Comcast enjoys monopoly status in our area. I waited years for DSL because cable was so expensive but Verizon slept. I finally condescended and bought into Comcast because I had to have more speed for managing seven websites and listening to Internet radio broadcasts. I have written elsewhere on this site about radio programming and Internet radio.

 

I wasted hours of precious time yesterday trying to fix a problem with my email. I was going to the wrong people for help. Comcast is the last place to go if you need help with Comcast because they are clueless!

 

I use Outlook Express for email because I can keep all my addresses on my own computer. Comcast doesn't like that. They (and many other providers) want your addresses on their servers. I won't go into the probable reasons for this but you can guess.

 

When I tried to send an email yesterday, I got a message saying that it couldn't be sent because Comcast had blocked all outgoing mail. I went to the Comcast site and searched "Help" only to discover the following:

 

Comcast's security experts have observed an increase in spamming exploits - specifically, attempts by spammers to hijack and use unprotected or infected computers to deliver their spam. The spammers' intent is to disguise their own identities - and they can accomplish these attacks without the knowledge of the computer owner. Therefore, if you received one of these e-mail error messages, it's possible that your computer is being used by these spammers without your authorization. 

 

The message went on to instruct me what to do about it and I did it all including reinstalling McAfee and running a complete manual scan of my computer. I have automatic updating of both Windows and McAfee, so that should have detected any mischievous activity on my computer. The message also explained that my account had been blocked from sending email for a period of 24 hours.

 

After 30 hours, it was still blocked, so I tried a Comcast chat. That was a waste of my time, but Comcast always asks if the help was helpful and you have the satisfaction of clicking or kicking a little box.

 

I finally did what I should have done in the first place. I googled the key words of my problem. Many others have the same problem, so all you need to do is connect with them. I found a forum and the advice I needed in seconds! I changed the settings in Outlook Express and everything works fine.

 

I wish there was a way to tell Comcast, but they don't permit customers to communicate with their clueless "techies", nor do they google and they certainly don't read my blog!