Filtered e-mail

[BassoProfundo]

Sick to death of spam and wanting an extra level of protection against viruses, I've decided to give a filtered e-mail box from IDNet a go.

Activated in the usual incredibly efficient way by Miriam, my box is now ready for use.

However, I have a question that your collective genius may be able to answer. Is the mail box absolutely zero-config, or do I have to configure the anti-spam settings myself via the webmail interface? In addition, there appear to be no anti-virus settings there, so is this handled automatically at a higher level?

Also, does anybody know if the facilities offered by a filtered e-mail account are the same as those offered by the IDNet SecureMail offering, but on a single mail-box basis for an individual rather than for corporate users?

Any input would be most gratefully received.

Chris 

[Bill]

AFAIK you can't configure anything- I wanted to, but Simon told me it can't be done on those accounts.

They are the same as the SecureMail product- in fact they are the SecureMail product! They're independent of your ISP account, and paid for separately as well.

[BassoProfundo]

Really? The webmail console shows all sorts of filter settings, particularly for spam. Are these not active for the filtered, SecureMail accounts?

Your reply confirms my understanding before the account was set up, but the presence of filter setups in the webmail interface is a tad confusing. I guess it's just a standard webmail interface that doesn't understand that the underlying account is already filtered.

But it does raise the question in my mind, how are false spam positives handled? Do I get the opportunity to say that some things are NOT spam? I guess what I really need is some sort of user guide for the service. Is there one?

Chris 

[Jeff]

Sick to death of spam

The only way that you or anyone else can receive spam via an idnetfreemail account is to disclose your address to someone else. If nobody knows it exists, it can`t be spammed, unless someone got lucky with a spambot of course. It is who you disclose the address to is the problem

Chris, dunno to the rest mate, I`m too tight to pay for an email account 

Mind, anyone that has given their address out to unscrupulous individuals heed ... just set a new account up via portal and delete old account

[Bill]

I guess what I really need is some sort of user guide for the service. Is there one?

Dunno, you'd need to ask CS... but an extract from a PM from Simon when I asked about including virus filtering but dropping the spam filter:

3) not if the address is under @idnet.co.uk but if you had your own domain name then we could custom configure the filters for you.

[Bill]

just set a new account up via portal and delete old account

That's not so easy if the account is your primary one, and you have to let various people/organisations know about the change.

Last time I changed my primary email address I had to update about 75 web sites with the new details, as well as friends etc!

Took me bloody ages....   

I didn't change because of spam either- I don't get any. I'm careful to the point of paranoia about where I publish my email address, but when Plusnet took over Metronet (my email supplier) I decided it was time to go...

[Jeff]

I have a Hotmail account for use for other than friends/family/those who I trust. I`ve had it so long ... got it in the days that you could download messages via Outlook, still can

[Bill]

Hotmail- same here 

Periodically I just go in and delete the lot 

[BassoProfundo]

Certainly, being careful to whom you give out your e-mail addy is only prudent. Even so, your addy will still get around after a while, particularly when you use your own domain.

And this is what I do. I've had the same e-mail addy for years and years, linked to my own domain - in those days, there was no such thing as googlemail or hotmail. Now, I just set up the mail system on my web host to forward everything to my IDNet mailbox in order for it to be smam and virus checked.

I guess I could have forwarded everything to my GoogleMail account and pop'd it in from there - by all accounts, the GoogleMail virus and spam scanners are pretty good ... and free.

We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for the input guys.
Chris   

P.S. we need more smilies!!

[Jeff]

Bill, I`ve noticed that I`m getting mega spam on my Hotmail account atm. I keep going HTTP and declaring the spam to the Hotmail filter but they keep coming thick and fast ... is it just me?

[Bill]

Bill, I`ve noticed that I`m getting mega spam on my Hotmail account atm. I keep going HTTP and declaring the spam to the Hotmail filter but they keep coming thick and fast ... is it just me?

Can't help mate... I checked this morning, and it's more than 30 days since I last accessed the account so it suspended the account and wiped the lot.

Didn't realise it had been that long.

[BassoProfundo]

Why not get a googlemail account ? They don't suspend you after 30 days of inactivity!

[Bill]

Can't be bothered

I only use hotmail if it's something that requires an email address for confirmation (eg they send me a password) but that I don't trust not to respond with spam...

I think I've only ever used it about 3 times in the last two years!

[BassoProfundo]

Mind you, forwarding everything to a googlemail account and then poping it in from there isn't such a bad idea - the gmail spam and virus filters seem to be pretty good. Plus which, they can keep about 2.7GB of e-mails for you which constitutes a pretty good offsite backup!

[Bill]

Never fancied a googlemail address (Vanity, thy name is Bill  )

1and1 gives me my own domain and 1Gb of mail space for pretty well peanuts, I'm happy with that.


edit- email includes configurable spam & virus filtering, also out-of-office & I think a few other things, can't be bothered to look