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E-Mail FAQ



What are extra email names?

An additional email names is a separate email address (and mailbox) from the main (primary) PPP account. These optional extra email names are not the same as a regular account, and cannot be used to make a PPP connection or log in to the Unix shell - because they have no home directory on our Unix system.


How do I use extra email names?

To use an extra email address, one needs to make a PPP connection with the main account's login and password, and then open an email program like Eudora or Netscape to retrieve mail. An additional email address looks just like any WCO address, (e. g.) john@wco.com


How do I get an extra email name with my account?

You can send an email to mailadmin@wco.com and request that an additional email name be added you your account. You need to include the following in your email address: Please note that depending on the type of account you have or the number of additional email names already added, there may be a charge to add the email name. Please see our pricing for further details.


What is virtual email?

This feature allows any address in front of a domain name to be routed to a single (existing) WCO account login name. This feature can only be used on accounts with an Internet domain. Any email that comes in that DOES NOT already have a defined mailbox (email name) will be forwarded to the main account login. For example, if the mail account login is henry and your domain is smith.com and you enable virtual email for smith.com then the following will happen:
henry@smith.com                  - is forwarded to -    henry@wco.com
info@smith.com                   - is forwarded to -    henry@wco.com
anything-you-put-here@smith.com  - is forwarded to -    henry@wco.com

Now to further our example, say Henry hires someone named Fred to handle the info@smith.com mail. Henry sets Fred up with an additional email name of fredr@wco.com. Henry then requests his mail forwarding as follows:
henry@smith.com                       - is forwarded to -    henry@wco.com
fredr@smith.com                       - is forwarded to -    fredr@wco.com
info@smith.com                        - is forwarded to -    fredr@wco.com
anything-else-you-put-here@smith.com  - is forwarded to -    henry@wco.com


How do I set up my mail program to retreive my mail from West Coast Online?

We have prepared several sets of instructions depending on what program you are using:


I am a WCO customer. Can I get an email address at wco.com?

Every WCO customer gets an email address! It is your login name in all lower case @wco.com. So if your login name was fredr then your email address would be fredr@wco.com.


I keep getting junk mail, how can I stop it?

One easy solution is the built-in filtering feature on most Email programs, like Eudora or Microsoft Internet Mail. Each time a junk email comes in, use the filtering settings to automatically transfer the message to the trash - you'll never see it!
I'm having trouble attaching files to email. I'm trying to send a file to a friend, but his email system can't handle it. What's the best way to send a file over the Internet?
If you want to send a file by attaching it to email, make sure the recipient's system can handle it. If their end can't handle file attachments, you can put files on your web page so others can use ftp to download them. Another option is a dedicated ftp site. If you have a 'private' file, you can use encryption, or one of the best security systems - time. (You put the file on a web page/ftp site, and contact the recipient. After they download it, you delete it, so the chances of it being copied elsewhere are minute.)
How do I go about setting up an auto-responder? That is, when I receive mail sent to info@mycompany.com I want an automatic response sent to the person sending the request. I'd also like a way to track who emailed, with their email address and date/time.
The vacation command on the UNIX Shell will probably do the trick. Type 'man vacation' to read about it. It's not likely to do everything you need, but it will do most of it, and it's ready to go. Fancier solutions will require programming expertise on the UNIX Shell.
How do I contact West Coast Online?
Try looking at our Contacting Us page.
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