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SPAM FILTERING «
General Questions
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How
are the Junk Email Filters different from
the spam filters in my email client?
To begin with, you must still download your
email before your mail client can filter it.
About 95% --- that's how accurate your filters
can be with the Junk Email Assistant superior
design. In addition, the mail filters found
in email products have a number of limitations
and often assume a "one size fits all"
solution. You are often expected to develop
your own filter rules from the limited tools
provided. Further, |
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The Junk Email Assistant filters do all email
processing behind the scenes before it arrives
in your inbox. This saves time and bandwidth
by not forcing you to download superfluous
email, such as unsolicited offers. Moreover,
improvements to the filters are done without
modifications to your email client or account.
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How
do I know junk email is being filtered and
not my regular (legitimate) email?
Advanced filtering technique built
on heuristic rules, lists of approved and
blocked senders, and databases of known junk
email maintain the effectiveness of the rules
system. Despite these advanced measures, some
good email may get caught since the concept
of junk email is subjective (one man's trash
is another man's treasure). To remedy this,
you can set a lenient-to-aggressive tolerance
for filtering suspicious email: lenient filtering
potentially lets more junk email through,
but also minimizes the risk of legitimate
email from getting mistakenly directed to
the Message Center; conversely, aggressive
filtering catches more suspicious email at
the risk of mistakenly diverting normal email
to the Message Center. You are notified with
regular summary reports of your activity.
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Does
someone read personal emails?l
No. All email processing is done through
automated filters, in milliseconds. In the
event a "suspicious" email is discovered,
it will be directed to your private Message
Center pending your review. If you would like
to pass on a suspicious email to spam@postini.com
for analysis. |
Am
I notified when email is quarantined as suspicious
junk email?
You will receive a regular report via
email of the activity in your Message Center.
However, you can log in to the Message Center
at any time to monitor and review detained
messages. |
What are Message Center
filter categories?
In addition to the Bulk Mail default
filter category, you can also select: |
• Sexually Explicit - Block inappropriate
sexually oriented messages.
• Get Rich Quick - Block the moneymaking
offers and high-risk investments messages.
• Racially Insensitive - Block offensive
messages about sex, creed, religion, and race.
• Special Offers - Block annoying advertisements. |
What is Filter Sensitivity?
Filter Sensitivity determines how aggressive
the filters are in capturing suspect email.
The settings are Lenient, Moderate, and Aggressive.
Lenient will capture less suspect email, while
aggressive is likely to capture more. |
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What is the Approved Senders list? |
What if I want to
receive junk email?
You can turn the Junk Email Assistant
off at anytime by simply logging in to your
Message Center, and turning OFF the Junk Email
toggle switch on the Junk Email page. (Other
applications, such as virus scanning, can
also be turned on or off in this manner.) |
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However, if too much legitimate email is being
detained, first try setting "Filter Sensitivity"
to moderate or lenient and/or uncheck any
"Filter Categories" that are unwanted.
It also helps to explicitly list certain email
addresses to allow their messages through
the filters, regardless of content. Do this
by entering valid addresses in the Approved
Senders field. |
What happens in the
event that the email processing servers' fail?
A large number of enterprise-scale
servers are dedicated to processing email.
However, in the event of a catastrophe, email
will be passed through the system by defaulting
to your email provider's regular mail servers.
There will be no noticeable performance hit.
Any suspect messages that were diverted to
the Message Center are contained on redundant
disk storage devices that are backed up. |
How often is email
deleted from the Message Center?
Email messages are kept in the Message
Center for 14 days following the receipt of
the message--this includes any messages that
have been moved to your "Trash Folder".
After 14 days from first receipt, any message
will be deleted. Email service providers will
send an email activity report on a regular
basis to remind you to check your Message
Center. You can also access the Message Center
at any time. |
What if I receive
spam, what should I do with it?
If junk email reaches your inbox, you
can simply delete the message or forward it
to spam@postini.com. You can also visit the
Message Center and add the sender's address
to your "Blocked Senders" list if
it appears to be a repeat offender, preventing
that sender from reaching the inbox again.
It might also be useful to try increasing
the sensitivity level in the configuration
or turn on specific filter categories. |
What if legitimate
email is quarantined in your Message Center?
Unfortunately, some legitimate email
may be erroneously directed to your Message
Center. This is due to the subjective nature
of email messages and what could possibly
be considered junk email. If a significant
amount of valid email is being misdirected
to the Message Center, You should build a
list of approved senders, thereby minimizing
the possibility of detaining a valid email
in the future. |
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Also, from the Message Center, click "deliver"
for any legitimate email you will be prompted
to add to the sender to the "Approved
Sender" list. This is the easiest way
to improve your filter accuracy. You may also
manually build your approved senders list
by visiting your junk email settings. |
Does the Junk Mail
Assistant watch for obscene language and other
questionable content?
The Junk Email Assistant is tuned for
identifying unsolicited commercial email (UCE),
otherwise known as spam or junk email. This
is somewhat different than filtering specifically
for content, like most email filtering. For
example, a friend sends a joke containing
obscenities. This originates from a known
source, whereas a message of unknown origin
containing obscenities that refers to a pornography
site WOULD likely be directed to the Message
Center. |
Does the Junk Mail
Assistant watch for email only written in
English?
Yes, at this time English is the only
language supported. |
How do I set up Junk
Email filters?
1. Log into your Message Center and
click on the “Junk Email” link at
the top
2. Make sure that the 'ON' button is
selected activated.
3. Select 'Filter Categories' decide
what type of filtering you would like to take
place.
4. Always 'Save Changes' to save or
'Cancel' to cancel and begin again.
5. Also check 'Filter Sensitivity'
to determine how aggressive you want your
filters.
6. Add friends, family, and acquaintances
to your 'Approved Senders' list and add nuances
to the 'Blocked Senders' list. |
Faq