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How to configure your spam and virus protection
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Last Updated
19th of May, 2008

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This article details how to use your account manager to configure spam protection to your liking once you have purchased it for your account. These options include how aggressively you want message filtering to be applied and what to do when messages are marked as spam as well as several other options. For information on purchasing spam protection, visit:


1. Log in to your Account Manager.

2. Click the "Email Options" button on the left side of the page.

3. Click the "Spam / Virus" tab at the top.

4. Where it says "POP Box:", use the pulldown menu to select the POP Box who's Blacklist you would like to configure.

5. Click the blue "Select" button.


6. Click the "Modify Spam Settings" link under the "Spam Options" list.

7. From here you have a few options to configure. Below is each option, what it does, and how to configure it.



Required Hits:

The number entered here signifies the level of spam protection you wish to employ, 10 being the least aggressive and 5 being the most. 5 is the default setting, anything lower than this will cause large amounts of legitimate messages to be lost. 7 is a moderate number and is generally what we recommend. The higher the level of protection, the more chance there is of having legitimate messages marked as spam. For more information on this, click the "Explanation" link next to where it says "Required Hits:". There is an Explanation link next to most of the options in this list, so if you are not sure about anything just click it for more information.

Subject Tag:

The text entered here will be added on to the very beginning of the subject of a message which has been filtered as spam. The default here is **SPAM** which would make a filtered message's subject look like this:

From: some@annoying_spammer.com Subject: **SPAM** Cheap Generic Viagra

What to do with spam:

You have two options here. If you select "Only tag the email as spam", then the email will be marked with the Subject Tag and will remain in your Inbox. If you select "Delete any email identified as spam", the message will be deleted. This is not suggested as legitimate messages may end up being misinterpereted as spam and deleted.

If tagging spam:

This option only applies if you have selected "Only tag the email as spam" in the previous option. Selecting "Plain text attachment" will cause the original message to be attached as plain text, removing any HTML formatting from the message. Selecting "Original message as attachment" will cause the original message to be turned into an attachment, replacing the original text with an explanation as to why the message was marked as spam. This is a safe option as you will be able to see why the message was marked as spam, but do not have to open the spam message itself unless you exlpicitly ask to. Lastly, if you select "Do not alter the original email", the spam message will not be altered at all (except for the Subject Tag being added). This can be dangerous if the spam message contains code which exposes your E-Mail address or any other malicious code.

Enable Virus Protection

Keeping this option checked will cause scans to be preformed on messages using a full virus scanning solution which is updated daily. It will also block any messages with attached files that are executable such as .exe .bat and .dll files amongst others. Most (but not all) worms / viruses / trojan horses are hidden in executable files with extensions such as these. The virus scan software scans the entire contents of the email and will often times catch viruses in file types not listed above.

Enable Realtime Blacklist checking

This will compare E-Mail addresses that have sent you messages against a database of known spammers and possibly mark them as spam if there is a match. Most, but not all matches are blocked. It will also compare information such as the mail server from which a message was sent. If there is a match in the mail servers, the message will most likely be tagged as spam. The Blacklist can also spot systems which are known for allowing spam to be relayed off of them. Remember, information contained in the messages which are sent to you that ends up as matching the Blacklist will not guarantee that the message is marked as spam, this is just one more tool that can be used in determining if the message is spam or not.

Enable Auto Learn System

Keeping this checked will cause the spam filtering system to learn as it goes along using an advanced system based on artificial intellgence called Bayesian filtering. If you enable this feature, it will not turn itself on until it has analyzed 200 good messages and 200 bad ones so that it can accurately filter messages. Consider Auto Learn as making a long-term contribution to your spam protection.

Check this box to automatically delete any email that comes from an address that is listed in your personal blacklist. If this is not checked, emails from addresses in your blacklist will only be tagged as spam (Unless you have chosen to have all spam emails deleted).

You have the option of blacklisting E-Mail addresses which you know for a fact are associated with spam. If you keep this box checked, those messages will be automaticaly deleted. If you uncheck this box, any messages from any address in your blacklist will be tagged as spam (unless, of course, you opted to have spam messages automatically deleted).

8. Once you have configured everything to your liking, click the blue "Modify Settings" button to make all of the changes final.


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