News and Updates

January 6, 2017 – We have had to close our office due to the inclement weather.  We plan on resuming office operations on Monday at 8:00am.   In the mean time, we do have technicians available if needed.   Just call 256-547-6817 and hit option 8 or email support@internetpro.net.   We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

January 5, 2017 – We have been  dealing with a spam issue for our Hosted Exchange customers.   The problem arose a couple of days ago when our anti-spam software (Panda Antivirus) updated their “engine”.   The new engine stopped working on the server.   We have been working with Panda to resolve the issue, and think we are getting close to a resolution.   However, if we do not reach one soon, we will be changing to a new anti-spam software/provider.  This will take a bit of time to make the transition and we will keep you informed of our progress here.   We apologize for the inconvenience.

Update – It looks like the spam subsystem is working again.  Spam emails are correctly being tagged with [SPAM].    This allows for easy rule creation in your email client to automatically filter those emails.

Questions or concerns should be directed to support@internetpro.net.

January 4, 2017 – 9:00am – There is an ongoing issue with a virtual server host which is causing some virtual private servers (VPS) to have performance problems.  We are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible.  We will post updates as we have them.

9:30am – We are still experiencing some issues but have been restoring non-responsive VPS machines onto redundant hosts.  Most services are already back online and we will be migrating those back to the original host when we have resolved the problem.

9:50am – We are experiencing issues with Hosted Exchange services which are related to this issue.

10:15am – We have identified a memory problem with the problem host and are working to resolve it.

10:30am – All hosts are up and running although we do still have an issue with hosted Exchange which may cause some authentication issues.  If you are connected to Exchange with Outlook or on the web interface, please do not close it.  If you are authenticated, everything will work, but  you will not be able to reauthenticate until this issue is resolved.  Currently, there is not an estimated time to repair.

11:30am – We have repaired the hardware issue and are now working on migrating all VPS machines from the redundant hosts to their normal host.   We have also resolved the Hosted Exchange authentication issue.

11:50am – All issues have been cleared and all services should be back to normal.  If you are still experiencing issues, please contact us.

If you have any immediate questions, please email us at support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.

October 24, 2016 – We will be performing some emergency maintenance on Thursday, October 27, 2016 to address a critical Linux kernel vulnerability (CVE-2016-5195).  The bug is actively being exploited in the wild so we need to get the patch in place as soon as possible.  As a result, we will be operating in a maintenace window outside of our normal maintenance hours.   Maintenance will begin at 5:00pm on Thursday, October 27th.   We will do our best to minimize downtime for each host and all hosts will not be down at the same time.  However, all hosts will be affected at some point during the maintenance window.  This particular fix will require a reboot of each affected server including virtual private servers (VPS).

During the maintenance window, we will also be taking the opportunity to upgrade hardware on a limited number of servers.  This will result in a slightly longer downtime for those machines, but this will be a subset of the hosts affected by this vulnerability.

October 27 Update 6:40pm – Our website that you are currently reading was down for a bit while the upgrade was being performed.  As you can see, it is now up and we don’t expect any further interruptions on this site.  Many servers have been updated successfully, but there are still many more to go.  We will keep you posted as progress is made.

Update 8:25pm  – We encountered an unanticipated hardware failure on reboot of one of the servers.  We are working to correct it.

Update 9:55pm  – Things are still progressing.  We’ve handled the hardware failure and taken the opportunity to upgrade some virtual server hardware.  Many customers with VPS machines should notice a significant improvement in responsiveness.  We still have some machines to go and are working to test systems to make sure nothing is missed.

Update 11:00pm – We have completed the upgrades and patches.  All services should be working normally or better.  If you have an issue, please contact us at 256-547-6817 or support@internetpro.net.

If you have any questions or concerns about the maintenance being performed or the scheduling, please call 256-547-6817 or email us at support@internetpro.net.  We will be posting updates here as the maintenance progresses.

October 19, 2016 – Yahoo has adjusted the default security settings controlling sign in access to accounts. This change disables the ability of Outlook, Mail.app, and other desktop email clients as well as mobile email clients for Android and iOS, etc., from being able to sign in.
To fix this, sign in to your Yahoo account via http://account.yahoo.com. Then  choose ‘Account Security’ from the left-hand menu. Then enable the option ‘Allow apps that use less secure sign in’. Once you change this setting, you should be able to sign in via Outlook or your phone, etc.

October 19, 2016 – We are going to have to perform some maintenance on our phone system this morning which will result in calls going to our failover system.  Customers calling in may get a message asking them to leave a message for a return call.  We will be returning calls using cell phones as quickly as we can while the system is unavailable.  We hope the total disruption to the phone system will be about 45 minutes, but we do not know exactly when that time will begin.   We will be posting updates here as we know more.

8:56 am – The process has started.  The system will be going up and down a few times over the next hour or so.

9:41 am –  Work continues on the update.  It seems that the update will take longer than we initially thought.  Currently calls are still going to our failover system.  Please note that customers *must* leave a voicemail on that system for us to know about the call.  Our technicians are not notified about hang ups and we have no way of seeing missed calls.

10:43 am – Phone system is up and running!  If you experience any problems with it, please let us know.

Customers can also email us at support@internetpro.net for help.

August 10, 2016 – We’ve received reports of delayed email for our Hosted Exchange customers.  We have determined that an automatic Microsoft Update has caused an issue with the servers.  We are working to resolve that now.  No email will be lost, as it is queued up for delivery.  Exchange services may be interrupted briefly while this maintenance is performed.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Update 12:55pm – We believe the issue is resolved.  Email is being delivered from our local queue.  Some email may still be delayed at the source, but should come in within a few hours at maximum.  Again, no email should have been lost (as long as the sender supports the standards of the internet).  Please let us know if you are still encountering issues.

For questions, please call us at 256-547-6817 or email support@internetpro.net.

August 3, 2016 – Last night CableOne covering the Calhoun County area did an update.  This update changed the routing of their IP addresses.  It seems that every customer with a static IP address has lost service and will have to obtain a new IP from CableOne and program their router with the new information.  Unfortunately, CableOne send out no updates about this happening.  Of course, we are also experiencing an unrelated phone issue which is making it difficult for our customers to reach us regarding this problem.  We are trying to reach out to customers who we know have static IPs.

August 3, 2016 – 9:30am  – For some reason, the time reset on our phone system making it think that it was after hours.  We have manually reset the time now, so everything is working.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Update: 9:50am – Apparently, we are still not able to take incoming calls. We are checking into it.  In the mean time, please email support@internetpro.net for help.

Update: 10:15am – We just found out that the issue is with Verizon who has our main number.  The number is no longer routing properly, so even our failover system won’t work.  Our DID numbers and our toll free number is working.  If you need assistance, please call 256-467-6314 or our toll free number at 877-886-6868.

Update: 12:55pm – Phones are back online!!!   Woohoo!

We have been receiving NUMEROUS reports of computers automatically upgrading to Windows 10 without input from the owner.   Although Windows 10 is fine for many users, there may be reasons that you do not want to upgrade.  For instance, older versions of Quickbooks are not compatible with it.  There are also other software programs, like EagleSoft which may not run using Windows 10.  Or, you may just be comfortable with your current version and just don’t want to upgrade.

Lately, Microsoft has been aggressively pushing the upgrade.  The prompt for the upgrade will pop up and if the user does not decline or delay the upgrade, it will happen.  What we’ve been seeing is that people who leave their computers on overnight are frequently returning to find the machine upgraded.  This is because the computer is unattended for hours and no one is present to decline the upgrade.

If you are on a business network using a “domain”, this will not happen and you don’t have to worry about it.  However, if you are on a “workgroup” or using an individual computer (at work or home), this upgrade may present a problem.

For those of you who do NOT want to upgrade to Windows 10 unexpectedly, we have found a tool called GWX Control Panel which will allow you to turn off the “Get Windows 10” notifications and disable the “Upgrade to Windows 10” behavior on Windows 7 and 8.  You can click HERE to get that tool.  The user guide can be found here.   The tool can do many things, but to disable the notifications and the automatic upgrade, you just run the app.  A window like the one below will appear:

The computer we took this screenshot on had Windows 10 already installed, so the upper left button is grayed out.  You will see a button that says “Click to Disable ‘Get Windows 10’ App” instead of the grayed on which says “Click to Enable ‘Get Windows 10’ App (restore icon)”.   Click that one and the button which says “Click to Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades”.

After clicking those two buttons, it is safe to just delete the file you downloaded for the GWX Control Panel app.   If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.