XMission Spam filtering

As part of our continued effort in helping XMission customers reduce spam, we have redesigned our user controllable filtering system. While customers still have the ability to create and customize their own email filters, we have designed four levels of filtering which are easily accessed by visiting the filters page in webmail at https://webmail.xmission.com/filters/ (requires login). We have also created a Spam Quarantine section in webmail where customers can view email recently deleted by their filter rules, to verify that nothing important has been deleted.

The four levels of filtering available are Whitelist, High, Low, and Off. Most XMission email accounts are set to the "Low" filter by default. While this is helpful, often customers find they want more restrictive filtering enabled. This can now easily be done by selecting the level that best suits their needs. Each of the levels is described in detail below.

Should you wish more control over your filters, you may want to read about creating filters by hand.

Whitelist

The whitelist filter is the most aggressive form of filtering available through XMission. This filter will reject email from any sender whose email address is not listed in your whitelist or your webmail address book. Whitelisting is a very effective way of filtering spam, but you also run a much higher risk of losing legitimate email when you have this filter enabled. It requires the most attention and maintenance, as you continually need to make sure people you want to receive mail from are either in your webmail address book or whitelist. This filter works best for those who receive mail from a small number of individuals.

High

The high level filter is a very strict form of filtering. It will automatically save email from anyone in your webmail address book or whitelist to your inbox, then it applies several filtering rules to eliminate emails which match it's criteria for spam. This filter is an effective way of filtering spam but it is recommended that you closely watch the Spam Quarantine for at least the first few weeks you have it enabled. This will allow you become comfortable with the email it filters, and whitelist any senders you wish to receive mail from whose emails are inadvertently being filtered.

Low

This is the default level of filtering which is turned on for new XMission accounts, if you've had your account for a number of years, this may not be activated for you already. The Low level filter catches mostly obvious spam and deletes it. With this filter you are much less likely to have legitimate email deleted, but more likely to receive some spam.

This is a good starting place if you have never used our spam filters before. By turning on the low level filter you will be able to use the Spam Quarantine to review emails that are being filtered, and make adjustments as needed.

Off

Turning filtering off is only recommended for advanced users who plan on doing their own spam filtering. Keep in mind that this only turns per-user filtering off, server-wide filters are still applied.