determined
that either the email or an attachment has a known
virus, the email is deleted from the system
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How is SPAM handled??
TVCOnline scans each message and tests for signs
of SPAM. If it is determined that the message might
be SPAM, the mail servers marks it as possibly
SPAM. It does this by inserting a field into the
message header. It looks like this - "X-Spam-Flag:
Yes/No" (the actual field would be either Yes or
No). The users mail client software (Outlook, Netscape,
Mac OX X Mail) can then take appropriate action,
based on the users preferences. This can include
deleting the message or moving it to a different
folder for later review.
The reason this is done this way is, it is nearly
impossible to differentiate between SPAM and a message
that the user really wanted to receive. The user
can determine how to they wish to handle SPAM by
configuring their mail client.
See - How do I configure SPAM filtering on my PC
or How do I configure SPAM filtering on my Web Mail
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How do I configure SPAM filtering on my Web Mail??
Login to your Web Email account by going to
http://www.tvconline.net
- Enter your user id (user@tvconline.net)
- Enter your password
- Click on "Login"
- Click on "Edit Mail Filters"
- In the box "Rule name:" enter "SPAM" (without the quotes)
- Click the button next to the box "Header"
- In the box "Header" enter "X-Spam-Flag" (without the quotes)
- Select "contains" from the drop list to the right
- In the box to the right of the list, enter "Yes" (without the quotes)
- Click the button next to "Save in"
- Select "Trash" from the drop box to the right
- Click the "Submit" button at the bottom of the screen
- Finally Click the "Save all changes" button at the top of the screen
Once these steps are completed, mail being delivered to your account will be scanned
for the presence of the SPAM flag. If it is found, the message will be automatically
sent to the Trash folder and deleted after 7 days if no other action is taken on
your part.
See - How do I configure SPAM filtering on my PC
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How do I configure SPAM filtering on my PC??
Outlook
- Go to Tools->Rules Wizard...
- Click 'New...' (On the top right)
- Choose 'Check messages when they arrive'
- Click 'Next'.
- Check 'With specific words in the message
header'.
- Click on 'specific words'.
- Type in: X-Spam-Flag: Yes (one space between
the : and the Yes)
- Click 'Ok'.
- Click 'Next'.
- Check 'Move it to the specified folder'.
- Click on 'specified'.
- Highlight an existing folder, or create
a new one.
- Click 'Ok'.
- Click 'Next'.
- Click 'Next'. (Again, unless you want to
add exceptions.)
- Give the rule a name. (The default is what
you typed for "specific words", above.)
- Check 'Turn on this rule'. (You may or may
not want to check 'Run this rule on my Inbox
now'.)
- Click 'Finish'.
Outlook Express
- Go to Tools->Message Rules->Mail...
- Check 'Where the Message Body contains specific
words'
- Select 'Where the Message Body contains
specific words '.
- Click on 'contains specific words'.
- Type in: X-Spam-Flag: Yes (one space between
the : and the Yes)
- Click 'Add'.
- Click 'Ok'.
- Select 'Move it to the specified folder'.
- Click on 'specified'.
- Highlight an existing folder, or create
a new one.
- Click 'Ok'.
- Give the rule a name. (The default is New
Mail Rule #1.)
- Click 'Apply Now'. (You may or may not want
to Apply Rule Now)
- Click 'OK'.
NETSCAPE
Netscape 6.2.1 does not allow you to create custom
filters, so users of this version are unable to
take advantage of the special headers used in their
mail client software at this time.
Netscape 4.7.8 allows you to create a custom filter.
You can supply the special x-header information
to Netscape 4.7.8 by doing the following:
- In the pull-down bar at the top of your
Netscape 4.78 window, go to "Edit: Message Filters".
A new window will open.
- Click "New". Click "Advanced". A new window
will open.
- Enter "X-Spam-Flag", click "Add", and click
"OK". The latest new window will close.
- In the pull-down list, select "X-Spam-Flag".
- In the "contains" box, enter "X-Spam-Flag:
Yes".
- In the "Perform this action" pull-down list,
select "move to folder".
- Click "new folder" and create a Spam folder.
It should then be selected in the pulldown list
of your folders.
- Click OK.
The next time you check your mail, check to
see if any messages were automatically filtered
into your Spam folder!
OUTLOOK EXPRESS 5.x on MACINTOSH
- From the menu bar, choose Tools, then Rules.
- Select POP, and then hit "new" for a new
rule.
- Under the section marked "If", choose "specific
header" and then type or paste in the name of
the header, which is "X-Spam-Flag".
- Under "Contains:" type in Yes.
- In the section marked "Then", specify an
action -- move to a new folder, change its status
or color, as you see fit. Note that we do not
recommend simply deleting messages found by
this rule.
- The Enabled box needs to be checked in order
for this rule to be active - it will be checked
by default.
MAC OS X MAIL
Mac OS X's built-in Mail program can create filters
based on custom headers.
- In the menu bar, click 'Mailbox' then 'New
Mailbox' and create the mailbox you want the
Spam to end up in.
- In the menu bar, click 'Mail' then 'Preferences...'
- Click 'Rules' then 'Create Rule'.
- Add a description of the rule, then click
the 'From' Criteria, then click 'Expert...'
- In the Header: field enter 'X-Spam-Flag',
click 'Add Header' and 'OK'
- Now click 'From' and select 'X-Spam-Flag'.
Select 'Contains' in the next box and enter
'Yes' in the third Criteria box.
- In the Action section, check 'Transfer to
mailbox' and select the desired mailbox. Click
'OK'.
- Adjust the rule priorities if you want,
and dismiss the Mail Preferences dialog box.
- The next time you check your mail, check
to see if any messages were automatically filtered
into your Spam mailbox!
How do I configure SPAM filtering on my Web Mail
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What is my "SMTP" or "Mail" server?
The
SMTP (Simple Mail
Transfer Protocal) or outgoing
mail server is:
outgoing.tvconline.net
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What is my "POP3" server?
The
POP3 (Post Office
Protocol version 3 - the protocol used to download
e-mail from a SMTP server) or
incoming mail server
is:
incoming.tvconline.net
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What is my "NNTP" or "News" server?
The
NNTP (Network News
Transfer Protocol - the method used to transmit
Usenet discussion groups over the Internet) is:
news.tvconline.net
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What is my "DNS" or "Domain Name" server?
The
DNS (Domain Name
Server - A DNS server is a dedicated computer on
the Internet, which translates human recognizable
machine names like "www.tvconline.net" into computer
understandable IP addresses such as "198.168.1.1")
for TVCOnline are:
66.109.38.250
66.109.38.251
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What is my e-mail address?
Your e-mail
address with TVCOnline consists of your username
(this is the name you use to logon to TVCOnline
- no less than 3 and no more than 8 characters in
length and all lowercase) and the TVCOnline domain.
It will be:
your_username@tvconline.net
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How do I change my password?
To change
either your password or username, you must call
support at:
- 518-598-0940
- 1-877-598-0940
Changes
to accounts are active immediatly.
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Why does my modem suddenly disconnect?
There
are several reasons why your modem might suddenly disconnect
your connection.
Call Waiting - If
you have Call Waiting on the phone line that you use
for your computer and do not deactivate it, your modem
will disconnect when you receive an incoming phone call.
Make sure you do deactivate Call Waiting when making
a connection to TVCOnline.
Line Noise - Line
noise plagues the countries current phone systems. Massive
amounts of line noise can be created by poor phone wiring
in your house, road construction, building construction,
factories, and heavily traveled roads/highways. You
can contact your local phone company to have them trace
the source of the line noise. If the problem is external
to your house, the phone company can fix it at no charge.
Modem Initialization String
- Some operating systems can not auto detect the type
of modem that you have (Windows 3.1 and Macintosh) and
may need the help of a modem initialization string to
help your modem work properly. Sometimes Windows 95
may not properly detect your modem and may also need
the help of a modem initialization string. Please check
our Modem Initialization String
Database for your proper modem initialization string.
Inactive Connection
- Our systems are set to automatically log out users
after 20 minutes of inactivity. This assures that
your computer disconnects in the event you forget you
are logged on. Inactivity is defined in that there
is no data being sent or received to or from your computer.
This is a standard feature for all users and cannot
be turned on or off.
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Where can I find my modem's proper initialization
string?
Here is a
list of sites with modem initialization strings.
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Why is my USR modem getting slower & slower transfer
speeds and eventually disconnecting?
This is known as Spiral
Death Syndrome for US Robotics modems. The fix for this
is to add S15=128
to the modem initialization string to disable V.42 hardware
error correction. It may also be necessary to add
&K0 to the modem initialization
string to disable V.42bis hardware data compression,
though this should be a last resort, as performance
will suffer when downloading non-compressed files.
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Is my modem actually connecting at 115200 bps and
how do I get my modem to report the true connect speed?
Actually,
your computer might say that you've connected at 115200
bps, but your modem really has not. The speed that it
is saying that it has connected at is the speed from
the computer to the modem (port speed), not the modem
to modem speed (connect speed).
To
get your dialing software to report the true connect
speed, add W2 to
your modem initialization string for Rockwell-based
V.34, K56flex, & V.90 modems.
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Why doesn't my 56Kbps modem connect at 56000?
The first
thing customers should know is that 56K modems really
cannot do 56Kbps. The FCC has mandated that 56K
modems are permitted to operate at a maximum speed of
53.6Kbps. All 56K modems are asymmetric, which
means that you will be able to receive data faster than
you can send it. The determining factor of how
fast your 56K modem connects is the quality of the telephone
line from location to the local telephone company central
office (CO). A typical 56K modem with a good quality
phone line will connect in the 42Kbps to 48Kbps range,
however your results may vary. Customers having
lower quality phone lines may not be able to connect
at anything higher than 28.8Kbps.
Phone companies to not guarantee anything better than
a voice quality connection for a standard
POTS line. (Plain
Old
Telephone
Service)
Customers that absolutely need these higher speeds should
look into a ISDN line for connections of 56Kbps, 64Kbps,
112Kbps and 128Kbps.
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