Skip to Content
Home
Maps
Calendar
Site Index / Search
Directory
  St. Edward's University

Computer Help
Spam Filtering
 

St. Edward's has implemented a spam filtering application, CanIt. All e-mail is scanned for possible spam messages. Those messages meeting the criteria for spam will be tagged as spam. In your e-mail you will see messages with the subject line [Spam Alert***Spam Score]. These are messages detected as spam. A spam score is assigned to these messages. The higher the score, the higher the number of **** in the Spam Alert. It is recommended that you scan these headers to make sure non-spam messages are not being incorrectly marked.

Spam Filtering Changes beginning June 2008

In order to keep St. Edward’s e-mail from being blocked by other e-mail providers, all outgoing e-mail will be scanned by our spam filter. This system is designed to prevent real spam from being sent through our servers so it is unlikely that most messages will be affected. However, any message which is rejected by the spam filter will be sent back to the sender with an incident code which the Computer Help Desk can help you interpret.

In addition, incoming e-mail with a SEU address return address that is sent from a non-SEU provider (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) will be marked as spam, but not rejected. This may result in more email being sent to a Junk mailbox so we recommend that you check the contents of your Junk box more frequently and do not set it to automatically discard messages marked as spam. Faculty using this method of sending email from off campus may want to warn their students that messages will be marked as spam or consider using Zimbra webmail from off campus.

Dealing with Spam

You may deal with the messages marked as spam in one of the following ways:

  • Delete the messages if they really are spam
  • Don't click on any Unsubsribe links in the email. These links are only there to confirm your email address as a valid one. Clicking on Unsubscribe will only result in more spam from that sender.
  • Set up your e-mail application to filter these messages to a separate "Spam" or junk mail box.
  • Use the CanIt interface for setting up more advanced options and train the spam filter for your needs.

 

Changing CanIt settings

To change the default setting of CanIt, which is to tag spam messages:

  1. Access CanIt from https://roar.stedwards.edu
  2. Login with your St. Edward's University login and password.
  3. Under Spam-Scanning Level choose one of the options
    - Only tag suspect spam (current default)
    - Tag suspect spam also enabling voting links to train your spam filter.
    - Drop suspected spam before you see it. This may delete some legitimate mail.
    - Opt out of spam scanning.
  4. After choosing an option click on the Set Spam-Scanning Level button to save your changes.
  5. Click on the Log Out button to exit.

Return to top

Voting Links

If you choose the voting links option you will need to actually "vote" for 30 messages that should be marked as spam and 30 messages that should not have been marked as spam.
After selecting this option every e-mail will end with 3 links for voting. These will only appear as links in an e-mail application such as Eudora or EMU, not in text-based email such as ELM.

  • Spam
  • Not spam
  • Forget previous vote


To "vote" click on the link. Your default web browser (IE or Netscape or Safari) will open to the CanIt home page. Login with your St. Edward's user name and password. Click on the spam, non-spam or forget training button to cast your vote.

Return to top

Adding a Specific E-mail Domain to the Always Accepted list

To add a domain that should always be accepted and not marked as spam:

  1. Go to the CanIt home page at https://roar.stedwards.edu
  2. Login with your St. Edward's University user name and password
  3. Click on the button for Enable Expert Interface.
  4. Click on the link for Rules.
  5. Click on the link for Domains
  6. Enter a specific domain. A domain will be the last part of the email address of the sender. For example, the domain for admin.stedwards.edu is stedwards.edu. If the email address is sknauff@stiknowledge.com, then the domain is stiknowledge.com.
  7. Click on the Go button.
  8. Under the column New Action click on the drop down menu and select Always Allow.
  9. Click on Submit Changes.
  10. Your display of domains should now resemble this
  11. Click on the link for Simplified Interface.
  12. Reselect your Spam-Scanning level.
  13. Click on Set Spam-Scanning level.
  14. Click on Log Out.

Return to top

Rejecting E-Mail from a Specific Sender

To add a domain that should always be marked as spam or rejected:

  1. Go to the CanIt home page at https://roar.stedwards.edu
  2. Login with your St. Edward's University user name and password
  3. Click on the button for Enable Expert Interface.
  4. Click on the link for Rules.
  5. Click on the link for Domains
  6. Enter a specific domain. A domain will be the last part of the email address of the sender. For example, the domain for admin.stedwards.edu is stedwards.edu. If the email address is sknauff@stiknowledge.com, then the domain is stiknowledge.com.
  7. Click on the Go button.
  8. Under the column New Action click on the drop down menu and select Always Reject.
  9. Click on Submit Changes.
  10. Your display of domains should now resemble this
    Reject domain
  11. Click on the link for Simplified Interface.
  12. Reselect your Spam-Scanning level.
  13. Click on Set Spam-Scanning level.
  14. Click on Log Out.

Return to top

Contact the Computer Help Desk at 448-8443 for more information.

 

 

 

 
St. Edward's University Logo St. Edward's University
3001 South Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78704
512-448-8400
Contact: helpline@stedwards.edu
Updated: 06/02/2008
© 2003, St. Edward's University