How to Remove Your IP Address from the Hotmail/Outlook’s Blacklist

Almost every person today in this world  uses Email services. Some people have mastered the skill of writing email while some others are still struggling to make it good .

If you are a person who has gripped hands on email practice , well you did a great job ! But if you are not yet sure on writing email to bloggers, don’t worry , you will learn it soon . But let me make you one thing clear , bad email practices may not be good sometimes . This type of practice may lead your IP Address fall into a hole of block IP range . To protect users from unsophisticated and unusual mails , some mails go directly into the block list.

Even some companies like Yahoo Mail , Go Daddy , Gmail , Outlook have their own spam box facility in mail to protect their users from such types of mails . Hence it is necessary to take some precautions .  You should know that your IP is blocked and here I can help you in unblocking it . But before knowing it , let us see some basic how and why .

1 . How to know that your Email is blocked ?

When you realize that the messages that were being opened , are now not opened or in simple words the rate of opening messages from outbox box of ypur mail is decreased , this is one of the signs .

2. Why your IP is blocked ?

So , before going on to any decision or requesting to remove yourself from blocked list , make sure that why are you blocked . There are several reasons for this . Let us check .

1. There maybe misconfigured DNS settings .
2. Number of spams are higher from an IP address .
3. It may have a bad domain reputation .
4. High rates of bounce .

Now , if you have learnt that your IP is blocked ,  time to investigate other readings .

4 . How to investigate blocked list in Outlook / Hotmail

Follow these simple things for investigation process of your Outlook or Hotmail blocked list .

1. You can check your server’s sending reputation . You can check it on SenderScore.org

ii . Check  the entries in  your server like PTR , DKF , SPF . These entries are all related to email authentication and should be set up properly .

iii . Also check for the traffic in your server’s IP address . Check for the volume of sent emails and complaint rates. You can check this by signing up for Microsoft’s Smart Network Data Service (SNDS) .  This service keeps the log of all the data .

1. Configure your PHP to log mail , if you have any script in PHP . You can check it in  mail.log ini entry .

v . You can check your IP with any tool like Gblock apps and rackraid .

Above is the image of the app that shows the IP bounce .

If your server runs on PHP , the check for logs in php.log . Otherwise , you can scan your server for any malware detection .  According to some sites the most common reasons for blocked IP is

i  . There is maximum use of insecure web application . Most spams comes due to this .

ii . Configuration issues .

iii. User passwords compromised .

You need to go through your server deeply and thoroughly . If you detect any suspicious activity , try to stop it . Forwarding a lot of spam emails in Hotmail , can cause your system to be on Hotmail’s blacklist .

Well if you want to dig deeper in your server and want to know what is actually happening,  I can give you some handy codes for help .

host mx4.hotmail.com[65.55.37.72] said: 550 SC-001 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation problems. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for help. Email/network admins , please visit MSN Postmaster for email delivery information and support (in reply to MAIL FROM command)

Above is just the reference for your help .

5. How to remove your IP from the blocklist of Hotmail

Well , the final resort is to contact Microsoft . But , before heading towards contacting Microsoft , make sure about these things .

1. DNS settings should be correct .
2. Make sure that your IP address in not listed on famous blocking sites like Spamhaus and other public sites anymore .

iii . Your Senderscore should be 75 or greater than that .

1. Fix the issue that caused your IP to be blocked .

After checking all this , you can now contact Microsoft .

Fill all the details of Sender Information Form from microsoft . If all of your information is correct and legitimate and  you are really not spamming the users , relax. Your IP address will be removed from block list within 2-3 business days .