Newsletter Archives

• A note of caution when using proxies, VPNs or TOR to get to AskWoody

  Posted on January 22, 2019 at 14:19 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Proxies/VPNs /Tors encrypt the data from the source to the server, but on the other end it’s not encrypted from the server to the destination. That means if you use a VPN to get to AskWoody, which is perfectly fine, the IP address we see here may be from a known-spammy (or known-aggressive) source.

  The purpose (for “normal” people) is to disguise the source to avoid tracking, but the “bad guy” use it for the same purpose.

  Consequently, the IP addresses issued by the proxies/VPNs /Tors may have a dirty history.

  Firewalls and Spam filters (both of which AskWoody has, and employs vigorously) build blacklists of the series of IP addresses used by bots, spammers and hackers for nefarious purposes.

  If the proxies/VPNs /Tors connect you to AskWoody with bad IP addresses, you can be rejected/refused connection.

  Please be sure your proxies/VPNs /Tors service provides you with “clean” IP addresses because we have no control over the blocking.

  Other proxies, TOR, VPN

• What is a VPN good for?

  Posted on October 5, 2015 at 13:01 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Just got this question from reader J:

  I need some advice. With all the hacking going on around us (two members of my family received scam emails from friends or relatives whose computers were hacked), I’ve been considering signing up with a VPN service. What’s your take on these? Are they worth it? And, if so, which one would you recommend? If not, is there anything else that would help with cybersafety?

  VPNs are good for cloaking your access to web sites, but they won’t do much to help with hacked emails.
   
  Best thing to minimize the amount of infected email that you receive is to use a Hotmail or Gmail account. They both devote enormous resources to filtering out bad mail.
   
  You’re using Apple’s mail.com, which is well filtered too.
   
  None of them are infallible. You have to keep on your toes, and not click anything unless you know what it is, and that the person who sent you the mail knows that they sent it!
  Other VPN
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