Brandon
August 25th, 2005, 07:17 PM
Dealing with spam is about prevention and filtering. Here are basic spam-prevention tips, what to do with unrouted email and how to use Spam Assassin. If anybody has questions or other ideas about reducing spam, feel free to post them in this forum.
Prevention
The number one rule of preventing spam is keeping your email address away from the spammers.
Don't open spam obviously. Why are emails worth careful inspection? Most spam contains code that - when you open the email - tells the spammer you just opened the email and that your email address is active. An active email address, to spammers, is worth sending more spam to. So if you find yourself opening spam alot, do a little more inspection. Always err on the side of caution because if you can't imagine who it could be from, it's probably spam.
Don't click "remove me from your list" links from spam. You're already on it. But now they know your email address is active.
Some people gradually switch to new email addresses when prevention feels futile. People whose spam is out of control and want to start on a clean slate. Nobody wants to miss important emails, however. This is why some people transition a new email address by 1) adding a new email address then 2) sending a bulk email to everybody important and asking them to start using it. Over time the old (out-of-control spam) email address needs to be checked less and less. When you feel all important emails are sent to your new email address (six months? two years?) good riddance to the old email and that daily deluge of spam.
You can create several new email addresses. Some people use more than one email address. One is for signing up to newsletters, online shopping and other third-parties. And they reserve one just for close friends, family and co-workers only. Which stays especially spam-free because of limited exposure.
Filtering
Your 1-2-Wonder account has an effective and easy-to-use spam-filter called Spam Assassin for your website. Several paragraphs below are beginner instructions if you haven't set it up and used it before. First, however, is how to reduce spam by "black hole" or "bouncing" unrouted email.
Your primary email account is a catch-all email account and unrouted email is delivered to it. What is unrouted email? Here is an example. If I send an email to 123@yourwebsite.com (which you never created), it goes to your primary email account. Here is another example. If my website is "www.brandons12website.com" and somebody sends an email to "abc@brandons12website.com" (which I never created), it will go to my primary email account. Why? The server had no address associated with it then sends such "unrouted emails" to an address you designate. Right now, your website's unrouted email probably goes to your primary email account. Spammers utilize this very approach.
To reduce spam via unrouted email if you are using your primary email account, login Cpanel, click "Mail," "Default Address" then "Set Default Address." There is an empty text box. Notice how all unrouted email is being sent to your primary email account? You have two options to change this. You can "black hole" it, which means unrouted emails vanish into thin air, which can be good because spammers do not detect an active email account. Or you can "bounce" it, which sends an undeliverable message to the sender. We do not advise :fail: no such address here for your website, because you'll get alot of bounce notices that will occupy disk space fast. Either way, spam will no longer reach your primary email address via unrouted email. Type either ":blackhole:" or ":fail: no such address here" (no quotes) in the empty text box. Then click "Change." Done. If you go there and try, instructions are there too.
If you haven't installed Spam Assassin or used it before, here are beginner instructions.
Install: In Cpanel, click the "Mail" icon (top right). Then click "Spam Assassin" (third from bottom). There are six buttons on the bottom middle. Click "Enable Spam Assassin." It should run a quick script then say it's enabled. Then click "Enable Spam Box." It also should run a quick script then say it's enabled. Installation complete.
Use: It's actually similar to spam-filters in other email you've used such as Yahoo, Gmail or Earthlink. A separate "SPAM" folder is created for your website's email addresses. Email marked as spam gets sent to them. Which get eyeballed from time to time to make sure no important emails went in. If you get alot of spam, the "SPAM" folder builds up quick so don't forget to delete it (not the folder itself just the emails). One way to delete emails from the "SPAM" folder is in Cpanel. The same place you installed Spam Assassin from (Cpanel, Mail, Spam Assassin) has a button "Clear Spam Box." But again, don't delete "SPAM" emails without checking them just in case. To check your "SPAM" emails from time to time, login Horde Webmail. If you've never done so, in Cpanel, instead of clicking the "Mail" icon click the "Webmail" icon. Click "Horde" and type your username and password. The "SPAM" folder is generated after your an email gets marked as spam. If you don't plan to read the spam, use "Email Filters" in "Mail" to set up a Discard for all Spam Assassin spam headers marked "Yes." If you go there, it tells you how.
Hope this helps though of course no email address can be 100% spam-free. One example is because spammers can simply guess what your email address is. However, with prevention and filtering, you will reduce your website's spam a whole lot.
Prevention
The number one rule of preventing spam is keeping your email address away from the spammers.
Don't open spam obviously. Why are emails worth careful inspection? Most spam contains code that - when you open the email - tells the spammer you just opened the email and that your email address is active. An active email address, to spammers, is worth sending more spam to. So if you find yourself opening spam alot, do a little more inspection. Always err on the side of caution because if you can't imagine who it could be from, it's probably spam.
Don't click "remove me from your list" links from spam. You're already on it. But now they know your email address is active.
Some people gradually switch to new email addresses when prevention feels futile. People whose spam is out of control and want to start on a clean slate. Nobody wants to miss important emails, however. This is why some people transition a new email address by 1) adding a new email address then 2) sending a bulk email to everybody important and asking them to start using it. Over time the old (out-of-control spam) email address needs to be checked less and less. When you feel all important emails are sent to your new email address (six months? two years?) good riddance to the old email and that daily deluge of spam.
You can create several new email addresses. Some people use more than one email address. One is for signing up to newsletters, online shopping and other third-parties. And they reserve one just for close friends, family and co-workers only. Which stays especially spam-free because of limited exposure.
Filtering
Your 1-2-Wonder account has an effective and easy-to-use spam-filter called Spam Assassin for your website. Several paragraphs below are beginner instructions if you haven't set it up and used it before. First, however, is how to reduce spam by "black hole" or "bouncing" unrouted email.
Your primary email account is a catch-all email account and unrouted email is delivered to it. What is unrouted email? Here is an example. If I send an email to 123@yourwebsite.com (which you never created), it goes to your primary email account. Here is another example. If my website is "www.brandons12website.com" and somebody sends an email to "abc@brandons12website.com" (which I never created), it will go to my primary email account. Why? The server had no address associated with it then sends such "unrouted emails" to an address you designate. Right now, your website's unrouted email probably goes to your primary email account. Spammers utilize this very approach.
To reduce spam via unrouted email if you are using your primary email account, login Cpanel, click "Mail," "Default Address" then "Set Default Address." There is an empty text box. Notice how all unrouted email is being sent to your primary email account? You have two options to change this. You can "black hole" it, which means unrouted emails vanish into thin air, which can be good because spammers do not detect an active email account. Or you can "bounce" it, which sends an undeliverable message to the sender. We do not advise :fail: no such address here for your website, because you'll get alot of bounce notices that will occupy disk space fast. Either way, spam will no longer reach your primary email address via unrouted email. Type either ":blackhole:" or ":fail: no such address here" (no quotes) in the empty text box. Then click "Change." Done. If you go there and try, instructions are there too.
If you haven't installed Spam Assassin or used it before, here are beginner instructions.
Install: In Cpanel, click the "Mail" icon (top right). Then click "Spam Assassin" (third from bottom). There are six buttons on the bottom middle. Click "Enable Spam Assassin." It should run a quick script then say it's enabled. Then click "Enable Spam Box." It also should run a quick script then say it's enabled. Installation complete.
Use: It's actually similar to spam-filters in other email you've used such as Yahoo, Gmail or Earthlink. A separate "SPAM" folder is created for your website's email addresses. Email marked as spam gets sent to them. Which get eyeballed from time to time to make sure no important emails went in. If you get alot of spam, the "SPAM" folder builds up quick so don't forget to delete it (not the folder itself just the emails). One way to delete emails from the "SPAM" folder is in Cpanel. The same place you installed Spam Assassin from (Cpanel, Mail, Spam Assassin) has a button "Clear Spam Box." But again, don't delete "SPAM" emails without checking them just in case. To check your "SPAM" emails from time to time, login Horde Webmail. If you've never done so, in Cpanel, instead of clicking the "Mail" icon click the "Webmail" icon. Click "Horde" and type your username and password. The "SPAM" folder is generated after your an email gets marked as spam. If you don't plan to read the spam, use "Email Filters" in "Mail" to set up a Discard for all Spam Assassin spam headers marked "Yes." If you go there, it tells you how.
Hope this helps though of course no email address can be 100% spam-free. One example is because spammers can simply guess what your email address is. However, with prevention and filtering, you will reduce your website's spam a whole lot.