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In This Chapter:
What
is SpamGuard?
SpamGuard is a simple email filtering tool that you can enable
for the mailboxes in your hosting account. It works by scanning
emails for common spam words and phrases, and spammer email
addresses that you specify.
Although SpamGuard is an effective tool for reducing the
amount of spam that you receive, it should not be considered
an alternative to our SpamAssassin feature. SpamGuard works
only with the words and email addresses that you provide to
it. Therefore, it is good for eliminating repeat spam messages
from a specific sender or about a specific topic. SpamAssassin
on the other hand uses a wide range of scanning heuristics
and real time blacklists to determine whether any email message
you receive is spam. For more information on the SpamAssassin
feature of your Control Panel, see Chapter
43.
Please note that SpamGuard only scans incoming emails to
mailboxes on your account and can not be configured to scan
outgoing emails from any of your email accounts.
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How to Setup SpamGuard
To use the SpamGuard email filtering tool, you must first
enable it on your account. To do this, go to the "SpamGuard
Manager" section from the main page of your control panel.
On this page, click the button labeled "Enable SpamGuard".
If SpamGuard is already enabled, you will see a "Disable
SpamGuard" button. Once SpamGuard has been enabled, you
can return to the "SpamGuard Manager" section to
Disable it, or to read online instructions. All other SpamGuard
configuration is done through the "Mail Manager"
section of your Control Panel
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Control Panel
Configuration Options
Once SpamGuard has been enabled on your account, you can
configure its settings through the "Mail Manager"
section of your Control Panel. It is not necessary to configure
SpamGuard for every individual mailbox because SpamGuard settings
apply to ALL email addresses of your hosting package. The
SpamGuard Section of your Mail Manager is divided into two
sections: Blocked Emails, and Spam
Emails.
Blocked Emails
The first five items on the page are related to blocked emails.
The first is Block E-mail Address. In this
box, enter the email address of a spammer or annoying sender
that you would like to have automatically blocked. Below this
first option you are provided with a list of all email addresses
currently on your blocked list. To remove an address from
this list, simply select it and click the Remove Block
button. You can select multiple addresses by holding down
the 'ctrl' key as you click. To apply your changes,
click the Save Settings button found at the
bottom of this page.
Similar to Blocked E-mail Addresses, you can also configure
SpamGuard to block emails if they contain specific words.
In the Block Words box, place a word that
you would like SpamGuard to automatically block. Click the
Add Block button to add it to your Blocked
Words list. To remove a word from your Blocked
Words list, simply select it from the box and click
Remove Block. To finalize your changes, be
sure to click the Save Settings button at
the bottom of the page.
Once you have specified the email addresses and words that
you would like SpamGuard to block, you can the configure what
is done with blocked emails. The final option related to blocked
e-mails is "Blocked mails will be stored to file".
In this box, enter the name of the file that you would like
all of the emails from blocked email addresses to be stored
in. If you would like to have these emails permanently deleted,
simply leave this box blank. It is recommended that you permanently
delete these emails, or return to your SpamGuard configuration
page regularly to empty your Blocked Emails
file to avoid exceeding your account's storage quota. Clicking
the [ Empty ] link will
clear your blocked emails file of everything stored in it.
Once you have entered a filename, or removed it from the box,
click the Save Settings button to apply your
changes.
Spam Emails
The remaining four options on the SpamGuard page are related
to its handling of Spam and Non-Spam words. The first box,
titled Add Spam Words contains a list of
the spam words and phrases that you specify. If an email contains
enough of these spam words and phrases, SpamGuard will block
it. Place in this box, any words that you know will definitely
be spam, or any phrases that you have repeatedly received
in spam emails.
The Add Non Spam Words box contains the
words that you expect to receive from legitimate senders.
Place into this box the words that you think may be mistaken
for spam, or the phrases that you want to make sure are never
blocked. When SpamGuard encounters these words, it will allow
the email to be delivered normally.
The eighth option on the page allows you to Execute
SpamGuard Command. This option allows you to use
the rules you have defined to filter any emails that are currently
being stored for you on the server. Simply place the file
or directory name in the text box, and select one of the three
SpamGuard Commands from the dropdown menu:
- Spam - If you have a file with Spam e-mails,
choose 'SPAM' from the drop down menu, enter the filename
to the right, and then click on 'Save Settings'. This will
teach SpamGuard which e-mails it should consider as Spam.
- GOOD - If you have a file with good e-mails,
choose 'GOOD' from the drop down menu, enter the filename
to the right, and then click on 'Save Settings'. This will
teach SpamGuard which e-mails it should consider as non-Spam.
- REMOVE - If SpamGuard is marking a good
e-mail as Spam, then create a file with that good e-mail,
choose 'REMOVE' from the drop down menu, enter the filename
to the right, and then click on 'Save Settings'. This will
remove that e-mail from the database of e-mails that SpamGuard
considers to be Spam.
The final option on the page instructs SpamGuard on what
to do with Spam Emails. In the Spam mails will be
stored to file box, place the name of the file that
you would like to store your spam emails in. If you would
like SpamGuard to permanently delete Spam emails, simply leave
this box empty. It is recommended that you permanently delete
these emails, or return to your SpamGuard configuration page
regularly to empty your Spam Emails file
to avoid exceeding your account's storage quota.
Once you have finished configuring any of these settings,
be sure to click the Save Settings button
at the bottom of the page to apply your changes.
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