cPanel Tutorial: Setting up Spam Assassin
Spam has become as
common as the internet itself. This annoying epidemic has resulted in
the development of various tools to combat the issue from both the
client and server side. In this tutorial we will discuss the powerful
Spam Assassin spam filter and how it can be set up in cPanel.
Description
Spam Assassin is one of the most efficient spam-fighting tools on the
market, available with almost any hosting plan offering cPanel. By
default, this utility is disabled in your control panel but enabling it
is fairly simple.
Enabling and Configuration
After logging into your control panel, you will notice "Spam
Assassin" on the interface underneath the "Mail" tab. When clicking the
tab you will be taken to the main configuration page and presented with
an array of options. To start protecting your inbox right way, simply
click "Enable Spam Assassin". This will activate the utility and filter
spam on the default settings.
Spam Assassin's default filter is set to level 5, a decent setting
for the average end-user. By setting the number higher, fewer messages
will be tagged as spam, thus resulting in less false positives. This
number can always be adjusted in accordance to your level of false
positives. You can also make configurations to delete spam mail as soon
it arrives. This is useful in regard to easy management but you also
stand the chance of losing legitimate emails. Because of this, learning
to properly adjust the level of your filter is critical.
Your Spam Box
After first enabling Spam Assassin, all suspected spam emails in your
Spam Box will be tagged with "SPAM" in front of the subject field. Of
course, an exception would be if you have enabled the auto-spam delete
function. This setting gives you the ability to configure your mail
client to filter out messages based on certain tags. The Spam Box acts
as your quarantine folder, performing on the server and preventing the
messages from reaching the inbox on your desktop. The Spam Box
automatically creates an isolation folder as soon as a spam message is
detected.
The major benefits of activating the Spam Box is avoiding all the
unsolicited emails in the form of advertisements, viruses, scams and
other potential threats. It also allows you to access your webmail
account on the server to find out if any legitimate messages were
mistakenly tagged. The disadvantage of this filtering method relates to
inconvenience as you will have to login to your cPanel account on a
regular basis to manage the Spam Box. If not, the messages stored on
the server will consume precious storage space.
Advanced Settings
Spam Assassin includes extra features that allow you to filter
messages based on various criteria. Configurations can be made to block
out or allow mail based on a specific email address or an entire
domain. For instance, if you are constantly missing emails from a
friend or company, you could add that name to a "Whitelist", instructing
Spam Assassin to allow the message to pass. This method works the same
way with a Blacklist which allows you to automatically block messages
from a website that has been harassing you with spam.
