Ecenica Hosting

How-to: Reduce Spam

1. What Spam Filters are running on my account?

We're currently running a number of spam and email filters at the server level to reduce the possibility of spam reaching your Inbox. Currently all email accounts are automatically covered by the following:

1. Reverse DNS blacklisting
2. Malicious attachment blocking
3. Virus Scanner powered by F-Prot Anti-virus
4. SPF - Sender Policy Framework
5. Anti-phising filter
6. Bayesian Spam Filter

If a virus or malicious attachment is found, the message is deleted at the incoming mail server.

If a message is detected as originating form a blacklisted mail server, it is rejected at the server level and an email is sent to the sender notifying them that their IP address is listed as a blacklisted IP address.

If a message is detected to contain a known blacklisted URL/Link, then the message is rejected and the sender is notified that the content contains a blacklisted URL/Link.

If the SPF checks determine the message not to have come from the senders domain name or the message is flagged by the Bayesian filter, the message is flagged as spam and the message header (X-ME-Content: Deliver-To=Junk) is added to the email message. We do not delete messages at the server level in this incidence as no spam system is 100% accurate and we do not wish to risk deleting genuine emails.

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2. Basic tips for preventing spam

1. Never publish your email address on any publicly available web page
2. Only give your email address out to trusted contacts.
3. Never reply to a spam email. You only confirm that your address is active and they will send you more.
4. Do not click on any 'Remove Email' or 'Unsubscribe' links in any spam email.
5. Disable any catch-all email accounts you have setup.

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3. How you can train your spam filter

If you are using IMAP or our web mail to access your emails you can train the Bayesian spam filter to improve the accuracy of the spam detection.

1. Create a new mail folder in your mailbox called 'spam'.
2. Create a new mail folder in your mailbox called 'ham'.
3. If you receive email in your Inbox that is spam, move the message into the new 'spam' folder.
4. If you receive email in your 'Junk E-mail' folder that has been incorrectly marked as spam, temporarily move the message into the new 'Ham' folder and leave it there for 24-48 hours.

Our spam filter will automatically check your 'Ham' and 'Spam' folders for new email and use them to update the spam dictionary. The more spam/ham emails you move into the respective folders, the more accurate the filter becomes at correctly identifying email as spam.

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4. How to setup Spam & Ham folders using IMAP in Outlook/Outlook Express and Thunderbird

1. Right-click on your IMAP account in your email program.
2. Click New Folder from the dropdown list.
3. For the name of the folder, enter ham and then click OK
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for creating the spam folder.
5. The two folders, spam & ham, should now appear in the folder list on the left

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5. How to setup Spam & Ham folders in Webmail

1. Login into webmail.



2. Click Manage in the folder menu on the left.




3. On the 'Manage Folders' screen click the Add button.



4. Enter spam for the name of the folder and ensure that the folder is saved to the (Root Folder) in the drop down list. Click OK.





5. Once back on the 'Manage Folders' screen click the Add button again.



6. Enter ham for the name of the folder and ensure that the folder is saved to the (Root Folder) in the drop down list. Click OK.





7. Once back on the 'Manage Folders' screen click the Check Mail button to return to your inbox. You should now see the 'ham' and 'spam' folders listed on the left.





8. If you receive email in your Inbox that is spam, move the message into the new spam folder by ticking it and then selecting the 'spam' folder from the 'Move to.." drop down list.





9. If you receive email in your Junk E-mail folder that isn't spam, move the message into the new ham folder by ticking it and then selecting the 'hpam' folder from the 'Move to.." drop down list.

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