Anti-spam system change FAQ

 

Q:           What is an anti-spam system?

A:            An anti-spam system intercepts all the mail received by UAA and through a series of virtual filters, weeds out the spam, fraud and phishing emails which currently make up approximately 80% of email traffic.

 

Q:           What is the difference between our old anti-spam system and our new anti-spam system?

A:            The new anti-spam system uses a different set of message processors to filter the mail coming in to the University. Users will notice that the new anti-spam system is less customizable than the old system. This is due to the sophistication of the processors that the new anti-spam system uses to filter mail.  We anticipate that the new anti-spam system will be more accurate in determining the difference between good and bad emails.

 

Q:           Is there anything I need to do to set up my account in the new anti-spam system?

A:            No. The new will start working as soon as it is installed. You will not have to register or activate this service.

 

Q:           How do I log in to look at the spam that is being blocked?

A:            The anti-spam system login is located at http://aspam.uaa.alaska.edu . When you navigate to this website you will see a login screen. Enter your UAA username and password (the same username/password that you use to access your UAA email). Once you have logged in you will be shown a page which displays all of the messages which have recently been blocked by the anti-spam system.

 

Q:           What do I do if I believe an email which was sent to me was blocked by the new anti-spam system?

A:            If you think that one of your messages was blocked by the anti-spam system, you should log in to the system at http://aspam.uaa.alaska.edu . Enter your UAA username and password.  You will then be shown the quarantine list of all recently blocked messages. At the top of the page there will be a search tool you can use to find the message that you need.

 

Q:           How do I move a blocked message from the anti-spam system to my email inbox?

A:            Once you log in and find the message you wish to read, you will see a button marked ”not spam”  at the top and bottom of your list of blocked messages. You will also see a check box next to the sender’s address of each blocked message. Check the box next to the message (or messages) you wish to have delivered to you, then click the “not spam” button. Once you click this button the message will be added to your inbox and removed from your blocked messages list.

 

Q:           How do I check a message to make sure it isn’t spam before I send it to my inbox?

A:            The messages blocked by the anti-spam filter are able to be viewed by clicking on the subject line of the message. This view will show the text which was in the message that you selected. This view will not open any attachments or image files, so there is no chance of opening a virus through this interface.

 

Q:           Will I have to re-create my allowed senders list from our old anti-spam system?

A:            No, the new system does not use an allowed senders list for each user.