MANAGING SPAM

Obviously spam and virus emails are a problem for everyone.  Unsolicited and 'junk' emails promoting various offers and websites are everywhere, and it can be very difficult to manage your spam.  We cannot remove SPAm completely, nobody can, but we can reduce the amount of SPAM you receive significantly.

Messages sent to our server are scanned through SpamAssassin spam control software, and then by customised spam filters.  Emails are classified as spam in several ways, including whether the sender address or IP address has been identified as sending spam by SpamAssassin, and various message components that indicate a spam or virus email.

Click here to read about preventing SPAM

If a legitimate email you know has been sent to you has not arrived

Check your Junk, Trash or Junk folders, both within your email client (such as Outlook, Express, Mail or Thunderbird), and in your webmail at http://webmail.yourhost.net.nz

If you find the email in one of these folders, move it to the inbox.  If this issue continues to occur, please see the below instructions on 'whitelisting' an email address or IP address.

To manage your spam control settings

The key thing to be aware of in managing spam is that SpamAssassin works with 'filters'.  An email sent to your email address is filtered and those emails identified as potentially being spam are sent to a Spam folder.  If filters are too tight, legitimate email will be classified as spam, and vice versa.  Everyone has a different level of spam control required.  You can adjust how tight these filters are following the below instructions.

>> Login to your Client Control Panel above - if you don't know how to do this, click here to find out how to access your DirectAdmin Control Panel.

>> Under Email Management, select Spassassassin Setup

>>Under Where do you want the spam to go? identify where you want any emails marked as SPAM to be delivered:

• Selecting Inbox wil result in emails not being filtered and you will receive all emails - even spam.
• Redirecting to the 'catch-all' email address will send any SPAM messages to the main administrative email account.
• Recommended in most circumstances - selecting to send the email to the relevant user's email account will mean each email address' spam can be checked through the individual user webmail account.
• Choosing to Delete SPAM will permanently delete all messages identified as potentially being spam.  Be careful, selecting this option may mean that legitimate emails are deleted automatically.  They are not recoverable.

>> Under What score threshold do you wish to use? identify how 'tight' you want your SPAM Filters to be.  The higher the number the tighter the filter.  We recommend a filter between 7.5 and 10 - you can specify a custom number such as 8.5 or 9 within the Custom box.  Remember, if these filters are too tight legitimate emails may be identified as spam.  You may need to adjust these settings over time to find the optimal filter number.

>> Under Would you like to delete high scoring spam? select an option.  Choosing to delete all SPAM messages at a certain level is generally safe, but we don't recommend setting it at less than 15.  Deleted messages are not recoverable.  Choosing not to delete messages may mean you have lots of SPAM in your Spam folder.

>> Under Do you wish to rewrite the subject of a spam email? - either choice is fine, we find it useful to be able to identify potential Spam messages easily by marking them with *****SPAM*****.  This also assists email clients in classifying spam.

>> Under How should the spam be delivered? - select Use Attachments - this prevents damaging viruses and software from running when you download the message in your email client.

>> Below this are two boxes - Email Blacklist and Email Whitelist.  Email addresses on the Blacklist will be automatically blocked and treated as SPAM.  Email addresses on the Whitelist will be delivered regardless of email content.  Use these lists to manage email addresses sending you large amounts of spam or legitimate emails getting labeled as spam.

>> Click Done.

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To Prevent SPAM

The best way to manage and fight spam is to keep it from arriving in your inbox in the first place. Here are some tips for preventing unwanted e-mail.

• Don't post your e-mail address on unsecure websites. Spammers scan newsgroups, websites and web forums looking for e-mail addresses.
• Don’t give out your e-mail address unless you know how it will be used – it’s important to check a site’s privacy policy before giving them your email address.  If a company doesn’t have a privacy statement, you probably shouldn’t trust them with your e-mail address.
• Never buy anything advertised in spam. Chances are the services or products advertised are bogus.
• Use the filters built into your e-mail client programs such as Outlook or Apple Mail.
• Never reply to a spam message. This includes clicking the often-misunderstood ‘unsubscribe’ link – all this does is inform your spammer that you exist. If you can tell from the subject line that a message is spam, don't open it — delete it.
• Don’t click any links in a spam email. Spammers often have multiple, unique pages on their sites. When you click a URL in a spam message, this tells the spammer that you — and only you — received the message he or she sent.
• Disguise your email address. Don't put your email address in plain text on your Web site.  Software programs called ‘spiders’ trawl the internet ‘harvesting’ email addresses automatically.  An effective way to trick them is to disguise your email address by stripping out periods and @ symbols. For example, ‘you at yourdomain dot com’.  You can also make the @ an image. You may wish to disguise your email address in your signature file, in case your recipients forward your email.
• Don’t forward an email from someone you don’t know to a list of people. You know those ‘forward this email to 20 of your friends’ messages? They are perfect for spammers to harvest email addresses, even if the sender of the original email did not have this intent. These types of sign-and-forward emails often appear in the form of a petition — and they don’t work.  In general, emails CC'd to a large number of people should be avoided.
• Don’t use your home or business email address when you register on a Website or in a group. If you must sign up for services, or to receive more info, use a free email address from a site like Gmail or Hotmail to create an address especially for that purpose. This also goes for posting to the Web, newsgroup, on a contact page for a Website, or on a resume that is posted on the Web.
• Before you join a list, make sure the list owner or Web master will not sell your address. Check to see if you can opt out of receiving unsolicited email from the site where you're registering. If you are unsure about this, read the site's privacy statement.
• Use a complicated email address. Spammers' software will look for the easy and obvious addresses first, such as those with identifiable names ‘dave123@hotmail.com’ as opposed to ‘dfk375@hotmail.com."
• If your organisation has an IT department, forward any spam that gets through to it. This way, they can perhaps better tweak the filters.
• Never use your email address as your screen name in chat rooms. It will give spiders or human email harvesters an absolute yes to a questionable email address.
• Use multiple e-mail addresses for different purposes.   You might set up one for personal use to correspond with friends, family, or colleagues, and use another for more public activities, such as requesting information, shopping, or for subscribing to newsletters, discussion lists, and newsgroups.  Free email services such as Gmail and Hotmail can be useful for these purposes.
• Watch out for check boxes that are already selected.   When you buy things online, companies sometimes add a check box (already selected!) to indicate that it is fine to sell or give your e-mail address to other businesses (third parties). Clear the check box so that your e-mail address won't be shared.
• If a company uses e-mail messages to ask for personal information, don't respond by sending a message.  Most legitimate companies will not ask for personal information in e-mail. Be suspicious if they do. It could be a spoofed e-mail message meant to look like a legitimate one. This tactic is known as 'phishing' because, as the name implies, the spam is used as a means to 'fish' for your credentials, such as your account number and passwords that are necessary to access and manipulate your financial accounts. If the spam is from a company that you do business with — for example, your credit card company — call the company, but don't use a phone number provided on the e-mail. Use a number that you find yourself, either through directory assistance, a bank statement, a bill, or other source. If it is a legitimate request, the telephone operator should be able to help you.
• Don't contribute to a charity based on a request in e-mail.  Unfortunately, some spammers prey on your good will. If you receive an appeal from a charity, treat it as spam. If it is a charity that you want to support, find their number elsewhere and call them to find out how you can make a contribution.
• Watch out for Hoax SPAM.  These are messages that innocent people may forward to you with some kind of hoax warning or way to make a fortune. Never respond to or forward this kind of message. They are hoaxes. 
• Never add your friends email address to a mailing list. You will not get a free prize and your friend will not thank you for the extra spam they receive.

Remember - it is probably not possible to completely eliminate SPAM, but through being sensible with your email address and managing your SPAM filters you can make life a lot easier for yourself!

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