Configuring Incoming Listening Port

This specifies the port that Mailshell Anti-Spam Universal will listen to for incoming connections. Default is "110" for this entry.

Load Admin Console to System Tray when Windows Starts

Enabling this feature will automatically load the Mailshell Anti-Spam Admin console to the system tray when Windows starts.

Notification of New Upgrades

Enabling this feature will cause the Mailshell Anti-Spam Admin Console to check for new releases of Mailshell Anti-Spam and notify you.

Rule Updates

Configure Mailshell Anti-Spam to automatically check for updated spam rules. Default is "Every hour" for this entry.

Spam Network Check

You can configure Mailshell Anti-Spam to check message fingerprints against the Mailshell database of known spam. Default is "Yes" for this entry.

Subject Modification

The word [spamcatcher] is added to the beginning of the subject line of spam messages, indicating the message is spam. You can set up filtering rules in your email client to filter this text.

Spam Flagging

A header "X-SpamCatcher-Flag" will be added to marked messages, indicating the message is spam. You can use this header to set up filtering rules in your email client.

Spam Scoring Timeout

You can configure Mailshell Anti-Spam to stop spam scoring if it takes too long. Although message scoring occurs in milliseconds, under extreme server load conditions scoring may take longer. If you wish to place a maximum bound on the time used to score your messages, specify it here. Timeouts happen on a message-by- message basis. Those messages that timeout will have a X-Spamcatcher-Score header based solely on the spam rules.

Proxy Server Support

If you access the web through an HTTP proxy server, you will need to set the server and port so that Mailshell Anti-Spam can connect to the Mailshell Network. To specify your proxy server settings, open the Admin Console, in the Preferences tab, check "Enable proxy server support", enter your proxy server and its port number, and then click the Apply button.

Filtering of Emails Not Sent to My Address

Most spam does not include your email address in the To: address. Most legitimate email does include your email address in the To: or CC: address. Also, most email newsletters use unique To: addresses in their emails. You can give preference to messages that are explicitly addressed to you. This feature may help distinguish messages you wish to keep versus spam you wish to reject, thereby increasing the accuracy of Mailshell Anti-Spam.

To specify your preference, open the Admin Console. On the Preferences tab, check "Enable filtering of emails not sent to my address". Next, click the Add button and add all of the email addresses where you receive mail.

Note: If you subscribe to email lists, be sure to add the addresses to which the messages are sent.

Scanning of Outlook Express Folders

If you use Outlook Express, you can improve the accuracy of your spam filtering by allowing Mailshell Anti-Spam to periodically scan your Outlook Express folders for legit and spam messages:

• Create a "SpamCatcher Block" and a "SpamCatcher Approve" folder.
• Move or copy uncaught spam to the "SpamCatcher Block" folder and legit messages marked as spam to the "SpamCatcher Approve" folder.

Mailshell Anti-Spam will periodically scan these folders and add emails from the "SpamCatcher Block" folder to your blocked senders list and emails from your "SpamCatcher Approve" folder to your approved senders list. Email addresses in your Outlook Express block list will also be incorporated to your Mailshell Anti-Spam blocked senders list. Additionally, the Inbox and Sent Items folder will be scanned for legit email addresses. "From" addresses in messages older than one day in the Inbox and "To" addresses of messages in the Sent Items folder will be given preference when computing spam scores.

You have the option of setting the scan frequency of the Outlook Express folders as well as the names of the folders. By default, if you remove any messages from the SpamCatcher Block/Approve folders, Mailshell Anti-Spam will automatically remove the email addresses from your block/approve senders list. You can disable this option by checking "Do not remove scanned email addresses when messages in SpamCatcher Block/Approve folders are removed". If you wish to scan your Outlook Express folders, click on the "Scan Now" button.