DSPAM Overview:

 

If you were using our earlier version of DSPAM, you’ll find it works much the same, but is even more accurate, provides you with additional information, and makes it easier to report spam. 

 

If you are new to DSPAM, it basically works like this:

-         All of your emails are sent through a “filter” that looks at the content of the message.

-         Any emails that appear to be spam are sent to your personal Quarantine, which you can access through a website that we will provide once you are signed up.

-         You can look through your quarantined messages at any time, and read them, delete them, and/or tell DSPAM the message was not spam.

-         You can also let DSPAM know when spam gets through to your email box, so that it can filter it out in the future.

 

Accessing Your DSPAM

Once you have signed up with DSPAM, go to the DSPAM website (we’ll provide the web address when you sign up.)  You’ll be asked to log in, as shown below.

 

demoacct

 

Type in your username and password and then press “Enter”. 

 

Note:  Be sure you type in only your username, not your full email address (your username is everything that is before @wcta.net).

 

If you check the “remember my password” box you will be brought straight to your quarantine the next time you go to the DSPAM website.

 

Using Your DSPAM Quarantine:

All of your suspicious mail is stored in your DSPAM Quarantine for 7 days.  You should periodically review it to make sure it doesn’t contain any valid emails.

Your Quarantine Options

 

Sorting

 

You can sort your messages by any of the following by clicking on the underlined word next to “Sort by”:

-         Ratings (how likely it is to be spam according to DSPAM’s information)

-         Date sent

-         Sender

-         Subject  

 

Viewing

 

You can read any of the messages by clicking on the “subject” on the right side of the screen.

 

The message will include header information at the beginning, as shown in the example below.  Scroll down through the header to see the body of the message.

 

Scroll down through the message Header

 

Delivery Options

 

-         If you would like DSPAM to learn to deliver that type of message to your regular e-mailbox, open the message by clicking on the subject line as explained above, and then click “Deliver Message” (because it is NOT Spam!) button. 

               OR

-         Check the box next to any message you want delivered next to your mailbox, and click the “Deliver Checked” button (either the one above the messages or the one below—two are provided for your convenience)

               OR

-         To delete a message, click on the box next to it, and click the “Delete Messages” button. 

 

Note:  Additional options to “train” DSPAM are found in the History, as explained later.

Other Tools

DSPAM provides a number of tools that you can use to monitor your DSPAM history. 

 

Analysis:

 

You can see your DSPAM activity graphed out as shown in the example below by clicking on the “Analysis” tab.

 

 

History:

You can view the detailed chronological DSPAM history (as shown in the example below) by clicking on the “History” tab.  Here is where you can also “retrain” DSPAM.

 

 

 

 

§      Green (Good) – the message was deemed to be OK and was delivered to you mailbox.

§      Red (SPAM) – the message appeared to be SPAM and was stored in your quarantine.

§      Purple (Whitelist):  5 of more messages of this type have gone through without being called Spam, so DSPAM has added it to your “whitelist”. 

 

To retrain DSPAM, find the message in the History list.  Click on the box next to it and click the “Retrain checked” button. The message Type changes to say “Miss” and is shown as having been Retrained.  

 

If you’re retraining a message that was quarantined as Spam, it will be delivered to your email box.  

Performance:

 

You can view how accurate DSPAM is by clicking on the “Performance” tab.  Note that you will generally see the performance improve the more you use the service.

 

 

 

Alerts:

DSPAM also provides an “Alert” option that allows you to highlight messages that are of a certain type, so that they are easier to find.  First, click on the “Alerts” tab.

 

To add an alert, type the text you would like DSPAM to alert you to in the box next to “Add Alert” (this could be from the sender, the subject, or even in the body of the letter.)

 

Click on the “Add Alert” button and the alert will be added.

 

 

Any messages containing that text will now appear highlighted, as shown in the example below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This concludes the Overview.