How can I use Mailshell to clean spam from my existing email accounts?

Premium users can have up to three existing email accounts cleaned by Mailshell. Messages will be retrieved from the account, filtered by the Spam Catcher, and delivered to a Mailshell address. There are several advantages to doing this: Mailshell's advanced filtering technology will remove any spam sent to these addresses, making sure you only receive the messages you want, and you can check all of your email addresses in one place.

To set up your accounts, go to the Clean Existing Email section of Spam Filtering. If you aren't currently cleaning any accounts, you'll be taken straight to the basic setup page; if you are, you'll see a list of addresses you are currently cleaning and can click the "Add Account" button to add another. You'll need to provide Mailshell with your email address and password and choose which Mailshell address you want to receive the cleaned messages. Once you have accounts set up, you can edit the setup information, edit the address options, disable or enable accounts, and delete accounts from this page.

If you want to continue using the service you use now, we recommend that you set up another address with that service and forward your cleaned email there. (For instance, if you use AOL, you could set up another address for your account and forward messages there so that you can continue using the setup you're familiar with.)

If you have the free trial service, this feature is available during the 30-day trial period after you first sign up. Once that period has expired, you can upgrade to the Premium Service to continue using it.

If you don't want to retrieve messages or if your free trial period has ended, you can also try to forward your current email address to Mailshell--many ISPs and email services let you forward email to a different address or to set up a filter that will forward, although some do not. For example, if you want to forward your Yahoo! email you could create a yahoo@your-name.com disposable address, then set your Yahoo! email to forward to that address. Use the Address Options for yahoo@your-name.com to set the Spam Catcher strength and other settings to whatever you like. You will now receive all of your Yahoo! email at Mailshell and have all the benefits of Mailshell filtering. (If you do decide to do this, note that you should also add the address you're forwarding from to your Approved Senders list. Because the Spam Catcher normally penalizes messages that aren't addressed directly to the Mailshell address that receives them, messages that are simply auto-forwarded are more likely to be filtered out as spam even if they aren't. By adding the address you're forwarding to this list, the Spam Catcher won't apply that penalty and will be able to assess the messages more accurately.)

Why would I want to use Mailshell to clean my existing email?

Mailshell uses advanced spam-filtering technology that rates incoming email based on the probability that it is spam, using proprietary spam-filtering technology in addition to standard anti-spam techniques. Each message is checked against known good commercial senders, known black-listed spammers, common spam signatures, users' responses, and other criteria to compute the likelihood that it is spam. The system also relies on a robust, proprietary White List of more than 10,000 known legitimate commercial senders to ensure that legitimate email passes through without compromising overall filtering.

By using Mailshell's Clean Existing Email feature, you can take advantage of this technology for your current email address--Mailshell will retrieve and deliver your messages to a Mailshell address and remove all the junk you don't want. You can clean up to three accounts at once, which gives you the added benefit of being able to conveniently check all of your email addresses in one place.

To learn how to set up an account to be cleaned, click here.

How many email accounts can I set up to be cleaned?

Premium users can clean up to three accounts at once.