Vickers Consulting Group  Vickers Consulting Group Email System


This document explains the mail system and the mail server settings.  Any links will currently be to screenshot images.  If you would like the links to take you to the specified utility instead, click here.

In our efforts to fight spam and viruses, many checks are performed on email messages sent to users on our system.  These checks are performed prior to you receiving the message.  Approximately 88% of the messages sent to our system are rejected due to a bad recipient or the sending server is listed in a nationally recognized spam database.  If a message is sent and rejected, and the sender's email address is valid, the sender should receive a notification from their server that the email was rejected.  They will need to contact admin@vickersconsulting.net to have the situation explained or remedied.

Mail that passes the initial checks and is received by the mail server may be stored in up to three different places depending on your settings.  When the virus scanner detects a virus or spam signature within the message, the message will not be delivered.  Only the postmaster is notified of it's existence.  All viruses are quarantined and deleted after 14 days.
Messages with certain types of attachments are blocked by the mail system (executables, as an example, are one such type).  When a message arrives with a blocked attachment, it is quarantined to your MailZu account.  You are notified when a blocked attachment is received.  The sender (if using a legitimate email address) is also notified that the message was quarantined.  You must log into the MailZu interface to request a release of the message if you feel confident the message is legitimate and does not contain a virus.  While all attempts are made to ensure the accuracy of the system, you may receive an attachment that contains an undetected virus.  We advise you to keep a local virus scanner up to date to double your protection and to never open questionable attachments.
Contact admin@vickersconsulting.net if you have questions or special requirements regarding banned files.

You have control over what happens to spam, and what is considered spam.  To change your settings, log into the webmail interface and click on the Options link at the top of the page.  In the Options menu, select SpamAssassin Configuration to change your spam settings.  You can  also add addresses to your Whitelist or Blacklist.  Avoid putting an excessive number of address in either your Whitelist or Blacklist.  There will be helpful information on the configuration page explaining settings to you.  You may contact admin@vickersconsulting.net if you have any questions regarding any of the settings you may encounter.
Depending on how you set your spam settings, spam may be delivered to one of three places:

Messages placed in the MailZu quarantine are only accessible via the MailZu interface.  This interface is separate from your email account and it's folders.  The items stored in your webmail account are accessible from many mail clients utilizing the IMAP or POP3 protocols.  Examples of mail clients include Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Apple's Mail program.  When accessed using the IMAP protocol, messages remain on the server and can therefore be accessed by multiple IMAP clients (the webmail interface also utilizes the IMAP protocol).  However there is a limit to the amount of messages that can be stored on the server, so pay attention to your quota (the percentage of quota used is displayed in the upper left corner of the webmail interface).  Remember to delete messages you no longer need and to purge the trash.  If you are using an IMAP client on your computer, you may move the messages off of the server and onto your computer by placing them in a local folder.
Any mail older than 24 days is automatically deleted from your Spam folder.  It is a good idea to check this folder periodically and move any messages you wish to keep to a different folder.

If you use the POP3 protocol to connect to the server, mail is downloaded from the server to your local computer then removed off of the server (depending on settings).  A POP3 client can only retrieve messages from the INBOX folder, so it cannot retrieve any messages in any other folders, including the Spam folder.  This is important to remember as it will affect how you configure your spam settings.

SpamAssassin is used to scan messages and assign them a score depending on specific criteria to determine if a message is legitimate or spam.  A score of 5.0 is the target score that is used to set the rules to determine what messages are spam and what are not.  While all attempts are made to score legitimate messages below 5.0 and spam messages above 5.0, remember that spammers work just as hard as we do to get their messages through to you.  Not only does this make it a more difficult task, it's also a never ending one.  As new rules are developed to combat spam, the spammers come up with new ways to pass the messages through these very same filters.  Legitimate messages may from time to time be scored above 5.0 and, depending on your SpamAssassin Configuration settings, may be delivered to your Spam folder or the MailZu quarantine.  Be very careful not set your threshold too low or you may have legitimate email delivered to your Spam folder (or MailZu quarantine) and your messages will be deleted after 24 days.  
The setting of our spam settings can be a confusing task; below are some explanations and definitions.  If you have any further questions or need additional help, please contact admin@vickersconsulting.net.


The Tag2 Level determines what starting score a message is considered spam.  Any messages that score above the Tag2 Level will be delivered to the Spam folder.  

The Kill Level determines what starting score messages are delivered to the MailZu quarantine interface.  These messages will not be delivered to your POP3, IMAP, or webmail interfaces.  You may only access these messages by accessing the MailZu interface where you may release them.

The Cutoff Level determines what starting score messages are deleted outright.  These messages will not be delivered at all and you will have no way to view them.

Below are some details on the settings:

Policy Tag2 Level Kill Level Cutoff Level Notes
Quarantine, discard high score spam 5 8 14 This would work well for an IMAP client but would be less suitable for a POP3 client. The Tag2 Level is set rather low - this keeps the INBOX fairly clean of spam. Mail that scores between 5 and 8 ends up in the Spam folder. Only a small sample of the total amount of spam sent to you should end up in the Spam folder. Spam scoring at 8 and above is directed to the MailZu quarantine and may on occasion contain legitimate mail. It is not unusual for promotional mail from valid sources (mailing lists or newsletters that you may have subscribed to) to score in this range. Legitimate companies allow you to unsubscribe from their mailing lists. Anything over 14 is discarded. Any time mail is discarded there is a potential for loss of legitimate mail, but at a score of 14 that chance should be reasonably low.
No spam goes to quarantine 6 14 14 In this case messages either go to your INBOX or the Spam folder. All messages that score at 14 or over are permanently discarded. The MailZu quarantine still receives messages with banned contents (as always).
Default - all spam to spam folder 6.5 9999   This is the default policy. Any message that scores at 6.5 or over will be placed in the Spam folder. Mail left in the Spam folder over 24 days is deleted - please move items you wish to keep to another folder. If using a POP3 client to retrieve mail you will need to use the webmail interface to access the Spam folder (which is essentially acting as a quarantine area in this case).
All spam to quarantine 8 8   Any spam that scores at 8.0 or greater is sent to the MailZu quarantine. Remember that spam sent to the MailZu interface is deleted after 24 days.
Permissive, no spam quarantine 9 20 20 Same as "No spam goes to quarantine" but more permissive.
Permissive, with spam quarantine 10 10 25 No spam is sent to Spam folder (which is desired if using a POP3 client) but messages that score at 10 or above (and less than 25) are quarantined to the MailZu quarantine. Messages that score over 25 are discarded.
Nothing goes to spam folder 15 15 15 This would be especially useful for a POP3 client who does not desire to use the webmail interface. No spam would be sent to the MailZu interface. The MailZu interface would still be used as a quarantine for messages containing banned attachments however. While a level of 15 seems high, remember that many mail clients offer the ability to filter mail using the contents of mail headers. The filtered mail can then be routed to a folder, such as a local Spam folder. For example, in Thunderbird it is possible to create a custom filter that looks for a X-Spam-Level header that starts with ****** (6 stars - six points). Unfortunately Outlook Express does not offer the creation of custom filters based on arbitrary header fields.
Do not tag or block spam 9999 9999   All messages (that are not blocked due to virus or banned contents) should be received in your INBOX.
Custom ? ? ? Now that you understand the definitions and concepts, you are ready decide what is best for you.