SPAM Protection - Controlled by you!
Questions and Answers
With Missvalley Internet's new mail server you now have the option of stopping all that unwanted junk mail. Missvalley.com's mail server now rates all incomming email from a 0 to a 12 or above. 0 meaning that it's legitimate email, 12 meaning it's almost certainly junk mail. You are now able to tell your own email account to reject, block, or hold emails that are at a certain rating, and you can also set many other advanced SPAM filter settings.
Good Email <------------------------------>Junk Mail
0---1---2---3---4---5---6----7---8---9---10--11--12
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
Q: How does it rate an email message?
A: Each E-Mail message that comes into the server is rated based on it's content.
If it's full of links, Ads, or even text or pictures that are known junk mail
signs, it gets a rating above 0. The more a message has in it, the higher
the rating. For instance, a simple message from your brother or a family member
may be rated 0 to 1, while an E-Bay bid for an item you are selling may be
rated a 4, 5, or 6 depending on how many E-Bay ads they send with that message.
Each customer should be careful to not block messages with too low of a setting,
however settings of 7 or above are almost always unwanted junk mail.
Q: What if my friends or family send me junk mail that
I want to read?
A: Your mail server now has a "Friends" setting. Anyone's email
address you add to this list will be allowed to send you mail no matter the
rating settings you have set up yourself.
Q: What about my children? Will it stop the adult junk
mail? How can we be sure they only get email from trusted sources?
A: There is a new Kid-Safe setting in the mail server you can turn on. With
this feature on, only email address that you add to their friends list are
able to send them mail. That way YOU can control who they receive email from!
Q: What if my children need to receive an email from
somone that I do not want to have access all the time to mail them?
A: Simply add the email address to their friends list, and after they've received
the important email, delete the address from their friends list. You have
100% control over what they can or cannot receive.
Q: What if I do alot of E-Bay listings, and want to
receive bids from individuals whom I do not know the email addres?
A: Try a Hold setting of about 5 or 6, and check your Held Messages frequently.
Remember, once you allow somoene to send you mail from your Held Messages
list, they are added to your friends list so that you can then continue to
recieve e-mail from them without the hassle of having to look through your
held messages to find them.
Q: What if I have a question you have not addressed
here? I am still uncertain what to do or how to do it!
A: Remember, all Missvalley customers have free Internet tech support. Simply
give one of our friendly techs a call, or email the helpdesk and ask your
questions. We'll be happy to help in any way we can, and we can also help
you set up your SPAM filter settings over the phone with you.
Q: What choices do I have for SPAM filtering?
A: You now have quite a few choices, take a look below and we'll try to explain
each choice:
Using Email Ratings (Smitespam settings): Since our email server automatically rates each incomming email for you, you can tell the server to HOLD messages in a special folder for you until you can choose the ones you want to receive. The server will then automatically notify you when you have held messages that require your attention. If you do not check your Held messages after two weeks, the server will delete them for you.
Using an Auto-Responder: SPAMMERS usually don't receive e-mail. All they care about is that you get their ad for whatever they are trying to sell you. If you try to reply to them, the message usually will never reach them, as they have faked their own email address. If a SPAMMER had to receive replies to each of the thousands of emails they send out, it sure would slow them down! You have the option of telling the server that anything over a certain rating, send a message and ask them to respond. If they do not respond to that message, then their original email will be deleted by the server, or can be manually deleted by you. If a SPAMMER does reply to the message, you still can choose to have the option of only allowing the ones you want to come through by looking at the list of messages that have replied to your auto-responder. If you wish not to automatically choose, you can tell the server that if they reply, they automatically are added to your friends list.
Using Kid-Safe: Kid safe is a simple setting. It tells the server to only allow email to come through to you if the email address is on your friends list. Simply add the email address you want your children to receive into their friends list, and those are the only emails they will receive. All others are automatically blocked for them. This way YOU control what your child receives in his or her email.
Q: Can I use a combination of all of these settings?
A: With the exception of Kid-Safe, yes you can! If you set your server to
hold messages above say an 8, and to use the auto-responder for messages above
a 3, then all messages rated at a 3 or lower will come to you. Messages from
3+ to 8 will only come to you if they respond to your auto-message, and messages
above an 8 will be held for your viewing and approval. You can also set your
Bounce setting at a 10 or above and then messages above a 10 rating will bounce.
Although you must be careful to not overlap these settings, you can use a
combination of all features. Kid-Safe however turns off all email except for
what is in your friends list.
Q: All this is confusing, can't you just set it up for
me?
A: Of course we can, give one of our friendly techs a call, they'll set it
up for you and go over a few brief instructions with you. If you have questions
after that, remember, we are only a phone call away.
Detailed Instruction guides
Setting up Server Spam Settings
Getting Started Step by Step
Advanced Features (Coming Soon)