Virus blocking Port25. Cannot send emails from WindowsMail/Outlook

L

Lex

Dear all,

For the last 2 weeks I'm experiencing a major problem with Outlook 2007
(Vista 32 bit) AND Windows Mail. I cannot send emails.

Something is blocking port 25 and it aint the ISP, for sure. (so no
smtp.isp.com is required). Yes, I checked telnet.
I am perfectly able to receive emails in both Outlook and Windows Mail.

I used to work with Outlook only, but wanted to see if Windows Mail also had
this problem....and it did.

Is there a virus that is blocking communication from Outlook/Windows mail to
port 25?
Cannot find the solution online, hopefully anyone knows the problem and has
the solution?

Your expert advice will be appreciated.

Warm regards,
Lex

Ps.
As I'm travelling abroad, I cannot reinstall Office/Windows Vista, so for
the short term this is no option, unfortunately.
 
T

Tom Koch

Lex said:
Dear all,

For the last 2 weeks I'm experiencing a major problem with Outlook 2007
(Vista 32 bit) AND Windows Mail. I cannot send emails.

Something is blocking port 25 and it aint the ISP, for sure. (so no
smtp.isp.com is required). Yes, I checked telnet.
I am perfectly able to receive emails in both Outlook and Windows Mail.
Click to expand...

How do you know the port is blocked? What error message do you receive when
you try to send a message to yourself?
 
L

Lex

Telnet shows me that port 25 cannot be accessed.
Windows Mail gives the following error message

The connection to the server has failed. Subject, Account: , Server:,
Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number:
0x800CCC0E

support.microsoft.com/kb/191687

Warm regards,
Lex
 
M

mac

Lex said:
Telnet shows me that port 25 cannot be accessed.
Windows Mail gives the following error message

The connection to the server has failed. Subject, Account: , Server:,
Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error
Number:
0x800CCC0E

support.microsoft.com/kb/191687

Warm regards,
Lex
Click to expand...

That is not the complete error message, please repost, unedited. Use
copy/paste
 
G

Guest

Lex said:
Dear all,

For the last 2 weeks I'm experiencing a major problem with Outlook 2007
(Vista 32 bit) AND Windows Mail. I cannot send emails.

Something is blocking port 25 and it aint the ISP, for sure. (so no
smtp.isp.com is required). Yes, I checked telnet.
I am perfectly able to receive emails in both Outlook and Windows Mail.

I used to work with Outlook only, but wanted to see if Windows Mail also
had
this problem....and it did.

Is there a virus that is blocking communication from Outlook/Windows mail
to
port 25?
Cannot find the solution online, hopefully anyone knows the problem and
has
the solution?

Your expert advice will be appreciated.

Warm regards,
Lex

Ps.
As I'm travelling abroad, I cannot reinstall Office/Windows Vista, so for
the short term this is no option, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
How many crossovers from one internet provider to another does your
connection to that server make before it reaches the server?

A significant number of internet providers block ANY connections to
port 25 that go through such a crossover, so just having your ISP
avoid such blocking isn't enough for sufficiently long connections.

Does your email provider allow you to use webmail instead of
Windows Mail? Webmail seldom uses port 25, so it usually
avoids such problems.

Robert Miles
 
G

Gary VanderMolen

What you experienced is normal. As a general rule, the owner of
the SMTP server must be the same as the one providing your Internet
connection at that moment. For more on this see
http://www.postcastserver.com/help/Port_25_Blocking.aspx

The available workarounds when sending away from home are as follows:

1. Use webmail for sending (via your browser).
2. Ask your home ISP if they have a port other than '25' for SMTP.
3. If you use the same away-from-home connection frequently, substitute the SMTP
server belonging to that connection. This is a bit tricky, but if you want to go that route,
I can provide more details.
4. If you frequently send from multiple locations, get a free Gmail account,
configure it for POP access, and use it for your sending chores.
Gmail uses port 465 for SMTP, which is not blocked like port 25 is.
 
L

Lex

Hi Gary,

I was already hoping to receive an email from you, as I already read many of
your good work helping other people. It's clear why Microsoft made you an MVP!

Thank you for your reply. I read your suggestions but unfortunately for me
it doesn't solve my problem.
At home I don't have any problems with my ISP so I don't need a solution for
this. As I run multiple online businesses, Gmail is not an option to send
mails to my customers and webmail is simply not an option as it is not
convenient to manage at all.

As I'm travelling for more than 70% of the year, I never have fixed ISPs for
more than a month. I've been doing this for more than 4 years now and so far
this problem has not occurred before. Last May, I was here in Mexico as well
(Playa del Carmen) and I used the same hotspots (e.g. Starbucks) without any
problems.
I've tried on more then 20 different wireless hotspots and including to an
ISP by using a network cable in an office. So I think its safe to conclude
that the ISP is not the main problem here; unless all hotspots were from the
same ISP and all networks I used in May changed to blocking port 25, which is
not very likely.

Your option 3 sounds like a plan but I have no idea how I can check what the
ISP is of the specific wireless network that I'm on as sometimes the owner of
the wifi network doesnt even know this. If I know the ISP I can contact them
to verify.

There have to be other alternatives to the other four options you gave me.

Warm regards,
Lex

The complete error-message:

The connection to the server has failed. Subject 'Re: Betreff: Ihre
Bestellung bei Face2Face, Bestellnummer 4531', Account:
'mail.face2facefotogravur.de', Server: 'mail.face2facefotogravur.de',
Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number:
0x800CCC0E
 
L

Lex

Hi Robert,

Thank you for your reply and your suggestion.

How can i find out how many hubs are in my connection?

As I run multiple online businesses, Gmail is not an option to send mails to
my customers and webmail is simply not an option as it is not convenient to
manage at all.

As I'm travelling for more than 70% of the year, I never have fixed ISPs for
more than a month. I've been doing this for more than 4 years now and so far
this problem has not occurred before. Last May, I was here in Mexico as well
(Playa del Carmen) and I used the same hotspots (e.g. Starbucks) without any
problems.
I've tried on more then 20 different wireless hotspots and including to an
ISP by using a network cable in an office. So I think its safe to conclude
that the ISP is not the main problem here; unless all hotspots were from the
same ISP and all networks I used in May changed to blocking port 25, which is
not very likely.

Warm regards,
Lex

The complete error-message:

The connection to the server has failed. Subject 'Re: Betreff: Ihre
Bestellung bei Face2Face, Bestellnummer 4531', Account:
'mail.face2facefotogravur.de', Server: 'mail.face2facefotogravur.de',
Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number:
0x800CCC0E






Warm regards,
Lex
 
L

Lex

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your reply.

The complete error-message:

The connection to the server has failed. Subject 'Re: Betreff: Ihre
Bestellung bei Face2Face, Bestellnummer 4531', Account:
'mail.face2facefotogravur.de', Server: 'mail.face2facefotogravur.de',
Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number:
0x800CCC0E

As I run multiple online businesses, Gmail is not an option to send mails to
my customers and webmail is simply not an option as it is not convenient to
manage at all.

As I'm travelling for more than 70% of the year, I never have fixed ISPs for
more than a month. I've been doing this for more than 4 years now and so far
this problem has not occurred before. Last May, I was here in Mexico as well
(Playa del Carmen) and I used the same hotspots (e.g. Starbucks) without any
problems.
I've tried on more then 20 different wireless hotspots and including to an
ISP by using a network cable in an office. So I think its safe to conclude
that the ISP is not the main problem here; unless all hotspots were from the
same ISP and all networks I used in May changed to blocking port 25, which is
not very likely.

BTW:
My server is in Singapore.

Warm regards,
Lex
 
G

Guest

You can run the tracert command on the email server you are trying to reach
and find how many machines are on the path used at this moment. Telling
which of them are hubs is harder. However, the path used is likely to
change
frequently, so the result is likely to also change frequently.

As long as you keep trying to use port 25, the problem is likely to keep
occurring an increasing percentage of the time. Any machine along the path
can block connections to port 25, and the number doing this is likely to
keep increasing due to the difficulty of blocking spammers from sending
spam email through port 25 even if they don't have an account on the email
server they are using.

About the only way to avoid this is to set up a connection that uses
some port other than port 25. Ask the administrator of the email server
you are trying to use if it can be set to accept messages through some
other port, probably as well as the usual port 25; there are over 64,000
ports in all, but you'll need to know at least one enabled on that server,
and
probably any special settings required to use it. Cable internet companies
tend to make this hard to arrange on their email servers, but other internet
providers and other types of email providers are likely to have at least one
other port for this already enabled on their email servers. If you use an
email
server at an internet or email provider open to the public, they're likely
to
already have the needed instructions somewhere on their web site, so search
their web site for anything referring to email. If you can find
instructions for
doing this with Outlook Express, these instructions will usually also work
with Windows Mail as long as they don't call for the HTTP protocol,
which Windows Mail can't handle.

Webmail is often the easiest way to use a different port, but by no means
the only one.

Note that you aren't required to send your outgoing mail through the same
email server you get your incoming mail from, and most outgoing mail servers
will allow you to use a return address directing replies to an email address
other than any of those at that ISP.

Robert Miles
 

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