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Evidently, an email sent to 21 people in my personal distribution list of family set off their "SPAM" alert. Now, I cannot send any email. I have yet to call them and raise some heck with them.

To correct this "spam" they want me to switch my email port to "587"...IS THIS SAFE? WHY do they want me to use a specific port?

Second, I use my iMAC...I seriesly DOUBT that there is a VIRUS on my iMAC!!

Little help and advise from y'all out there...

Any info from our resident MAC expert?

Seems to me that Comcast is trying to upsell the McAfee stuff. Unfortunately none of their links will work on the iMac.

I did look and I can manually reset my email port to 587 but am NOT going to do it just yet. Gonna call Comcast and see what they think is going on...

To correct this "spam" they want me to switch my email port to "587"...IS THIS SAFE? WHY do they want me to use a specific port?

Don't worry about using 587; it's also a standard port for sending email.

If you want the gory details, it's a port associated with the MSA protocol. The standard is here if you are interested in reading it, but it is rather tedious. Basically, it says that port 25 isn't really the best place for client email to come into, and proposes a new client standard at 587.

The port your email program uses is irrelevant. They probably have enabled several POP3 server ports. Several common ones and a few not-so-common. A demon mailer will use common ports by default. Just switch to port 587.

If I were you, I’d call Comcast. First, confirm that it’s a legitimate Email from them. I’m slightly suspicious because the URL is comcastsupport.com, not comcast.com.

Second, if the Email is legitimate, tell them the circumstances, calmly and inoffensively. Get the rep on your side and ask for his/her help.

Looking on the bright side, the port 587 suggestion is legitimate, so the Email is probably legit also:

http://www.google.com/search?q=port+587

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1838667,00.asp

...Comcast network will not allow you to send email until you apply a simple one click fix available at http://www.comcastsupport.com/alternateport...

First, make sure this isn't a phishing attempt to get you to disclose your password or credit card information.

I'd call them first before using that link.

Or, if you're email is html, you can view the source and make sure the link is legit.

What can be really a trick nowadays is that an email that appears to be from a legit company like Comcast can really be a phishing attack from someone trying to gain access to your personal info.

Your first reaction to such an email is naturally, “Uh oh, a problem. Let me do what they say to clear this up”. Check any of the links provided in the email to see if they actually land you on servers you would expect (like comcast.com) before you go and enter any private info (email addresses, mailing adress, etc). Be especially leery if a form is asking for passwords or SSNO info!

The safest approach if you get an email like this is to call the company using the company’s contact phone number from a bill (not any number supplied in the email) and ask about the problem.

In your situation, it’s not likely your iMac was hacked to turn it into a spambot and your sending an email to 21 recipients *might* have triggered an automatic block of your account.

Give Comcast a call and I suspect they can reset any flags on your account from their end.