National Capital FreeNet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale

FAQ on Customizing your Spam Filter


NCF's Spam Filter, called SpamAssassin, identifies Spam in your email. We have chosen some settings for you at the start, but you can change them to suit your email traffic, e.g. to tighten or loosen how Spam is defined, or how you want Spam to be handled.

Below are some Frequently Asked Questions on customizing your Spam Filter.

  1. How do I view or change my settings?
  2. I received an email from my friend that was marked as spam. I never want her messages to be spam. How do I do that?
  3. I regularly correspond with several people "@friendly.people.com". How do I make sure they are never spam?
  4. I don't like anyone "@nasty.people.com". How do I tell SpamAssassin to always make them be spam?
  5. I receive email from some marketer that was not marked as spam. How do I tell SpamAssassin that this should always be spam?
  6. I have blacklisted addresses I don't want to receive, but their messages still appear in my inbox. What should I do?
  7. Too often, I get spam that did not get tagged as spam. How do I make SpamAssassin tag more messages as spam?
  8. SpamAssassin thinks too much of my mail is spam. How do I make SpamAssassin relax a bit?
  9. I get email with "*****SPAM*****" in the Subject. How do I change that?
  10. SpamAssassin puts a detailed report in the email. How do I hide it?
  11. What about spam that arrives in HTML format?
  12. SpamAssassin puts a detailed report in the email. How can I make it smaller?
  13. I don't want to see spam emails at all! How do I stop them from appearing in my mailbox?
  14. I do want to see spam emails, just in case they are important. How do I make sure I get them?
  15. How do I save my customized settings?
  16. How do I make sure my browser has enabled cookies?
  17. I read my mail with the NCF text system. How can I use SpamAssassin?
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How do I change my settings?

 To view or change your SpamFilter settings, go to your personalized StartPage, and click on 'SpamFilter settings' under 'Your NCF Account'.
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I received an email from my friend that was marked as spam. I never want her messages to be spam. How do I do that?

 To accept mail from email addresses no matter the content, enter the address in the text box next to "Address:", select "Allow" as the type, and click on the "Add New Address" button.
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I regularly correspond with several people "@friendlypeople.com". How do I make sure they are never spam?

 To accept mail from any user in an email domain, no matter the content, enter the address as "*@domain.name" like this    *@friendlypeople.com   in the text box next to "Address:", select "Allow" as the type, and click on the "Add New Address" button.
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I don't like anyone "@nastypeople.com". How do I tell SpamAssassin to always make them be spam?

 Enter the address as "*@domain.name" like this    *@nastypeople.com   in the text box next to "Address:", select "Deny" as the type, and click on the "Add New Address" button.
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I receive email from some marketer that was not marked as spam. How do I tell SpamAssassin that this should always be spam?

 Enter the address in the text box next to "Address:", select "Deny" as the type, and click on the "Add New Address" button.
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I have blacklisted addresses I don't want to receive, but their messages still appear in my inbox. What should I do?

Merely blacklisting an address does not actually stop it from being delivered -- blacklisting adds 100 points to the spam score, so that those messages are almost guaranteed to be tagged as spam. SpamAssassin does not discard any messages unless you explicitly instruct it to do so.

You must choose to Block Messages on the SA configuration screen.

If you're worried that legitimate email will be inadvertantly deleted, you can choose to increase the Required Hits also.
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Too often, I get spam that did not get tagged as spam. How do I make SpamAssassin tag more messages as spam?

 To get even fewer messages, reduce the number in the "Required Hits" box.
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SpamAssassin thinks too much of my mail is spam. How do I make SpamAssassin relax a bit?

 To receive more messages (that may be identified as spam), increase the number in the "Required Hits" box.
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I get email with "*****SPAM*****" in the Subject. How do I change that?

 To change the tag that SpamAssassin adds to emails that are judged by the software to be spam, change the value in "Subject Tag" box.
To choose to have SpamAssassin not rewrite the subject line of emails that are judged by the software to be spam, remove the check in the box next to "Rewrite Subject Line".
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SpamAssassin puts a detailed report in the email. How do I hide it?

 To choose to have SpamAssassin write it's evaluation report in the headers of the email check the box next to "Report in Header".
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What about spam that arrives in HTML format?

 To choose to have SpamAssassin rewrite the HTML to text in emails that are judged by the software to be spam, check the box next to "De-HTML Spam". This will prevent the HTML code in such messages from executing thus reducing the chance of potentially damaging scripts run on your computer.
To choose to have SpamAssassin not rewrite the HTML to text in emails that are judged by the software to be spam, remove the check in the box next to "De-HTML Spam".
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SpamAssassin puts a detailed report in the email. How can I make it smaller?

 To choose to have SpamAssassin write a shorter version of it's evaluation report in either the headers or body of email judged by the software to be spam, check the box next to "Short Report".
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I don't want to see spam emails at all! How do I stop them from appearing in my mailbox?

 To choose to have SpamAssassin not deliver emails that are judged by the software to be spam, check the box next to "Block Messages".
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I do want to see spam emails, just in case they are important. How do I make sure I get them?

 To choose to have SpamAssassin deliver all emails, even those that are judged by the software to be spam, remove the check in the box next to "Block Messages".
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How do I save my customized settings?

 Once you have made the changes to the settings click on the "Update Settings" button.
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How do I make sure my browser has enabled cookies? <//td>

[material taken from http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.htm]

Internet Explorer 6.0:

1. Choose Tools, then
2. Internet Options.
3. Click the Privacy tab,
4. Default setting is medium. Move the slider to determine which setting you prefer.
5. You can also click on Advanced for specialized cookie treatment.
Internet Explorer 5.0:

1. Choose Tools, then
2. Internet Options.
3. Click the Security tab,
4. Click Internet, then Custom Level.
5. Scroll down to Cookies and choose one of the two options.
Internet Explorer 4.0:

1. Choose View, then
2. Internet Options.
3. Click the Advanced tab,
4. Scroll down to the yellow exclamation icon under Security and choose one of the three options to regulate your use of cookies.
Internet Explorer 3.0

you can View, Options, Advanced and click the button that says Warn Before Accepting "Cookies."
Netscape Communicator 4:

1. Choose Edit, then
2. Preferences, then
3. click on Advanced.
4. Set your options in the box labeled "Cookies".
Netscape 6:

On your task bar, click:
1. Edit, then
2. Preferences, then
3. click on Privacy & Security.
4. Set your options in the box labeled "Cookies".
 

How to See Cookies You've Accepted:
Internet Explorer 6.0

On your task bar, click:
1. Tools, then
2. Internet Options.
3. Under the tab General (the default tab) click
4. Settings, then
5. View Files.
Internet Explorer 5.0

On your task bar, click:
1. Tools, then
2. Internet Options.
3. Under the tab General (the default tab) click
4. Settings, then
5. View Files.
Internet Explorer 4.0

On your task bar, click:
1. View, then
2. Internet Options.
3. Under the tab General (the default tab) click
4. Settings, then
5. View Files.
Internet Explorer 3.0

On your Task Bar, click:
1. View, then
2. Options, then
3. Advanced, then
4. View Files.
Netscape Communicator 4.0:

Netscape bundles all cookies into one file on your hard drive. You'll need to find the file, which it calls Cookie.txt on Windows machines.
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I read my mail with the NCF text system. How can I use SpamAssassin?

 SpamAssassin has not yet been set up to work directly with text mail. However there is a work-around:
  • forward your mail to FreeMail:  go forward, #5
  • to see if you have any mail:  go freemail, #8
  • to read your mail, move it from FreeMail into the text system:  go freemail, #10
  • then, read your mail as usual