Check your IP address status

You will be able to check your IP to see if it has been put on a blacklist, you can now see why your emails have been going to spam filters. Even if you are not sending spam you may be put on one of these lists, as it is done all automatically by the servers and if it thinks you are sending spam then you can be sure to find yourself added onto this list.

Most residential and Cable/DSL connections are blacklisted. This is why it’s important not to send out your mass emails using that connection. You should be using your ISP connection for sending these out.

IP address tools

This site has many other tools also you can check out, many are fun to try out and use. You can do IP tracking, traces, and many other cool features. If you’re wondering how to check to see if your IP has been blacklisted it is very easy to do, just put your IP into a URL form and check the databases against your mail server IP. If it’s in the database then you have been blacklisted by that spambot.

My IP Address Is Blacklisted. What To Do?

If you keep receiving emails that you would like to send back to your inbox, then there is a great chance that your IP is blacklisted.

That means, that you are not able to send any emails until your IP gets deleted from the list. There are different ways how to get your IP from that list, but first, let’s check that your IP is really blacklisted. The emails that you receive back should look something like this:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address (es) failed:
yourname@yourdomain.com
SMTP error from remote mailer after RCPT TO:
yourdomain.com [205.235.xxx.xxx]: 550-Message rejected because yourdomain.com [205.235.xxx.xxx] is blacklisted at
550 bl.spamcop.net see Blocked – see http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml? 205.235.xxx.xxx

How to get your IP removed from the blacklist?

The easiest way to get your email working again is to just wait. Most of the IP’s get off the blacklist in 24 hours. If this does not help or you just do not want to wait so long, you should write an email to your host, and they should be able to help you with your problem and they can also tell you what exactly has been going on with your email address that it got blacklisted. It’s probably a malicious software on your computer or a warez script on your web server that is sending out spam emails.

How to check your IP address

If you want to see who blocked your mail server IP address (blacklisted IP address), check here. Enter the IP address and press Submit.

If you would like to fix this problem as soon as possible, go to http://www.abuse.net/relay.html and enter your IP and email address and click on “Test for relay”. This can speed up the un-listing process, but the process can still last for 24 hours.

Blacklisted IP address workaround

If you are IP address blacklisted there is other ways to go about getting your emails out of the junk folder, this will involve changing or hiding your IP. Some areas you won’t be able to do this though, and you will be stuck sending the mail to junk folders. Using proxy servers or VPN services are other ways to go about getting to sites where your IP address has been blacklisted, you will be able to do anything you normally would be able too, but you will need a new account.

How Do You Prevent Yourself From Using a Blacklisted IP Address?

On the previous article, I dealt with VPN services multiple IP addresses and spam. I addressed the issue of using a blacklisted IP address. Let’s see in this article, how this can affect you.

So as to give some background, we all know that when you are using one VPN service provider to connect to the internet, you are given a different IP address that your ISP has assigned to you. Now, considering that most VPN providers has limited IP address to assign to all their users, meaning that IP addresses are shared, there will come a time where you’ll be using one IP address that has been used by another customer. Now the question is, how does it affect you if that previous customer has done something nasty/banned?

So how do you check that you won’t get those blacklisted IP addresses?

So far, there actually isn’t one central database on the internet that collects the list of banned IP addresses (that would be nice if someone ever develops it, though). Anyway, some initiatives are worth mentioning: this includes the Spamhaus which is mainly used for protecting from e-mail spammers- it may be worth checking your IP address from this database.

Another option is to check your IP against a list of 100 spam domain database at DNSBL. Although checking against those databases don’t ensure that you are using a safe IP address, it can help when choosing a VPN provider too. How do you do that?

How to choose a VPN provider with no blacklisted IP address?

In fact, before opting for a VPN provider, you can either ask directly the VPN provider for their policy against spammers (this is the simplest way, and you can receive honest answers), or you can ask for some sample IP address you would receive if subscribing to their service, then check that IP address against the database aforementioned.

Conclusion

Anyway, this post isn’t about denigrating VPN service providers, it just pinpoints issues you may encounter when using VPN since you’ll be using shared IP address. In fact, this issue is not exclusive to VPN providers since the same applies to the IP address your Internet Service Provider is giving you. The issue just got bigger with VPN since spammers have access to a bigger set of IP addresses that are located in different countries.

Is my IP address blacklisted? Have you checked yours?

FTP Proxy Server

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.  It is used to transfer information from one computer to another computer by using a network or server.  An FTP proxy server is used to gain access to a network when the machine you are using does not have an internet connection but does have access to a machine that has an internet connection.  This can also be used if your machine is blocked by a firewall and can not access the website that you wish to connect to.

HTTP Proxy Server

The most common type of proxy, the HTTP proxy server provides a means to access a website without being identified.  The server simply connects to the specified webpage with an anonymous IP address so that yours is not used.  There are, of course, ways that websites may know you are using a proxy server, but the site administrator will have absolutely no way of knowing who you are. This is the brilliance of such technology, that common, everyday users can bypass a secure network by using a proxy site to do their dirty work.

SOCKS Proxy Server

A SOCKS Proxy server simply provides the task of transferring data from a client to a server using any number of protocols so that according to the point of view of an Internet web server, the SOCKS server appears to be a client in itself.  Because a SOCKS proxy server does not add anything from itself or change the data it is transferring from the true client, anonymity of this type of proxy server is always absolute.

Whatever you choose, it’s always safe to be secure on the Internet, and a proxy server can help you do that.

Firstly, are proxy servers legal?

To make things clear: proxy servers are perfectly legal, and so are VPNs (in most of the countries)! It only depends on you how you use them. But even though you use a proxy for some illegal activity, this does not make the use of proxy illegal.

So, to use proxies at school is legal, but it can be against their policy, which is something else. You can not be prosecuted for using a proxy, but you can be disciplinarily punished (maybe suspended).

Proxy sites may read your data

Because proxy servers intercept data, there’s always the risk of the administrators of that proxy site to steal your information, such as account details to a website, personal identification like phone numbers, house address, or even your social security number (SSN) and credit card numbers.  This is why it is very important for you to safeguard your information when using a proxy site by taking every possible measure to keep your identity a secret.

Important! Never, I mean NEVER, use sensitive info (credit card info, passwords, SSN, etc.) while using a proxy site!

Must read: TOS and Privacy Policy

Be sure to check the proxy site for a Terms of Service link or a Privacy Policy, so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.  Sometimes, the proxy site will hide valuable information like that so you will just use their service without thinking about it.  Even if they don’t, how many of us read the terms of service and all that?  Very few.  So be sure to protect your information by looking through the site very carefully before you use it to enter any sensitive data into a form.

Risks of using a proxy site – Conclusion

Also, if the website is not known and trusted or appear to have good integrity, do not use it.  This would only prove to endanger your information instead of finding a good proxy site to use.  Keep this in mind before you use a proxy server next time or perhaps, your first time at all.

>> Is VPN usage legal?

PS3 Proxy Servers Configuration – While it is not possible to connect your PS3 directly to a VPN service, it is, however, possible to set up and configure a proxy server to work. This is usually set up, not on the PS3 system directly, but on a computer that is connected to the same network as your PS3 console.  After making the configurations on your computer, you can then configure the PS3 to the user the proxy server. Next, you will be able to do just about everything else in a normal configuration mode.

How to get a PS3 proxy server

Firstly, you need a proxy server. You may find free ones by taking a search on Google or by checking proxy lists, but, if you are serious about your privacy, I recommend subscribing to a premium proxy service or a VPN service that also offers proxies. Find both such services on our hide IP tools page.

Set up a proxy on your computer

Set up the proxy server service on your computer and ensure that it is working. If the proxy server is not running and working on your computer it will likely not work on your PS3. You will need to take note of the correct IP address used.  Next, the proxy port which will be used when configuring the PS3 console.

Set up the PS3 proxy server

Next, connect your PS3 to the network and go to “Settings” “Network Settings” and select the “Proxy Server” or similar designation that you plan to use for this connection. Press the X button to use this network connection.

Enter the IP address and the proxy port you noted previously when the Address field comes up. In most cases, the Proxy port will usually be “6588” for a Windows system and “8080” for a Mac. Ensure though that you enter the number that you collected when setting up your computer. Leave the UPNP setting unchanged.

Confirm a summary of the connection details after clicking on “Next” and then proceed to test the connection to see if it works. Pressing the X button will attempt to connect the PS3 system to the Internet. If the connection test is successful, the PS3 system will display a message saying that it has obtained an IP address and is now connected.

Check your new IP location

Go to your web browser on your PlayStation system and using a location checker like this one. Your location should now be different from your actual location.

Start playing!

You can now log into the PlayStation Network, PlayStation Store, and Chat or Play games online just like you would in a normal setting, only this time you cannot be tracked by your location.

Do you know good PS3 proxy servers? Fill free to share them in the comments below.