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What makes the Postini Junk Email Assistant filters different from
the spam filters found in my email application?
The mail filters found in email products have a number of limitations
and often assume a "one size fits all" solution. Users are often expected
to develop their own filter rules from the limited tools provided. Further,
users must still download email before the mail client can filter it-possibly
wasting time and bandwidth while waiting to read mail, such as spam, that
you would not want anyway. With Postini Junk Email Assistant filters,
all email processing is done behind the scenes before it arrives in the
inbox. This saves time and bandwidth by not forcing end users to download
superfluous email, such as unsolicited offers. Moreover, Postini improvements
are done without modifications to an end user's email services or email
client. The Postini Junk Email Assistant performance is superior, identifying
up to 95% of users' junk email.
How do I know junk email is being filtered and not my regular (legitimate)
email?
Postini uses an advanced filtering technique built on heuristic rules,
lists of approved and blocked senders, and databases of known junk email
to maintain the effectiveness of the rules system. Despite these advanced
measures, some good email may get caught since the concept of junk email
is subjective (one man's trash is another man's treasure). To remedy this,
Postini enables end users the ability to set a lenient-to-aggressive tolerance
for filtering suspicious email: lenient filtering potentially lets more
junk email through, but also minimizes the risk of legitimate email from
getting mistakenly directed to the Message Center; conversely, aggressive
filtering catches more suspicious email at the risk of mistakenly diverting
normal email to the Message Center. Postini notifies users with regular
summary reports of their Postini activities. With the right configuration,
Postini can be set so that less than 1% of valid email is falsely identified
as suspicious.
Does someone read personal emails at Postini?
No. All email processing is done through automated filters. Further, since
Postini is capable of processing millions of messages each day, it is
unlikely that a particular email stay around long enough since Postini
processes a single message within milliseconds and does not write valid
messages to disk. In the event a "suspicious" email is discovered, it
will be directed to your private Postini Message Center pending your review.
If you would like to pass on a suspicious email to Postini for further
reference, you may do so by forwarding the message to spam@postini.com.
How does Postini notify users when email is quarantined as suspicious
junk email?
Postini will send a regular report via email of the activity in the user's
Postini Message Center. However, users can log in to the Postini Message
Center at any time to monitor and review detained messages.
What if users prefer to receive junk email?
End users can turn Postini Junk Email Assistant off at anytime by simply
logging in to their Postini Message Center, clicking "settings" and clicking
"off" on the Junk Email toggle switch. (Other applications, such as virus
scanning, can also be turned on or off in this manner.) However, if Postini
is detaining too much legitimate email, first try setting "Filter Sensitivity"
to moderate or lenient and/or uncheck any "Filter Categories" that are
unwanted. It also helps to explicitly list certain email addresses to
allow their messages through the filters, regardless of content. Do this
by entering valid addresses in the Approved Senders field.
What happens in the event that Postini email processing servers fail?
Postini deploys a large number of enterprise-scale servers dedicated to
processing email. However, in the event of a catastrophe, email will be
passed through the system by defaulting to your email provider's regular
mail servers. There will be no noticeable performance hit. Any suspect
messages that were diverted to the Message Center are contained on redundant
disk storage devices that are backed up by Postini.
How often is email deleted from the Message Center?
Postini keeps email messages that have been directed to the Message Center
for 14 days following the receipt of the message--this includes any messages
that have been moved to a user's "Trash Folder" in the Message Center.
After 14 days from first receipt, any message will be deleted. Email service
providers will send an email activity report on a regular basis to remind
users to check their Message Center. Users can also access their Message
Center at any time.
What if users never check their Message Center?
Email that has been directed to the Message Center is deleted 14 days
after receipt. Postini recommends that users check the Message Center
frequently to ensure personal settings are appropriate and check messages.
Users may find that some minor adjustments are required to ensure legitimate
email is not falsely identified as junk. It is a good habit to bookmark
the Log In page and check your message center at least every week.
If users receive spam, what should they do with it?
If junk email reaches a user's desktop and appears in their email inbox,
they can simply delete the message or forward it to spam@postini.com,
if they wish. This allows Postini to reference it in our junk email database
for the future. Users can also visit their Message Center and add the
sender's address to their "Blocked Senders" list if it appears to be a
repeat offender, preventing that sender from reaching the inbox again.
It might also be useful to try increasing the sensitivity level in the
configuration or turn on specific filter categories.
What if Postini directs legitimate email to the Message Center?
Unfortunately, some legitimate email may be erroneously directed to the
user's Message Center. This is due to the subjective nature of email messages
and what could possibly be considered junk email. If a significant amount
of valid email is being misdirected to the Message Center, Postini can
be used to build a list of approved senders, thereby minimizing the possibility
of detaining a valid email in the future. From the Message Center, click
"deliver" for any legitimate email and Postini will ask if all messages
from this sender should be delivered--that sender is then added to the
"Approved Sender" list. Next time, messages from that sender will not
be detained unless the Postini Virus Assistant is active and detects a
virus from that sender. You may also manually build your approved senders
list by visiting your junk email settings.
Does the Junk Mail Assistant watch for obscene language and other
questionable content?
The Junk Email Assistant is tuned for identifying unsolicited commercial
email (UCE), otherwise known as spam or junk email. This is somewhat different
than filtering specifically for content, like most email filtering. For
example, a friend sends a joke containing obscenities. This originates
from a known source, whereas a message of unknown origin containing obscenities
that refers to a pornography site WOULD likely be directed to the Postini
Message Center. Of course, Postini does have the capability to explicitly
block any address--in case you want to restrict email from a known source.
Will Postini automatically block services which might resemble spam,
such as mailing lists?
Most likely not. If it does trigger Postini filters, we recommend that
you add the sender to the "Approve Senders" list.
Is Virus Assistant up-to-date on its virus definitions?
Yes. Virus Assistant updates virus definitions continuously. Not only
will virus scanning of malicious email viruses prove extremely valuable
to you, but it also saves valuable time by scanning messages behind the
scenes. You are only notified when a virus is found in a message. Virus
Assistant utilizes McAfee's AVERT (Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team)
to stay current with virus definitions. AVERT is a worldwide virus-monitoring
network that continuously looks for new viruses and subtle changes in
old ones so that virus definitions stay current.
Who is McAfee?
McAfee provides industry-leading protection against today's most dangerous
viruses and tomorrow's threats. McAfee and your service provider made
this possible by inserting virus-scanning technology into your mail flow.
This relieves email providers and you from maintaining individually installed
virus detection and the hassle of maintaining current virus definitions.
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