Frequently Asked Questions

From Novara Support Knowledgebase

This is a list of some of our more frequently asked questions.

Q. My domain seems to be being used to send spam. I'm getting bounces to spams set with my domain in the From line. What's happening?

A. This is a technique known as a 'Joe Job'. Spammers use random addresses in innocent domains in the From line to send spam. Unfortunately this has made catchall addresses more of a liability than an asset which means that it makes most sense to leave catchall turned off. The joe job doesn't use our servers but rather relies on the nature of e-mail delivery to operate.

It's as if someone was sending postal letters with your return address on them to random people around the world. They don't need to use your house, or even your city to do this.

When the letter arrives and the postmaster says return to sender, it gets sent back to you.

Q. I've created a mailbox arthur for the address arthur@mydomain.com but when I try to collect e-mail using arthur as the username, it fails, why?

A. You need to use the full e-mail address arthur@mydomain.com as the username in webmail or your e-mail software.

Q. I have been advised that my mail problem is with my Outlook/Personal Firewall/PDA or whatever, can't you troubleshoot that until it is fixed?

A. Novara can only provide support for the services that are covered under your contract with us. We do not sell the items that you are experiencing issues with. Our mail services are provided for use by your mail program at a protocol level, which is to say SMTP to send mail, POP3 and IMAP to collect it.

While we facilitate you with an alternate way of getting your email (webmail), will advise you as to the correct settings to use to access the elements of service that you have contracted us to provide such as mail server address, username and password and we can provide you with access to the tutorials we have written in the past on configuring a variety of mail programs, providing technical support for another company's software or hardware is not covered under your existing contract.