Setup email filters to fight spam
Every major mail program such as Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, and Eudora has the ability to let you create custom filters that can be used to sort incoming messages, automatically delete messages, or block all messages from certain addresses. These filters, when set up properly, can be a very useful time saving tool because they can help to reduce the number of emails that you have to wade through or they can separate emails according to sender and content so you can only open the emails that you want to view.
While these filters can be very effective, there is one major drawback. The filters are applied to messages after they are downloaded to your computer and much of the time that is spent contending with undesirable messages is spent in the downloading process. With GoBigWest’s Web Mail interface accessed either through the GoBigWest homepage or directly at http://mail.GoBigWest.com, you can create filters at the server level so that you only take the time to download the message that you want. These filters will be applied to messages as soon as they reach your GoBigWest mailbox and can be used to weed out unwanted messages so you do not have to waste time waiting for them to download to your computer.
Included below are some sample filters that you can set up and the functions that they will perform. Instructions to set up filters in the GoBigWest Web Mail interface as well as instructions to set up filtering in the mail client of your choice can be found by browsing to the help section of the homepage and clicking on the setup and then email links.
We hope that this information will be of use to you and will help you with managing your e-mail. If you have any questions or comments, please post a comment bellow this post.
Sincerely,
The GoBigWest Team
Sample filters
Delete messages from specific addresses – All messages sent from the addresses that you specify will automatically be deleted.
Select Field = From, contains
Phrase = email addresses that you want to block separated by spaces
Filter Action = Delete the message
Move messages based on content – This rule is used to filter out suspected spam. It is intentionally set to save messages that are filtered out into a folder called Spam so you can still access the messages to make sure that no legitimate messages have been removed.
Select Field = Body, contains
Phrase = words that indicate that a message is spam such as Viagra, mortgage, and loan.
OR
Select Field #2 = Header, contains
Phrase #2 = words that indicate that a message is spam such as Viagra, mortgage, and loan.
Filter Action = Move the message
Destination = Spam
Note: Be careful which words or phrases you use in your filters. For example, if you filter out messages containing the word “loan” and your name happens to be “Sloan”, all of your messages may be filtered.
Move messages based on recipient address – This rule filters out messages that you receive that are not addressed directly to you. Depending on the kind of spam that you are receiving, this can be a very effective tool.
Select Field = Header, doesn’t contain
Phrase = your GoBigWest email address and the name of any mailing lists that you subscribe to separated by spaces
Filter Action = Move the message
Destination = Spam
