What's "FTP" and What's "Anonymous FTP?"

For those that don't know what "anonymous FTP" is, here's an explanation. For those familiar with the concept, skip to the next section for the good stuff.

"FTP" stands for "File Transfer Protocol." The File Transfer Protocol is used for transferring many and / or large files all at once over the Internet. You might think "That's not very useful. Browsers do that kind of thing all the time."

True, browsers can handle quite large file transfers to your computer from the Internet. The key element here is "to your computer from the Internet." You can't drag an item from your computer desktop to a web page and have the file transferred to someone. At least, it's not as easy as dragging a file from your desktop to a web page.

Moreover, sending files using e-mail is okay for small stuff but many e-mail servers will reject large files.

FTP's the answer.

You should have an FTP program to transfer files using the FTP protocol. There are many free, shareware, and commercial FTP programs available. Just go somewhere like "downloads.com" and search for FTP. You'll find there are lots 'n lots from which to choose.

So, what's "anonymous FTP?" Anonymous FTP is a term used to describe a server setup so that anyone can log in and use FTP to retrieve files online. The "anonymous" part of the term refers to the fact you don't have to log in with a username and password--you're anonymous.

Anonymous FTP Access to Your Account

Customers can now make entire directories of files available via anonymous FTP through the web based File Manager on the helpdesk. In the 'action' column, beside every directory displayed by the File Manager, you will see a new icon which will allow you to edit the anonymous FTP options for that directory. A red tinted icon means it's not configured for anonymous FTP, while a green tinted one means it's currently configured and enabled. A yellow tinted one means it has previously been configured but is currently disabled.

When a directory is available via anonymous FTP, it means that anyone on the internet can download all of the files in that directory (including any and all subdirectories it may contain) anonymously. They do this by connecting to "islandnet.com" and entering the username "anonymous" or "ftp" (the password is optional and is ignored).

When you make a directory available via anonymous FTP, you must provide a "name" for it. The name is what FTP users will see in the anonymous FTP directory listing, and it may or may not be the same as the real directory name. This name must be unique amongst all Islandnet.com users though, so if you pick one that is already in use it will ask you to pick something else.

Changes to anonymous FTP settings are immediate. Anonymous FTP is read-only, meaning users cannot upload or delete files. All downloads count as bandwidth against your account, just like web accesses do.

WARNING: Be careful to only enable this feature for directories that do not contain any files that may have personal information, passwords, etc. in them.

So, what's this mean?

If you have an Islandnet.com (or other provider) FTP account, you probably don't need it (unless you need people to send you large files). You can setup a directory in your account, configure it to accept anonymous FTP connections, and you're off. People can FTP files from your directory.

It happens to all of us. The credit card is maxed, the bank is closed or it's the day before payday and something needs to be paid right now. What to do?

While we can't help with the lack of funds problem, we've tried to make things as easy as possible. Here are all of the ways you can pay us. We hope one or more fits best with your needs:

Visa

Pay in person, at one of our agent's locations, online, or by pre-authorized monthly debit (some agents may not accept certain payment methods)

Mastercard

Pay in person, at one of our agent's locations, online, or by pre-authorized monthly debit (some agents may not accept certain payment methods)

American Express

Pay in person, online, or by pre-authorized monthly debit (new)

Diners Club

Pay in person, or by pre-authorized monthly debit (new)

PayPal

Pay online using the PayPal website

Hyperwallet

Pay online using the Hyperwallet website

Cash

Pay In person at our Victoria office or at one of our agent's locations

Cheque

Pay In person at our Victoria office or at one of our agent's locations

By Telephone

Pay by calling our office and giving your credit card information

EFT

(Electronic Funds Transfer) Payments are made automatically from your bank account

Web Banking

Payments are made automatically or when you log into your bank's web banking system. Check for "payees" in your web banking account. We are registered with all the local credit unions and chartered Canadian banks.

The islandnet.com SSL certificate that is used for secure web, email, ftp, news, etc. was updated today (it was set to expire in a week). Normally this isn't something worth making an announcement about, but some browsers/email programs/etc may notice the change and issue a warning message. If you get this it's nothing to be concerned about.

The certificate is the same as before, it's just been renewed for another two years.

Islandnet Picks

Multilingual Tongue-twisters	CSS Play	Famous Movies in 30 Seconds	NASA Images
Peter Piper picked a passel of problem IP packets. A passel of problem IP packets Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a passel of problem IP packets, Where's the passel of problem IP packets Peter Piper picked? Actually, the tongue-twisters you'll find on this site are better than the one above. What's even more fun is the fact you can translate tongue-twisters from multiple languages to multiple languages.	If you're a web designer, you'll enjoy this sites. You'll find free CSS code you can use to create many cool visual effects using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Even if you're not a web designer, you may find some of this stuff interesting. Visit this site to steal, er inspire new work. Actually, as mentioned above, there is lots of code here available for free. On top of that bit of good news, much of the code is without copyright restrictions. Other bits require you cite the source and other bits come with slightly more restrictions. Enjoy!	Famous movies in 30 seconds–acted out by bunnies–that's what you'll find here. Actually, the actors are cartoon bunnies. Real bunnies would be great but the cartoon ones aren't bad.	Jaw-dropping cosmic high resolution images are what you'll see at this website. Many of the images at this NASA site are truly awe-inspiring, rightfully inducing "WOWs," "awesomes," "cools," and other respectfully enthusiastic exclamations. Truly a "cosmic" site.

Islandnet.com Hosted Sites

Gypsy Motorcycles	DTI Computers	Poet's Cove	A Piece of the Action
This site hosted by Islandnet.com is home to a very cool motorcycle--The Gypsy. Maybe you haven't heard of it but visit the site and we think you'll be impressed, particularly if you like vintage motorcycles. These hand-crafted motorcycles are built to look and sound like American bikes from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. What's great about them is the fact everything is brand new, despite the cool classic lines and sounds. Thump-a-thump, thump-a-thump, thump-a-thump. Ooooh, it gives goose bumps.	We know these guys and they're great. We buy equipment from them because, when we do, we know we're covered. They give their customers good advice, great service, and good prices. And besides, they know quality when they see it. Their website is hosted on us.	You don't have to go far from Victoria to enjoy a luxury respite away from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Poet's Cove Resort on Pender Island offers wonderful views from great rooms in a new hotel at a spectacular location. Visit this Islandnet.com hosted site if you're looking for a get-away. Even if you're not looking for a get-away, have a look. It's a great looking website.	An inhumanly low, gravely voice bellows out "S.I.R RACEWAY: WITNESS GROUND - POUNDING, SPEED DEFYING, BLUR INDUCING, EAR SPLITTING, MAYHEM. SIXTY - FOUR FUNNY CARS, 10,000 HORSE POWER TOP FUEL DRAGSTERS, PRO STOCK NHRA FINALS, AND ROCKET DRAGSTE - E - R - R - R - R - R - S - S - S - S - S!" Ah, the smell of nitro-methane in the morning. Smells like--drag racing! This Islandnet.com hosted site sells drag racing collectibles. Visit here to go zero to 300 mph in 45 milliseconds.

We Love Websites!

Websites are our business--hosting them and building them. If you need a website--blog, retail, business-to-business, personal, database-driven, or something else--Islandnet has plenty of website development and programming experience. Call or e-mail us if you'd like anything from graphics to nit-picky programming.

There are usually two parts of a form submission--sending information from the form to the web server and sending an e-mail to the person who runs the form. Both parts need to be secure.

Inputting & Sending Info from the Form

Assume we have a web page where you invite people to pay you. Clicking on the "Pay Me" button takes the customer to a form where they fill in credit card and other confidential info. After filling in the form they click "Submit" and that invokes the form processor script to send the form contents via e-mail to you.

If the "Pay Me" button uses "https://" to take you to the form itself, that means that the contents of the form page (the HTML code that makes up the empty form) will be encrypted while it's sent from the server to the visitor's browser. It does NOT automatically make the next step secure, which is the transmission of the filled-in form data back to the server.

If you are pre-filling the form with confidential data (perhaps allowing someone to edit their contact info), making the link to the form secure with "https://" is a good idea, but if the form is blank it really doesn't make anything more secure (although it will make the visitor feel like it's more secure, so it doesn't hurt).

The form itself has an "action" tag that specifies the URL to call when the form is submitted. If this is a relative URL, then it will be secure if the link to the form itself was secure, or insecure if the link was insecure. If this is an absolute URL, then it should start with "https://" to be secure. This means that the form data will be encrypted as it's sent from the browser to the server.

The most common thing is to use a secure "https://" link to the form, with a relative URL in the "action" age of the form. That makes both parts secure. We see pages that have a non-encrypted form with a secure URL in the 'action' tag. In reality this is just as secure because it's the filled-in form data that really counts, but it doesn't "feel" as secure because people don't see the reassuring "closed lock" icon.

Retrieving Form Submissions

Then of course there's the matter of what happens to the form data after it is submitted. Does the message to to a local mailbox or does it send it across the 'Net to some other location? Is the email message itself encrypted in any way? After that, how is the mail downloaded? Is the recipient using an encrypted POP session to download it?

If the message is going to a local address--as is the case when customers use InMail (Islandnet's form processor), the message does not travel over the Internet until they retrieve their mail. When retrieving their mail, there are three ways they can protect the data. One, they can access their e-mail using the Helpdesk and Webmail. If they log in using the secure server, when they read their e-mails everything is encrypted.

Two, customers can use SSL or TLS encryption using their e-mail client--Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, or Thunderbird. E-mail clients can be setup to send and receive e-mails using encryption but do not come configured to use encryption by default.

Three, customers can use PGP encryption. "PGP" sands for "Pretty Good Encryption" and involves using a "secret" key and a "public" key. When someone sends you a message--in this case let's assume it's a message generated by a form processor--the message can be encrypted using the "public" key. When you get the message, you use the "secret" key to decrypt the message. Someone intercepting the message en route would not be able to read the message without the secret key, which has to "match" or "fit" with the public key.

Islandnet.com supports the use of PGP but it is an advanced topic. As a result, we do not have any help documents on the subject. Customers wanting to use PGP encryption can call our office or e-mail us for help.

It seems as if one or more of our competitors can't be bothered offering dialup services anymore—at least at affordable rates. Some former customers of this competitor report that they've been told their dialup service plan is no longer available, except at a much higher price. Customers were reportedly told they could subscribe to a high speed option as an alternative to paying significantly more or being cut off.

But that's not all. There's more!

What struck us as most unfriendly was the report that they were told whatever dialup hours they had left were gone. They were cut off.

So, let's make this clear. Dialup customers are welcome at Islandnet.com! We will continue offering dialup at our usual low rates for the foreseeable future.

Well, it's true. The documentation is just about done and a few customers have had the guestbook installed so they can use or test it out as they see fit.

We will post an announcement in the Helpdesk forums in the next few days. Honest!

New security certificates feature support for "wildcards." This means that subdomains are also supported automatically. For example, to a "modern" security certificate, "www.islandnet.com", "helpdesk.islandnet.com", and "islandnet.com" are all equally valid.

Some customers have reported that their browsers generate error messages when they go from a regular web page to a secure one. Of course, this issue often pops up when someone is doing some shopping on an Islandnet.com hosted website. Naturally, users are concerned when they see a dialogue box that says something like:

"There is a problem with the security certificate used by this website. The domain name given does not match the domain name of the company to which the security certificate was issued."

The problem seems to crop up with older browsers, which may not understand some of the features new security certificates offer. We have discovered, as well, that Windows 98--the operating system itself--can be the culprit. It too, apparently, doesn't understand some of the features of new security certificates.

So, how do you tell when your browser is lying to you? The answer as usual is common sense and diligence.

If you're using an older browser and / or operating system and you run across an error message such as the one paraphrased above, click on one or more of the "more information" or "details" buttons usually displayed with the dialogue box. Often, you can see the problem isn't as serious as it may seem at first. For example, the details may explain that the security certificate was issued to "*.islandnet.com" but you are trying to access "www.islandnet.com".

If you have any questions about security certificate errors you or one of your customers has seen while shopping on an Islandnet.com-hosted website, let us know by phone or by e-mail.

While there are people on the Internet who truly want to help out, there are plenty who'd like nothing better than to twist your computer to suit their evil needs. One such so-called application is called Win-fixer.

We are getting a number of calls from customers who have been coerced into installing "Winfixer", " Win Antispyware 2005", or "Win Antivirus Pro 2005." In short, if you run across these programs don't install them.

These are (from what we can tell) bogus software programs that will, in-fact, cause problems on your computer if you install them.

It is worthwhile having a program that monitors changes in your computer to prevent such programs from taking hold.

One good program is WinPatrol (http://winpatrol.com/) which monitors your computers settings for any changes and notifies you of changes giving you the opportunity to allow or deny them, there is also a program that comes with "Spybot - Search and Destroy" called TeaTimer that will also do the same job and it turned on my going into the advanced settings of SpyBot.

XP Users may also want to read the following article from Microsoft: How to Protect Your Computer from Spyware and Adware

Thanks for this story go to Rob, one of our trustworthy technical talents toiling tirelessly to keep you online--and safe.

Tinkers Computers - Duncan

We're happy to say Tinker's Computers has become an Islandnet.com agent in Duncan. They're a local computer store with friendly, knowledgeable people to help you with your computer needs.

They're located at 777 Canada Avenue and you can reach them at (250) 748-2686 or (888) 673-3311 (toll-free). Check our Agents page and you'll see them there too.

Tinkers accepts Visa, Mastercard, Interac, and cash.

Tinkers' hours of operation are 11:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Friday and 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays. Tinkers is closed on Sundays.

R-U Computing - Nanaimo

We're equally happy to say R-U Computing has also become an Islandnet.com agent in Nanaimo. Like Tinkers, they're locally owned and operated (Nanaimo) with friendly, knowledgeable people to help you with your computer needs.

R-U Computing is located at 549 Haliburton Street, Nanaimo and you can reach them at (250) 716-5725. R-U Computing accepts Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Interac, and cash and is open six days a week, from Monday to Saturday: 10:00am to 5:30pm. R-U Computing is closed on Sundays.

Legal Stuff

The information displayed in this newsletter and any previous or subsequent newsletters is for information purposes only. Islandnet.com, AMT Solutions Group, Inc. and related companies are not responsible for any losses or damages resulting from the use of information in the newsletter. While the information contained in this newsletter is believed accurate, readers must verify information for themselves. Sites we link to do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of AMT Solutions Group, Inc.