What are Blocked Senders?

Blocked Senders are senders that, for whatever reason, you don't want to receive email from. Messages from these senders will be automatically moved to a folder that the user specifies (the SpamCatcher folder by default).

Blocked Senders can be either email addresses (e.g., joe@yahoo.com) or domains (e.g., yahoo.com). The From: addresses of all new email is compared against the Blocked Senders list.

Why would I want to maintain a Blocked Senders list?

The Blocked Senders list is useful when you are receiving email from senders you know you don't want email from--an individual sending you harassing messages, commercial email you aren't able to unsubscribe from (in which case the ability to block the entire domain is particularly useful), etc.

Add a Blocked Sender

There are several ways to add Blocked Senders:

• Right-click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon in the system tray, then select "Add to Blocked Sender" from the menu. Enter the sender into the field provided, then click the OK button. You can specify either an email address (e.g., Joe@yahoo.com) or a domain (e.g., yahoo.com). If you specify a domain, any address sending from that domain will be blocked.



• Double-click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon in the system tray. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the Add button. Enter the sender into the field provided, then click the OK button. You can specify either an email address (e.g., Joe@yahoo.com) or a domain (e.g., yahoo.com). If you specify a domain, any address sending from that domain will be blocked.
  
  
• You may also approve senders by going to Start > Programs > Mailshell Anti-Spam Universal > Admin Console. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the Add button. Enter the sender into the field provided, then click the OK button. You can specify either an email address (e.g., Joe@yahoo.com) or a domain (e.g., yahoo.com). If you specify a domain, any address sending from that domain will be blocked.

Additionally, Outlook Express users may add Blocked Senders by doing one of the following:

• To block one or more senders from within your Outlook Express folder: Select all the messages from the senders that you want to block. Click on the Block Message button on your Outlook Express toolbar. The messages you selected will be treated as junk and the senders will automatically be added to your Blocked Senders list.
  
  
• Click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon on the Outlook Express toolbar. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the Add button. Enter the sender into the field provided, then click the OK button. You can specify either an email address (e.g., Joe@yahoo.com) or a domain (e.g., yahoo.com). If you specify a domain, any address sending from that domain will be blocked.

Edit a Blocked Sender

There are a couple of ways to edit a Blocked Sender:

• Double-click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon in the system tray. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the address or domain you want to edit and click the Edit button. Edit the sender in the field provided, and then click the OK button.
  
  
• You may also approve senders by going to Start > Programs > Mailshell Anti-Spam Universal > Admin Console. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the address or domain you want to edit and click the Edit button. Edit the sender in the field provided, and then click the OK button.

Additionally, Outlook Express users may edit a Blocked Sender by doing the following:

• Click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon on the Outlook Express toolbar. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the Add button. Enter the sender into the field provided, then click the OK button. You can specify either an email address (e.g., Joe@yahoo.com) or a domain (e.g., yahoo.com). If you specify a domain, any address sending from that domain will be blocked.

Delete a Blocked Sender

There are a couple of ways to remove a Blocked Sender:

• Double-click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon in the system tray. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the address or domain you no longer want to block and click the Delete button. Mail from this address or domain will no longer automatically be blocked.
  
  
• You may also approve senders by going to Start > Programs > Mailshell Anti-Spam Universal > Admin Console. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the address or domain you no longer want to block and click the Delete button. Mail from this address or domain will no longer automatically be blocked.

Additionally, Outlook Express users may remove a Blocked Sender by doing the following:

• Click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon on the Outlook Express toolbar. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the address or domain you no longer want to block and click the Delete button. Mail from this address or domain will no longer automatically be blocked.

Import Blocked Sender's list

You can import multiple blocked senders by importing a text file, which contains a list of blocked senders, one email address or domain per line.

There are a couple of ways to import a Blocked Sender's list:

• Double-click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon in the system tray. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then click the Import button. Select the file you want to import in the pop-up window, and then click the Open button.
  
  
• You may also approve senders by going to Start > Programs > Mailshell Anti-Spam Universal > Admin Console. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then click the Import button. Select the file you want to import in the pop-up window, and then click the Open button.

Additionally, Outlook Express users may import a Blocked Sender's list by doing the following:

• Click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon on the Outlook Express toolbar. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then select the address or domain you no longer want to block and click the Delete button. Mail from this address or domain will no longer automatically be blocked.

Export Blocked Sender's list

There are a couple of ways to export a Blocked Sender's list:

• Double-click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon in the system tray. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then click the Export button. Enter a name for the file you want to export in the pop-up window, then click the Save button.
  
  
• You may also approve senders by going to Start > Programs > Mailshell Anti-Spam Universal > Admin Console. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then click the Export button. Enter a name for the file you want to export in the pop-up window, then click the Save button.

Additionally, Outlook Express users may export a Blocked Sender's list by doing the following:

• Click on the Mailshell Anti-Spam icon on the Outlook Express toolbar. On the Mailshell Anti-Spam popup, click on Senders under the Block Options section; then click the Export button. Enter a name for the file you want to export in the pop-up window, then click the Save button.

Countries

The Block Countries option allows you to block messages from a specific foreign country. For example, if you get lots of spam from China, selecting "China" will result in treating messages coming from China as spam.

I.P. Addresses

Each message you receive through the Internet travels through one or more machines along the way before it arrives in your Inbox. These machines have different Internet Protocol addresses.

If you are receiving spam from a specific I.P. address, you can choose to block all messages from that I.P. Address by entering it here. You can enter an individual IP address such as 10.2.3.4 or a range of IP addresses such as 10.2.3.4-10.2.3.255.

We recommend that you consult your network administrator before making changes to this option.

If you block an I.P. Address but expect legitimate mail from the same I.P. Address, you will need to explicitly approve those messages to prevent them from being caught as spam.

Specifying I.P. Addresses

You can use any of the following notations to specify I.P. addresses:

• a single I.P. Address, e.g. 127.0.0.1



• the first and last addresses in the netblock, separated by a hyphen, e.g. 127.0.0.1-127.0.0.3
  
  
• using network prefix notation, e.g. 127.0.0.1/29

Languages

By enabling this feature, messages that contain the language sets you select will be treated as spam. It is particularly useful for users who are inundated with foreign spam.

Public Blacklists

Public blacklists are filtering services on the Internet that track Internet addresses used by spammers. Enabling Mailshell Anti-Spam to check against one or more of the public blacklists may increase the amount of spam caught.

However, the public blacklists are imperfect in that some legitimate senders may also be using the same Internet addresses as the spammers. Another tradeoff is that using many blacklists can slow receipt of your messages.