How to set up Spam Filters
You just want to run a website and make the most of your business’s email address, but managing spam is starting to feel like a full-time job. Sound familiar? It seems that no matter what we try, the world’s ‘spam artists’ find new ways to annoy us. That’s why all our emails come pre-installed with Spam Filters powered by Apache SpamAssassin, one of the most powerful open-source email filtering systems available.
How Spam Filters Work
SpamAssassin uses a points-based system called “hits” to label spam. When it finds particular characteristics in an email, it assigns a point value. These ‘characteristics’ can include everything from words and topics commonly found in spam emails, to malicious code, and even custom values you set yourself. If the email exceeds the maximum point value you set, the email is flagged as spam.
The lower the score you set, the more email will be caught as spam. For example, a setting of 1 means that only one hit needs to be flagged against an email for it to be considered spam. If you set the score higher, more hits will be required on an email for it to be labelled as spam. So, the lower the score, the more emails should be flagged as spam.
How to set up a Spam Filter Threshold Score
- Start by logging into webmail.
Remember, you can log into webmail by visiting webmail.example.com. Also, be sure to use the full email address as the username and the password associated with the email account you are logging into.
- Click on Webmail Home button located on the left-hand side.
- Click on your email address and select option Spam Filters.
- Adjust Set a custom threshold value accordingly.
At first, you can try to use the default value (5). With these settings in place, you should monitor the spam box and inbox closely for a few days to a week (depending on the number of emails you receive). If you see more spam emails being sent to your inbox, you should change your threshold score to a lower value (to be more strict). If you see more legitimate emails being sent to your spam box, you should change the threshold score to a higher value (to be more lenient).
Click Submit to apply your changes.
