- How does the spam filtering work?
The vast majority of spam is sent from servers that are known sources of spam, or directly from infected PCs being used by hackers to send spam. Because the profile of the sending server makes it virtually certain that these messages are spam, our filters bounce them back to the sender. Bouncing most spam messages helps reduce the overall volume of spam that will be sent to your address in the future.
- I see a Spam folder. Can I view my spam there?
There is an optional quarantine function that sends spam to the Spam folder, but the default setting in Webmail does not quarantine email. When a message is sent into quarantine, it looks to the spammer like it was delivered, which encourages them to send more spam to you, and possibly even to sell your address to other spammers. However, if a spam message is bounced back to the sender rather than sent to quarantine, it actually encourages the spammer to remove your address from their list to avoid triggering automatic blocks based on the number of bounces they generate. For this reason, we do not turn on the Spam folder by default.
- What if there is a message that I am not receiving?
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There may be some mailing lists or small commercial mail systems that are not following proper sending standards. In this case, messages from them will be bounced back, and the sender will receive a notification of why their message was not delivered. The best solution is that the sending server change their configuration to conform to appropriate standards. However, in the meantime, you can whitelist an address to allow messages from that sender to come through to your Inbox. You can also turn on quarantine to receive messages from that sender in your Spam folder. If you do turn on quarantine, we recommend that you turn it back off again once you have whitelisted any legitimate senders that have had trouble sending messages to you, since spam sent to quarantine looks to the spammer like it was successfully delivered. In most cases, you should find very few legitimate messages that are bounced or quarantined, especially if you have whitelisted any problem senders.
- How do I turn on Quarantine?
Log into Webmail. Under “AntiSpam Settings”, select the option “Normal with Quarantine”. This will send a subset of spam messages into your Spam folder. Learn more about Spam settings.
- How do I Approve and Block Senders?
Click Antispam Setttings and you will see links to edit two available “Blacklists” and a “Whitelist”. You can allow all mail through from a sender by “whitelisting” their address, or you can block all mail from a sender by “blacklisting” their address. You can also blacklist messages based on their subject content.
Important: Never whitelist your own address or domain, or you will see a large increase in spam delivered to your inbox. Learn more about using Whitelists and Blacklists
- Are the spam settings the same for all of my email addresses and aliases?
No. Every individual email address or email alias has its own spam filter settings, and you must manage them separately. This means you can have separate settings for different mailboxes or aliases, where one address has quarantine turned on, for example, and another address does not. Similarly, one address could have a specific sender whitelisted, while another does not. To change spam settings for secondary email addresses or aliases, you must log in to Webmail under each address that you want to manage the spam settings for.
- The Spam Status in Webmail tells me that I have been protected from a lot of spam each day. I have quarantine enabled, but see fewer messages in my spam folder than I see in the Spam Status box.
The Spam Status counter displays the total number of spam messages that are sent to your address, which highlights the effectiveness of the spam filtering that protects your account. Even with the quarantine turned on, some messages are still bounced back to the sender because it is a virtual certainty that they are spam based on key elements that no legitimate message would match. Taking this action helps reduce the overall volume of spam that will be sent to your address in the future. It also reduces the number of messages to review if you have your Spam folder enabled.
- Is there an email notification telling me that I have spam in quarantine?
No. If quarantine is enabled, you can check your spam folder within Webmail at any time to see any quarantined messages. Messages in the Spam folder will be deleted after two weeks if not deleted by you.
- Are viruses quarantined, and do I receive a notification when one is received?
No. In the past, viruses were generally transmitted as part of a valid email from someone you knew. Today, the vast majority of viruses are sent by automated programs and are not attached to a valid message, so there is no reason to quarantine them. If a virus is sent to your address, the Spam Status box in Webmail will keep track of the number you were protected from so far that day.