Connecting XP and OS X machines via FireWire; How to stop more spam

* Dr. Internet columnist Steve Blass offers advice on connecting a Windows XP machine to a Mac OS X machine using a FireWire connection * Help Desk columnist Ron Nutter offers advice on reducing the level of incoming spam

* Connecting XP and OS X machines via FireWire

By Steve Blass

Q: Can I build an IP network that connects a Windows XP machine to a Mac OS X machine using a FireWire (IEEE 1394) connection?

A: Yes, because the most recent versions of Mac OS X and Windows XP support TCP/IP networking via FireWire connections.

To read Steve’s response in its entirety, please click here.

* How to stop more spam

By Ron Nutter

Q: A couple of years ago, we set up a Linux box running Postfix, SpamAssassin and Amavisd to try and reduce the amount of spam we were getting on our mail server. We used the latest versions of each product. It has done pretty well but we have noticed in the past few weeks that more spam is getting through. Writing new rules doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. What can we look at to start reducing the level of incoming spam?

A: If you haven’t made any changes lately, first find out the versions of the installed packages on the server. Then find out what the latest versions are that you will be upgrading to. Untar the packages and look through any of the readme files as well as any references to upgrades. Now would be a good time to back up the main.cf and master.cf for Postfix, amavisd.conf for Amavisd and local.cf for SpamAssassin. Depending on the upgrade you’re doing, you could need the old copies of these files to get things back up and running in a short period of time.

To read Ron’s response in its entirety, please click here.