Wiktel

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Combating Unwanted Email (Spam)

Unwanted email can come from a web site that you browsed, a mailing list that you are on, or it can come from ruthless hackers who bypass web protocols, often attaching smut or viruses.
To combate this unwanted email you can use wiktel's SPAM filter as a first line of defense, or you can use your own email program, or you can use both.


Accessing Your Express Mail Account

  1. Go to Express Mail or go to wiktel.com and click on Express Mail near the top center of the page.
  2. When in Express Mail, put in your user name and password and press Log On.


Setting up the Wiktel Spam filter

  1. Click on Spam Filtering in the left column.
  2. Select the level of control that you want:

    Medium through Extra Low
    This will allow more and more email through, and are very unlikely to block the worst email sent by cunning hackers who know how to beat the system. However, if you do not want to keep up the Express Mail address book, and still want several advertisements and newsletters to come through, Medium may be required. But expect some of the most offensive material to come through.

    High
    This will give you aggressive filtering, and will filter most, but not all unwanted mail. Using High, along with the Express Mail Address Book may be the best compromise in today's world. It is easiest to set up. By putting those you definitely want in the address book you will get all the mail you definitely want.

    By selecting High you will filter most unwanted mail, but not all. Because those hackers who send unwanted email are getting more and more aggressive, it is necessary for you to be as aggressive as possible. When you subscribe to newsletters, or want to receive advertising, you should put the address (or group address) in the Express Mail Address Book to make sure you get them.

    If unwanted email continues to get through, go to higher and higher levels until it stops. You may have to go to Exclusive to stop some of the very worst material.

    Exclusive
    This will give you the most control over unwanted email. Exclusive will only allow email from those you put in the Address Book of Express Mail.

  3. Click on the Save button.
  4. Your spam filter is now set as you want it.
  5. Click on Log Off in the left column, unless at this point you want to put addresses in the Express Mail Address Book (see below).
  6. Go back to using your email program that resides on your computer to get your email. (Express Mail is for use when you are away from home, or to set up your filters.)
Note: Exclusive will give you the most control over unwanted email. Exclusive will only allow email from those you put in the Address Book of Express Mail.


Adding Someone to Your Address Book

  1. Click on Address Book in the left column.
  2. Click on Add New Individual Entry on the right side of the screen.
  3. Enter a nickname to describe this entry.
  4. Enter the email address in the E-Mail Address box.
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Add New Entry button.


Putting a Group in Your Address Book

  1. Click on Address Book in the left column.
  2. Click on Add New Group Entry on the right side of the screen.
  3. Enter a nickname to describe this entry.
  4. Enter a list of addresses for the group, with a comma between them.
    For example:
    *@wiktel.com, *@*.wiktel.com
    (This example will allow mail from anyone who is in the wiktel.com domain - several thousand people. On the other hand, *@hotmail.com would allow several million people, and would defeat the purpose of the filter.)
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Add New Entry button.


If unwanted email continues to get through, go to higher and higher levels until it stops. You may have to go to Exclusive to stop some of the very worst material.

Using Wiktel's Email Filter

This email filter is different than the spam filter, but can be used in addition to the spam filter to fashion a more complex filtering scheme.

  1. Click on Filters.
  2. Click on Add New Filter
  3. Fill in the form.
  4. Click on Update Filter
  5. Once finished, you can change the Filter by clicking on the filter name. Or delete it by checking the box and clicking on Delete Selected.
Note:We do not recommend using this filter if you are not very good with logic. It is easy to do this wrong and mess up your mail.


Using Your Own Email Program to Filter Unwanted Mail

There are serious drawbacks to trying to use your own email filters. You would need to put sophisticated logic in your filter to do close to the same job as the wiktel spam filters.

However, if that is what you want to do, first get into your email program.

  1. Outlook Express: Go to Tools, click on Message Rules, and select Mail.
  2. Outlook: Go to Tools and select Rules and Alerts.
  3. Window Mail: Go to Tools and select Junk E-Mail Options or go to Tools, click on Message Rules and select Mail
  4. Thunderbird: Go to Tools and select Message Filters.
  5. Apple Mail: Go to Mail, click on Junk Mail, then select the custom.
Note: We do not recommend using this filter if you are not very good with logic. It is easy to do this wrong and mess up your mail.

Using all Three: The wiktel spam filter, the Wiktel email filter, and your own email program

If you have a complex email filtering requirement, you may be able to fashion what you want from a combination of what you let through wiktel's spam and Email filters, and what you stop with your own filter.

We do not recommend using complex logic if you are not very good with logic. The safest thing to do is simply select the level of spam filtering you want wiktel to do for you, and add email addresses and domain names to the Express Mail Address book for those email addresses you want to make sure come through any filtering that is done.