How to use the hosted email filtering service

If you have purchased spam and virus filtering with your hosting account, the instructions below detail how to use it.

Two methods of filtering are available. The first, and default method is known as tagging. You'll note that most spams that you receive have the text "***SPAM***" in the subject line. This is inserted by the spam filter if it thinks the mail is spam. If you configure your email software, such as Outlook Express, to filter these "tagged" messages to a separate folder, the result will be that most spam will be removed from your inbox, automatically.

You should periodically open the spam folder, and check whether there are mails in there that were not spam after all (this does happen). If mails from a specific address are consistently marked as spam, when they are not, add this address to your whitelist (see below).

Note: you should ensure you use the hosted SMTP server, if you are using the hosted email filtering service. This will prevent the filter blocking internal mail. For instance, if bob@yourdomain.com sends mail to alice@yourdomain.com, but Bob uses his ISP's SMTP server, the filter will have no way of knowing that Bob is not a spammer, and may filter the mail if it looks like spam. If, however Bob uses the hosted SMTP server, the filter will recognise his SMTP server, and will not filter the mail.

blocking vs. tagging

An alternative filtering method is available, listed as blocking in the control panel. This is a form of sender verification. If the filtering method is set to blocking, and a mail is suspected spam, the mail system will reply to the sender, asking them to "click the link" to confirm delivery. If they not do this, the mail is not delivered. Since most spam is from forged addresses, this method also eliminates the majority of spam from your inbox, automatically.

To switch your filtering method between tagging and blocking:

1. access the control panel
2. click Email Control
3. click Spam and Virus Control
4. click Edit, next to the account you wish to edit
5. select the filtering method you would like to use
6. click Next Step

Note that this setting applies to ALL mailboxes on the site.

Configuring Outlook Express 5/6 to filter ***SPAM*** messages

1. Open Outlook Express
2. click Tools.. Message Rules.. Mail..
3. in the first section, check the second box [ ] where the subject line contains specific words
4. in the second section, check the box [ ] move it to the specified folder
5. in the third section, click "contains specific words"
6. type the text ***SPAM*** and click Add, then click OK
7. in the third section, click "specified folder"
8. select a folder to hold the spam, creating a new folder if necessary (example: _spam)
9. click OK, OK

If the spam folder is accidentally deleted, here's how to re-create it:

1. Open Outlook Express
2. click Tools.. Message Rules.. Mail..
3. in the lower section, click "specified" (it should be in red, if the folder cannot be found)
4. select a folder to hold the spam, creating a new folder if necessary (example: _spam)
5. click OK, OK

Configuring Outlook 2003 to filter ***SPAM*** messages

1. Open Outlook 2003
2. click Tools.. Rules Wizard..
3. click New
4. select "start from a blank rule"
5. select "check messages when they arrive"
6. click Next
7. select "with specific words in the subject"
8. type the text ***SPAM*** in the box, then click Next
9. select "move it to the specified folder"
10. select a folder to hold the spam, creating a new folder if necessary (example: _spam)
11. click Finish

Whitelisting an email address

If mail from a certain sender is consistently labelled as spam, it can be whitelisted. The whitelist is a list of email addresses that will never be marked as spam. To add an address to the whitelist:

1. access the control panel
2. click Email Control
3. click Spam and Virus Control
4. click E-mail Whitelist (top-left, in the sidebar)
5. enter the email address to add in the box
6. click Next Step

This screen can also be used to remove addresses from the whitelist.

To whitelist an entire domainname, for example *@mycompany.com, please contact us and request this. This will whitelist every address at the domainname you specify.