The MailAdmin is a tool to set some of the parameters for how your e-mail operates. You can use this to change your password, setup vacation replies/away from the office messages and configure the spamfilter for your account.
The MailAdmin is found on the left of the webmail login screen at mail.icbl.org, it can also be accessed directly at http://mail.icbl.org/gpanel/vailadmin.
Explanations of all the fields (also found under help when viewing the page):
General Options | Forwards/Vacation Options | Spam Control
General Options
- New Password: Enter a new password for the account and confirm it in the field below.
- Real name: Change the real name of the person who will be using the account (this will not be displayed in any emails and is used for administrative purposes only).
Forwards/Vacation Options
- Forward Email To: By checking the button beside this field and entering an email address in it, all mail sent to the account will be forwarded to the address you provide. The "Save copy" checkbox determines whether or not forwarded mails will be retained on the original account. Leave the "Disable Forwards/Vacation" button checked if you do not wish to forward mail.
- Vacation Message: By checking the "Vacation Message" button, you can set up the account to automatically send a message in response to any emails sent to the account. Enter the body of this message in the field provided. Enter a subject if you want the original subject replaced with a new one. Leave the "Disable Forwards/Vacation" button checked if you do not wish to use the vacation option.
NB! Vacation messages/replies are normally not sent to mailinglists.
More about configuring a vacation reply.
Spam Control
Configuring the SpamAssassin options allows you to block most spam that is sent to the account.
- Enable SpamAssassin: Choose whether or not to enable SpamAssassin on the account.
- Required Hits: Choose how many "hits" are required to mark an email as spam. Hits represent how many characteristics of spam an email contains. Click here for a list of the tests SpamAssassin checks mail with.
- Rewrite Subject/Subject Tag: The subject line of incoming emails flagged by SpamAssassin can be altered by checking the "Rewrite Subject" tag and entering a string in the "Subject Tag" that will be placed in front of the original subject line.
- Enable RBL Checks: If this option is enabled, SpamAssassin will automatically check servers that contain lists of known spammers (Realtime Blackhole Lists), and add hits to messages sent by those spammers. Spamcop is an extremely aggressive RBL and may mark non-spam messages as spam.
- Report Spam: This option allows you to choose how SpamAssassin will display its report, and how the original message will be displayed. The first setting simply adds SpamAssassin's headers to the original message and makes no changes to the body of the message. The second setting displays SpamAsssassin's report as the body of the email, and sends the original message as an attachment. The third setting displays SpamAsssassin's report as the body of the email, and sends the original message as an attachment, but marks it as plain text, disabling any harmful script, but also making the message difficult to read. This last option is useful if you are using an older email client that automatically opens attachments.
- Whitelist From: This field allows you to enter a list of email addresses from which emails will never be marked as spam, no matter how many hits they generate. Including a ? in a whitelist address will substitute any single character, while including a * will substitute any combination of any number of characters (including zero). For example, adding "999?SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com" to the whitelist would allow email from "9990SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "9991SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "9992SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", etc. Adding "*SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com" to the whitelist would allow email from "bobSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "1234SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "spamSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", etc.
- Blacklist From: This field allows you to enter a list of email addresses from which emails will always be marked as spam. Including a ? in a blacklist address will substitute any single character, while including a * will substitute any combination of any number of characters (including zero). For example, adding "999?SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com" to the blacklist would mark email from "9990SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "9991SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "9992SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", etc. as spam. Adding "*SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com" to the blacklist would mark email from "bobSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "1234SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", "spamSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERfoo.com", etc. as spam.
- Languages: This option allows you to select whether or not emails written in specific languages will receive SpamAssassin "hits". By default, "All" languages are permitted, and no email will receive hits for being composed in a specific language. If you select one or more of the languages provided, emails written in languages not selected will receive "hits" and be more likely to be marked as spam. If the language of an email cannot be determined, it will not receive any "hits".
- Character Sets: This option allows you to select whether or not emails written in specific character sets will receive SpamAssassin "hits". By default, "All" character sets are permitted, and no email will receive hits for being composed in a specific character set. If you select one or more of the character set provided, emails written in character sets not selected will receive "hits" and be more likely to be marked as spam. If the character set of an email cannot be determined, it will not receive any "hits".
- Spam Delivery: This allows you to decide what is to be done with the spam. Be careful to use the Delete option as this will discard all spam suspected messages directly. You should have used SpamAssassin for a while with no real messages sorted as spam first. If you ever suspect that messages are not getting through to you please change this setting first. Recommendation: Setting this to Move to Folder Trash means the spam will be kept for as long as you have set your webmail to keep messages. This allows you to verify the spam every now and then without risking a full mailbox.