Windows Live Mail - Blocked from Sending

1990C4S · 10-02-2020, 06:19 AM

Helping a friend with a mail issue.

She is using Windows Live Mail, which used to work fine. Now she has a problem where all outgoing mail is blocked, the message says that her IP has a bad reputation and cloudmark.com has blocked her from sending.

I've applied to couldmark under their protocol, with no luck. My internet provider says they will not change her IP.

Not sure what to do next. Any suggestions?

I think she should migrate away from Windows mail, but she has a ton of folders and old mail she's worried about losing the mail, and the sorting she's done.

John Rogers · 10-02-2020, 09:02 AM

Can you find out what caused the ISP to suddenly block her out going mail? Did she send something that triggered their system to shut her down? Before any changes are made, I would have her back up EVERY subdirectory and file name associated with her current mail system (twice to be safe).

To make sure I understand this, Cloudmark runs on her normal ISP watching her email or is it her ISP also? If it is running on top, who is her ISP and they should be the ones to change her IP address. I looked at Windows Live Mail and it said it worked back in the XP and earlier days and is now discontinued! Seems to me she is trying to get by with outdated software and should upgrade to the latest versions of Windows and go with Outlook and dump the Cloudmark?

KFC911 · 10-02-2020, 09:11 AM

Her mail is being rejected at the receiving end based upon her IP address. My former corporate gig would send out tens of millions of emails at a time (to folks who had requested such)... from our private & unique IP address(es). Totally legit, but due to the volume, viewed as spammail by some along the pathway. Wasn't my problem though

1990C4S · 10-02-2020, 09:28 AM

She did not send out anything, I suspect either her IP was hijacked, or it's an error on their part.

Cloudmark is a service between us and our provider. I requested a new IP, but our provider says they won't do it.

I agree, we probably need to migrate to Outlook. I was trying to avoid that.

masraum · 10-02-2020, 11:40 AM

I believe "Windows Live Mail" is an application. It's kind of like a really weak version of Outlook that comes with Windows for folks that don't have Outlook.

Her PC has an IP address, but the mail is probably not appearing to come from her local IP but from the IP of her mail carrier's SMTP server.

Just for instance, if you had an email address from a fictitious company named Qoogle, and your email address was "bob@Qmail.com"

The application (Windows Live mail) on your PC would connect to a server that might be named "smtp.Qmail.com." It would tell that server, I want to send the following message to Sue@couldmark.com." Assuming you have an account on the smtp.Qmail.com server, it would then send your email to a server at the far end, maybe incomingmail.couldmark.com. Sue@couldmark.com would then have her application connect to incomingmail.couldmark.com and say "do I have any new mail" to which the server would respond, "Yes, you have a message from "Bob@Qmail.com," here's the message.

I don't think that incomingmail.couldmark.com is going to see Bob's PC's IP address. It's going to see the IP address of SMTP.Qmail.com.

My guess is that they go an influx of mail (legit or spam) not from your friend, but from her mail domain, and that's what caused the issue. Have her try again.

I'd say there's a 99% chance that your friend has a dynamic IP address. If she reboots, she'll probably get the same address again, but if she powers her Internet router down for a few hours or overnight, she'll get a new IP address the next time she turns it on. If there's a chance that the issue is due to her home IP address (really, probably her Internet router, not her PC), then that would "fix the glitch" as the Bob's would say.

sugarwood · sugarwood's Garage

Actually, that's totally wrong. I'd say there's a 99% chance that your friend has a static IP address. Cancel her internet access plan. Then sign up for a new plan the next day. New IP

KFC911 · 10-02-2020, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Actually, that's totally wrong. I'd say there's a 99% chance that your friend has a static IP address. Cancel her internet access plan. Then sign up for a new plan the next day. New IP

LOL .... S! you are a hoot .... and talking nonsense .... once again

.

1990C4S · 10-02-2020, 01:00 PM

So far I have determined I have a static or dynamic IP address. Check. I will power down for the night and reboot in the AM. I know a short power down does not change my IP.

KFC911 · 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

So far I have determined I have a static or dynamic IP address. Check. I will power down for the night and reboot in the AM. I know a short power down does not change my IP.

It's almost guaranteed to be dynamic (DHCP), but unless another device gets that address in the interim, it will get the same IP over and over. Your ISP (if you can talk to someone who has a clue) can "make it happen" even then though. Can you leave it down for an extended period? Highly unlikely that it's static.... S! just doesn't have a clue

Even when an IP needs to be static... you let DHCP assign one, then lock it down.

Good luck!

masraum · 10-02-2020, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Actually, that's totally wrong. I'd say there's a 99% chance that your friend has a static IP address. Cancel her internet access plan. Then sign up for a new plan the next day. New IP

Most residential ISPs use dynamic addressing vs static addressing. It may be the same for a very, very long time, but that doesn't mean that it's static. If it's always connected and powered up, then before the DHCP assignment expires, the device will send a DHCP request with it's current IP. The DHCP server will usually let the device keep the same IP. If the device is powered off for an extended period, then it will often come back with a different address. I'm not talking about the PC, I'm talking about the device that actually has the IP address assigned which is usually a router.

masraum · 10-02-2020, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

So far I have determined I have a static or dynamic IP address. Check. I will power down for the night and reboot in the AM. I know a short power down does not change my IP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC911

It's almost guaranteed to be dynamic (DHCP), but unless another device gets that address in the interim, it will get the same IP over and over. Your ISP (if you can talk to someone who has a clue) can "make it happen" even then though. Can you leave it down for an extended period? Highly unlikely that it's static.... S! just doesn't have a clue

Even when an IP needs to be static... you let DHCP assign one, then lock it down.

Good luck!

Right, I've had IPs before for years despite it being dynamic because I never powered my router off. But then have a long power outage, and you'll often get a different address when you come back up. Like KC says, it's dependent on someone coming up and asking for an address while you're down, and the server thinking "well, that guy is gone, so we'll assign his address to this new guy."