Anyone that uses email is painfully aware of the problems presented by SPAM emails.  In addition to clogging our inboxes and slowing bandwidth many of these messages are dangerous to your computer or just downright disgusting.  In an effort to curtail most of these unwanted messages Sleekcom is implementing a new mail filtering system.  We have been testing this new system for some months now and it appears to be about 90 to 95% effective at blocking unwanted email with less than .01% false positives.  Because of the varied nature of email and what different people want and don’t want to receive no system can be 100% effective.  To provide a general understanding of email, spam and the filtering process Sleekcom has provided this list of frequently asked questions.

Q.   What is SPAM email?
A.   The simple answer is unsolicited messages sent to your email address.  SPAM can be in many forms; some just annoying other with more malicious intent.  SPAM can be anything from commercial advertising to phishing for personal information to installing malicious programs on your computer.

Q.   Why do SPAMMERS send out SPAM?
A.   The number one reason for SPAM is advertising.  Most SPAM is commercial unsolicited messages trying to entice you to purchase something they are selling.  Although some of these messages are from legitimate sources such as a company you have done business with in the past, most are of clandestine origin and the goods or services they are hawking are bogus.  Other forms of SPAM invite you to visit web sites to view pictures, jokes or other content.  Some of these sites are paid by advertisers on that page on a per view basis so if the SPAMMER entices you to just visit the site he is making money.  Others offer subscriptions to services such as pornography, jokes or other content.  If only a few out of several million SPAM messages generate a sign-up for these subscriptions the SPAMMER has made a profit.  This type of SPAM all leads back to one thing, money for the SPAMMER.  This type of SPAM is more annoying or offensive than anything else.  The other type of SPAM is more malicious.  The SPAMMER tries to convince you that something is wrong with your bank account or other legitimate on-line service in order to get you to enter confidential information into a clandestine web site.  Other forms of SPAM can actually install code onto your computer without your knowledge that can capture information you store or transmit or allow your computer to become a SPAM machine which the SPAMMER has control over to send out more SPAM.

Q.   How did the SPAMMERS get my email address?
A.   There are many ways SPAMMERS obtain email addresses.  The number one way most SPAMMERS obtained your email address is you gave it to them either directly or indirectly.  Although many legitimate online companies don’t share your information some do.  People seldom read the “Privacy Policy” of online sites that require you to register or enter your email address.  If you did you would find in most of them a clause that allows them to share your information with their “partners”.  Most of these so-called partners are marketing entities that compile and sell list of email addresses and other information about you.  Another way they obtain your email address is through infected machines.  If someone you have sent an email to in the past machine becomes infected with certain types of virus or spyware your email address can be gleaned from that person’s machine and sent to a SPAMMER.  The bottom line is if you use your email address to send and receive messages eventually it will end up on a list.  Once it is on one list you can count on it being on many before the end of the day.  One other way SPAMMERS get to you is by what is known as a dictionary attack.  They compile list with common email address such as joe@somedomain.com and send them out hoping there really is a joe at somedomain.com.  If your email address is based on a fairly common name chances are you have gotten messages from a dictionary list.

Q.   Why do I get even more junk mail when I click on the option to be removed from their list?
A.   When you click on a link or send a return mail asking to be removed from a SPAM list you are just confirming your email address is valid and you are receiving mail at that address.  This increases the value of your email address to marketing firms and SPAMMERS.

Q.   Why do I get bounce messages saying my email wasn’t received when I haven’t sent out any emails?
A.   Many times SPAMMERS “spoof” email address when they send out SPAM.  What this means is someone in China can send out thousands of emails and make them appear as though they came from your email address.  These spoofed messages are sent to legitimate email servers however the email address they are sent to doesn’t exist, thus causing the message to bounce.  The bounced message appears to the legitimate server to have come from you and not the SPAMMER in China thus the no-deliverable or bounce message is returned to your email address.

Q.   What can I do to prevent receiving SPAM?
A.   The short answer is not much.  If you use your email address there is a certain amount of SPAM that is going to come to you.  The new filter Sleekcom is implementing is one way to control SPAM although it doesn’t prevent it.  There are some programs such as anti-virus or SPAM filters you can buy to install on your machine that further prevent SPAM from reaching your inbox and many of the more advanced email programs such as Microsoft Outlook have built-in junk filters.

Q.  Why can’t the government pass laws preventing SPAM?
A.   The main reason is a large percentage of SPAM originates outside the United States.  Even if we passed laws against it they would be unenforceable in other countries.

Q.   Even though it is filtered why does SPAM still go to my SPAM folder?
A.   The old adage of “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” applies to SPAM email.  Although some SPAM that originates from knows malicious sources is blocked at the “front door” so to speak and messages containing virus are deleted all other SPAM is flagged and delivered.  Sleekcom has no way of knowing what messages you want to receive and ones you don’t.  For example you may want to receive advertising email from a company you do business with but that email appears to our servers as SPAM.  If we didn’t send it through to your SPAM box you would never receive it at all.  There are filter rules you can set up to cause messages that are sent to your SPAM box on the server to be transferred to your MAIN inbox.  See the section on setting up filter rules for instructions on how to do this.

Q.  Since I now have filtering on my email I don't ever have to worry about spam again, right?
A.  This is not correct.  Spammers use spam email to make money.  They are always looking for ways to circumvent filtering and some of them are pretty good at it.  There is no guarantee that at some point in the future they won't figure a way around any spam filter.  The bottom line is it is all about the money.  Spammers make money sending out spam and it cost service providers money to filter it.

Q.   Does Sleekcom monitor my email?
A.   The short answer is no.  Sleekcom does not violate the privacy of our customer's email or web browsing.  We are required by law to log the origin and destination of all emails sent or received through our servers.  Even then the content and/or attachments are not logged or tracked.  The only time this log is used is if there is a problem and we are trying to track it down or for legal purposes which requires a wire tap court order from a valid jurisdiction.  With hundreds of thousands of emails and web sites visits going through our servers every day Sleekcom has neither the time or curiosity to see what sites you visit or who you send and receive email with.

Q.   What is the maximum size of email, including attachments, I can send or receive?
A.   10MB.  Any email including attachments larger than 10MB will be rejected by the server.  Although not a rule, this is a widely accepted industry standard.  You will find most public email servers don't allow messages larger than 10MB to be sent or received.  This restriction is due to server time and resources required to scan and filter large messages and attachments.  One common problem with this restriction is sending and receiving pictures.  With high resolution digital cameras such as 7-10 mega-pixels it is easy for one picture to be over the 10MB threshold.  This problem is easily overcome by using your photo editing program and reducing the size of the picture.  You can do this without losing any resolution.  Another suggestion is if you are trying to send multiple pictures split them up into separate messages.  If you must send out files larger than 10MB we suggest you use FTP site.

Q.   Can I use my inbox on the Sleekcom server to store emails and attachments?
A.   Yes, but it is not recommended.  Sleekcom will store any email with attachments in your inbox on the server for 30 days.  Any message over 30 days old will be automatically deleted.  This prevents your inbox from filling up and you not being able to receive mail.  Also we can not guarantee that your messages will be preserved in the event of a problem with the server (the same applies to your address book).  If you must use your Sleekcom Webmail to store messages and attachments we recommend you create a separate folder from your inbox and move the message there.  If you receive lots of messages and attachments you want to preserve we recommend you use Outlook, Outlook Express or some other email client that downloads the messages from the server to your local machine.  Using an email client such as these allows you to keep the messages and attachments on your computer where they can be view without even being online and they can be backed up during your regular backup routine.

Q.   How long will you keep spam messages in my spam box?
A.   72 hours.  Any message in your spam box will be automatically deleted after it has been there for 72 hours.  Again this is to keep your mailbox from becoming full and you not being able to receive mail.  We recommend you check your spam box a couple of times a day and delete any unwanted messages.

Q.   I like spam and want to get every message sent to me.  Is there a way to bypass the filter?
A.   There is no way to bypass the filter.  Every Sleekcom and Anet2 email address will be filtered.  Although it is hard to understand why you would, if you must have all messages sent to you delivered to your inbox there is a way to do this with filter rules.  If we have enough request we will post detailed instructions on how to do this in the Instructions for Filtering at a later date.

Q.   Why shouldn't I just use a Yahoo, AOL or Gmail email account instead of Sleekcom mail?
A.    There is no reason you can't, however there are some reasons you shouldn't.  All these type of accounts are free email services.  Ultimately you can be anybody you want to with these free services and actual identity verification is not required.  Because of this fact many companies will not recognize correspondence from these type of accounts.  Also nearly all of them contain some form of advertisements that can get them tagged as spam, or at the least be annoying to the recipent.