Front end spam Filtering - FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q) Is this spam and virus filter really as good as everyone says it is?

A) Yes - it really is!


• Q) Will I lose any messages during the transition as I switch over?

A) No you won't. What will happen is messages will start going to our spam filters as the DNS propagates. Servers with the old information will still send email directly to your server - so you will still get everything. But over a few days all your email will be filtered. But within an hour most of your spam will be gone.


• Q) What if I don't like it? Can I turn the filter off and get my email directly again?

A) Yes - Turning it off is as easy as turning it on. All you have to do is set your MX record back to your own email server. Keep in mind though that the transistion take several hours to spread across the Internet.


• Q) What is an MX record anyway. How does this work?:

A) MX (Mail eXchange) records are part of DNS (Directory Name Services) which is how the Internet finds things by name. The Internet runs on IP addresses which are those addresses with 4 numbers (127.0.0.1) but who can remember those numbers? So DNS was created to give names to those numbers. The MX record is part of DNS and it is where you tell the world where to send your email. It tells the world, "These servers handle my email."


• Q) So - what are those numbers about with the MX records?

A) The numbers set the priority of the MX servers. The lowest number has the highest priority (go figger - it's how unix heads think). The higher numbers are usually backup servers in case the main servers fail. Servers are supposed to send email to the lowest numbered server first and if it fails it tries the higher numbered servers.


• Q) Can I add my own mail server as the highest MX record in case your servers break down - it will still get to me?

A) No - that is a bad idea. The reason is because a lot of spammers figure that the highest MX record has the least spam filtering. So many of them try the backup servers first. If you use yor server as the highest MX record then you will be spammed directly. To make the filter work you need to set the MX record the way we recommend.


• Q) How good is your virus scanner compared to Norton or McAfee?

A) ClamAV is a very good virus scanner. All these scanners work well once a virus has been identified and is part of the virus definitions. Sometimes Norton and McAfee sometimes have definitions for ne viruses faster than ClamAV - and sometimes ClamAV gets it first. But - and this is really important - our servers update the virus definitions every 30 minutes. Most people using Norton or McAfee update once a week at best.

That means that our scanners will have the new definitions first and remove the virus beforee it ever reaches you. And - we take the virus out before it ever gets to your computer. If Norton finds a virus - the virus is already on your computer. It's like the difference between catching an intruder in your yard as opposed to one that has already broken into your house.

And - we also block all Windows executable attachments which are the really dangerous ones. So if a new virus comes out as a Windows executable - it will be blocked at connect time. The only viruses that could possibly get through are the compressed (ZIP) viruses in the window between when the virus comes out and when ClamAV gets updated. In order to get infected - you would have to open the ZIP file and run the program. So - unless you are expecting a ZIP file from someone you know - if you get an attached ZIP file from a stranger - DON'T OPEN IT!


• Q) What happens to my email if my mail server goes down?

A) If your email server goes down our servers will still accept email from the Internet for you and store it till your server comes back online. When you come back up or servers will transfer all the stored up email to your server.


• Q) Is there a limit to how many email accounts I can have?

A) No - there is no limit. We charge be the number of messages sent - not the number of email accounts you have. To us if you have 1000 email boxes that get 1 message it's the same as having one email account that gets 1000 messages. We process messages by the domain - not by the email account.


• Q) What if your server goes down - what happens to the email?

A) We have multiple redundant servers in different locations all of which know how to process your email independently. As long as any one server is running - your email will get through.


• Q) Is my email going to slow down if it has to go through your servers first?

A) Yes - but it only adds a few seconds to the process. If the message had a huge attachment it might take a little longer - but I doubt you will notice and reduction in speed. In fact - if your email server is currently bogged down with spam - you might actually get your email faster.


• Q) Am I going to lose any email by going through your spam filter?

A) We sure hope not. Trying to by realistic here. Because of our layered multi level classification we are running nearly perfect when it comes to false positives. However - no email service is perfect and neither are we. If you think something is missing or there is a prolem - let us know right away so we can fix it. We are very careful about not blocking any real email and we would rather let a little spam sneak through than to delete any good email.


• Q) What is this low scoring spam you pass and what am I supposed to do with it?

A) There is a classification we have that we call low scoring spam. These are message that we think are probably spam but we aren't sure enough to actually bounce them. So we take them with a header so that you can use it to route these messages to a spam folder or use your client spam filter to evaluate it. There will be some messages that are not spam that are spam tagged. This is normal - after all - that is what this classification is for. It's for those messages in between spam and nonspam and messages that are hard to classify.


• Q) Can I still use the spam filter in Mozilla (or other fine bayesian filters) with your system?

A) Yes - in fact it will work better. You will be receiving very little spam to filter - but our filter adds a lot of header tags that the bayesian filter sees these tags and it help your filter work better.


• Q) What if I want my spam - can you send it to me?

A) Well - yes and no. We reject a huge amount of spam at connect time without even knowing who it's for. But - once we accept the message and process it - yes - we can ship you all that spam with headers in it telling you how spammy it is. Since we charge by the number of emails forwarded to your email server you would be paying for the spam at the same rate that you are paying for good email. But - we can provide it!


• Q) How much of the email is spam?

A) That varies from individual to individual. If you have a new email account in a new domain - you might not get spammed for a few weeks. However - if you have an old email address and you've been around and active - you might get several thousand a day. A lot of spam is dictionare attacks that are spam if you had an email box with that name to receive them. It's really spam against the domain itself. Unless you are configured to receive all incoming mail into one account - you would never see this spam.

A lot of the spam that you would otherwise get is rejected at connect time making it hard to estimate exactly how much spam you would get if it were unfiltered. Of the spam I actually process only about one in ten is good email. But we host a lot of old email accounts of some famous people, and that kicks up the numbers. Our best estimate in general is one in 20 represents an average of what we receive. But your numbers could be a lot higher or a lot lower than that.