Webmail Information / Help

A: After logging in, click "Account Settings" then "Spam Settings". The most important setting is the "Whitelist" which you can add to by clicking the button on the top of the screen with the green check.

Q: What are Whitelists / Blacklists?

A: Whitelists are email addresses that you TRUST - no message from these addresses should ever be tagged as SPAM. These are very common when you sign up to email subscriptions like newsletters, etc. which are often tagged as SPAM. Blacklists are the opposite - these are addresses that should always get tagged as SPAM.

Note: Another nice feature is that while you are viewing a message you can press the Whitelist / Blacklist links to quickly add the sender's email address to whichever list you want. There is no typing required with this method.

You can use the following formats for whitelist / blacklist entries:

The full email address - for example, info@netbits.us
Partial addresses
An asterick (*) can be used as a "wild card" for greater flexibility. For example:
- *@spamisp.com applies to every address at the domain "spamisp.com" (e.g. joe@spamisp.com, jane@spamisp.com, etc)
- *@*.spamisp.com applies to every address at any sub-domain of "spamisp.com" (e.g. joe@some.spamisp.com, jane@someother.spamisp.com, etc)
- *.xxx applies to every address ending in .xxx

Q: How do I Report a message as SPAM / NOT SPAM?

A: First, it's important to understand how our SPAM filters work. Each message you receive is checked against our spam filters. Over time the filters "learn" about your usual messages. It is VERY important to "train" these filters to let them know when they get something wrong so they become more and more accurate.

Unfortunately it's difficult to make it easy to train filters using external programs like Outlook. This webmail system does make it easy though. If a message is incorrectly tagged as SPAM, simply click the link "Report Message as Innocent". If a message is not tagged as SPAM but it clearly is SPAM, simply click the link "Report Message as SPAM". The next time a similar message arrives it should do the right thing.

Note: After you report a message as SPAM it is NOT automatically deleted from your account.

Note: Reporting messages as SPAM is no guarantee that further messages from that sender will be tagged correctly, in this case a blacklist entry may be more effective.

Q: I'm getting SO MUCH SPAM!!! What can I do???

A: There are a couple options. Our policy is to NEVER delete messages automatically from your account unless you specifically request this. If you start getting a lot of SPAM we recommend the following:

All messages that get tagged as SPAM have a spam threshold that indicates the likeliness a message is SPAM. We can route messages that are above a certain threshold to a server-side folder (usually called SPAM). Messages are stored here for 60 days then deleted. This way if you suspect that you missed an important message you can check the SPAM folder to see if it was accidentally tagged as SPAM.

Alternately, you can setup filters using the "Filters" tab under the "Mail" section to automatically delete SPAM messages. Note: This only works in webmail and will not sync with any filters in Outlook or other programs.

As a last resort it might be good to get a new email account. Once your account starts getting SPAM it'll just keep getting more and more and more. A new account is a good way to start fresh. Only share your email addresses with trusted sources. I like to have a real account and a "junk" account that I can use if I don't trust that my address will not be shared.

Also, as much as you want to - NEVER reply to a SPAM message saying "buzz off" or something - you have just confirmed to the spammer that the email address they sent their message to goes to a real person who reads their email. You will have just doubled the amount of SPAM you receive by doing this!

Q: Where does SPAM come from???

A: The sources are numerous. Your email address is not as private as you would like to think. The SPAM business is very intrusive, using numerous tricks and scams to fool people. Any time you give your email address to a 3rd party you are in danger of getting put on a SPAM list. This list is then sold or given away to other spammers and eventually you'll find yourself getting all kinds of junk mail. Programs are written that "scrape" web pages on the Internet looking for email addresses on web sites, such as on a contact page - this is why we recommend not having your email address on your website and instead provide a "contact us" form. Sometimes companies you have provided your email address to leak or sell your email address, sometimes even your friends will inadvertantly send your email address to a spammer.

It's nearly impossible to have a 100% SPAM free account for a long period of time. One best practice we recommend is being very private with your personal email address and having a second "junk mail" account that you can use on registration forms or other web correspondance where you do not trust that your email address will remain private. Contact us for more information.

Q: Can I Customize this Program?

A: Yes - this program has an extensive preferences system which you can manage. Each section has an "Options" link, including the overall program Options which is the "Options" link in the left sidebar. For example, if you want to change the Inbox/Mail Preferences, select the "Options" link in the top menu bar when on the email screen. (NOTE: This is NOT the same as the Options link in left sidebar). Or if you want to change the Calendar preferences, select "Options" from the top menubar while on the Calendar page.

Note: Some options are locked (cannot be changed except by an administrator) - if you desire changes to one of these options let your hosting provider know.

Q: What Program is This? Did you write all this code?

A: No - the email portion of the program is called IMP (Internet Messaging Program) and it runs inside a framework called Horde (for whatever reason). Both can be found on http://www.horde.org/. In order to make this program work in our server environment though we had to make numerous customizations which all needed to be tested. The previous webmail program, SquirrelMail was deprecated due to lack of development on the program and missing features commonly requested by clients. Horde also has numerous other modules for other tasks such as memos, notes, calendars, etc. that are very easy to "plug in" to the application which also makes it appealing.

Q: What is IMAP / POP and why should I care?

A: Surprisingly VERY few people know and understand the implications when choosing between these two email protocols. The following questions should be asked:

Do you care about being able to access your email (including messages you've already read) from multiple computers?
Do you want to have your messages backed up?
Do you want to have your messages stored in folders?

If the answer to those questions was "Yes" then you should STRONGLY consider using IMAP. IMAP and POP are different protocols for retrieving email messages from the server. POP is a quick and dirty message downloading protocol. It by DEFAULT deletes the email from our servers after the message has been successfully downloaded (Note, some POP clients can be configured to leave messages on the server). This means that if your message was delivered the same day it was downloaded that we will NOT have a nightly backup of the message. Another consequence of this is that you have to download your email to the same computer every time. If you use multiple computers when you download your messages you will not download any messages that have been downloaded previously. This means you cannot access your previously read email messages. If you are comfortable with the prospect of losing email in the event your computer's hard drive crashes or want to manage your own email backups and do not mind having to sych your messages on multiple computers, then POP is an acceptable protocol. POP also does not care about email folders on the server, so all messages will be downloaded into your INBOX folder and your email program will need to use filters to sort them into folders or you will have to drag and drop them manually. For heavy email users this is a tedious task that should be pushed off to the server, which is another benefit of IMAP.

IMAP never deletes messages from the server unless you tell it to (move it to the Trash, etc). This means we can backup your email and when you use a different computer all your previously read email is still there. In addition, you can create folders on the server and have your messages filtered by the server.

Think of POP as a email TRANSFER program which moves messages from the server to your computer.

Think of IMAP as an email ACCESS program which lets you view/manipulate your email, but without moving the messages from one computer to another.

Q: What are your email policies?

We do nightly backups of all email accounts (this is why using IMAP can save you from a big headache if your computer crashes)
We do NOT backup SPAM IMAP email folders
We scan every message for SPAM and viruses
Any message containing an executable Windows program (.exe, etc.) is rejected
We do NOT reject messages containing Winzip (.zip) files anymore (unless they contain an executable or virus)
Any message containing other viruses is quaranteened for analysis
Any message containing a SPAM "hit count" (a count of the likeliness the message is SPAM) of 5 or higher is delivered to the address, but the Subject line is changed to "***** Message is Probably SPAM! *****".
No messages are automatically deleted or filtered to IMAP folders based on SPAM content unless specifically requested by the client.
There are no quotas, please use your best judgement
We never share your email address to solicitors

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