All e-mail accounts on our system can be tied into the spamhaus.org service to help prevent the receipt of spam. This is done by request at no additional charge. Virtual server clients interested in this service can run the following command at the command line prompt or contact us for assistance:

%vinstall sendmail-rbls

The Spamhaus service is a database of IP addresses of direct spam sources; spammers, spam gangs and spam support services, queriable in realtime by mail systems throughout the Internet for the purpose of refusing mail from known spam senders. All SBL entries are backed up with evidence which has fully satisfied the Spamhaus Project team that the IP is under the control of a spammer, spam operation or a spam support service and that the IP or netblock represents an unwanted nuisance or threat to mail systems using the SBL. To help stop the rising tide of spam coming from illegal exploits, Spamhaus also utilizes a realtime DNS-based database of IP addresses of illegal 3rd party exploits, including open proxies, worms/viruses with built-in spam engines, and other types of trojan-horse exploits utilized by spammers. We utilize this database as well for our clients.

Prior to delivery all email can be checked against the spamhaus.org database. If the email is from a source not contained in the SBL or XBL then it is routed to the next level. If the email is from a source included in the SBL or XBL it is returned to the sender with a message stating why delivery was refused. This whole process takes seconds.

SpamAssassin

In addition, by default, all E-mail accounts include SpamAssassin at no additional charge. You must login to your Control Panel to enable the software solution and assume & maintain control over SpamAssassin. You can also adjust sensitivity and add to your whitelist & blacklist. Virtual Server clients can install SpamAssassin at anytime. Directions are found in our Knowledge Base. Installation and configuration support for SpamAssassin is provided at no additional charge to our clients.

SpamAssassin is a powerful tool that uses its rule base and a wide range of tests on mail headers and body text to identify spam. SpamAssassin applies a number of tests to an incoming message, and each test returns a score. If enough tests return a combined score that is high enough SpamAssassin can tag the message as being spam and remove it.

Assuming Control of SpamAssassin: When you login to your Control Panel select the option (1)Viewing/Editing Mail Filters. Then select (2)Enable Mail Filters. This gives you control over the filters and your whitelist and blacklist. If you have multiple accounts you must login and configure each account. Options you select will override server wide options.

Your Whitelist & Blacklist:To help insure that E-mail that you want to receive is received we suggest the use of what is called a white list. E-mail sent from anyone on your whitelist bypasses SpamAssassin and is delivered. The opposite is also true. If you want to refuse delivery from someone you can add them to your blacklist. E-mail sent from someone on your blacklist is deleted before you download it. Once you make changes to your whitelist or blacklist you may have to logout and then login to see the changes made. When changes are made to your whitelist you will see the number of entries on the configuration page. If you do not please repeat the process after logging back in. Changes or additions to your whitelist are made by selecting (1)Viewing/Editing Mail Filters, (2)Edit Whitelist

Adjusting Sensitivity: By selecting (1)View/Edit Mail Filters, (2)Enable Mail Filters On, (3)Mail Filtering Mode in your Control Panel you can modify how SpamAssassin processes E-Mail. You also have the option of rejecting all E-Mail from anyone not in your whitelist. The default threshold is 5. Adjusting the threshold to 3 reduces the amount of spam that will get through but increases any chance of missing legitimate email.

You also have the option of having SpamAssasin removed from your account. If you prefer to receive the Spam and process it yourself please log into your Control Panel, select View/Edit Mail Filters and disable them.

If you elect to save suspected spam to a separate folder you should clear the contents of that folder on a weekly basis to prevent operational issues. You can also elect to have the suspected spam deleted automatically from the server without ever reviewing it. One additional option that can be utilized is to use the Autoresponder feature and add a message letting people know that if they do not receive a response to their inquiry in a certain period of time they should go to your website and contact you through that source. You should have forms on your website that visitors can use to contact you without a published email address. By placing your own domain name in the whitelist you insure that the responses will be received. Using these methods you can virtually eliminate your receipt of spam.

Missing Email: If you believe that email is not reaching you and SpamAssassin is enabled please insure that the sender is in your whitelist and the address is correct. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the filters. The software will not work if you have duplicate email addresses and or typos in your whitelist or blacklist entries so please check your work. If you elect to add the wildcard for an address and want to accept all email from a domain name such as ebay.com then you should not add multiple addresses for ebay.com beyond the wildcard. In addition ebay.com will be accepted as a wildcard while ebay.cmo will result it entries being ignored on your whitelist. Please check your spelling.

Don't purchase anything sent to you via unsoliticted E-mail. Spammers are in business for one reason and one reason only. People purchase from them.

Don't respond to any link in an E-mail for removing your address from their list. Chances are they are confirming your address and will bombard you with more solicitations.

Spammers harvest E-mail addresses from newsgroups, forums, websites and the whois database of domain name registrations. Use a secondary address for those purposes and use forms on your website.

If you registered your domain name through us contact us to inquire about adding privacy features to the registration.

Spammers use servers to relay solicitations. Our relays are closed to insure your account will not be used for this purpose.