Configuring SpamAssassin with individual preferences

The following page details how to change settings for spam filtering with SpamAssassin for your individual e-mail account. By default it starts with standard settings that should work well for most users & should only be changed with caution. To login you need to provide your username and password, as per your dial-in access.

Refer to the spam filtering FAQ for details on configuring your e-mail client to filter the detected spam and to the headers FAQ to find how to view your e-mail headers.

Please note that if you don't log in at all or only log in & don't change your SpamAssassin settings then they retain their default values.

No mail will be deleted from the server as a result of utilising SpamAssassin until you choose to do so by setting the Spam Deletion Level to other than Off.

It is important to understand that the nature of spam changes, mainly to counter spam filters. Consequently the effectiveness of SpamAssassin will vary and will certainly never be 100%. You can expect the need to delete some spam manually, even if you enable spam deletion, and that some spam will earn too low a score to be marked. SpamAssassin is updated from time to time meaning sensitivity will vary.

Read the summary below and then proceed to altering your individual SpamAssassin settings.
Enable Spam Protection:

Yes or No (default Yes)

Allows you to receive your email without SpamAssassin classification.

Spam Marking Level:

Off, 1 - 20 (default 8)

Sets the score at which point e-mail is considered spam. The default 8 works quite well for most users.

Setting lower will increase the number of false positives (real mail identified as spam) but decrease the number of false negatives (spam not identified as spam).

Conversely, setting higher will decrease the number of false positives but will increase the number of false negatives.

When viewed in e-mail headers it appears as:
X-Spam-Status: Yes, hits=11.3 required=8.0

Note: Due to the complexity in handling e-mails with multiple recipients (CC: and BCC: included) the spam headers are handled differently. If it scores above your Spam Marking Level then required=0 will appear. If it scores below then no spam headers will appear at all. Your individual setting is still being applied.

Spam Deletion Level:

Off, 51 - 5 (default Off)

Sets the score at which e-mail detected as spam is deleted from the mail server. Use with caution as the e-mail is permanently deleted and can not be retrieved.

The recommended value of 20 is deliberately conservative, making the risk of deleting a "false positive" e-mail extremely small. It should prove acceptable for most users - some spam will be seen but the risk of deleting a wanted e-mail is small.

No mail will be deleted from the server until you choose to do so by setting the Spam Deletion Level to other than Off.


For the adventurous only - adjusting the Spam Deletion Level:

Setting the level lower will delete more e-mails detected as spam. However it is riskier as this makes it more likely that false positives such as newsletters will be deleted.

Setting the level higher will delete fewer e-mails detected as spam. This makes it safer as it is less likely that false positives will be deleted. The recommended value of 20 is already very safe.

Again, use with caution, particularly if choosing a lower setting.

Take note that SpamAssassin is updated from time to time which will effect the sensitivity of the filtering and may result in different spam scores to those previously expected.


 
Update Details:

To activate the changes you've made click Update Details.


Whitelist

Allows you to enter e-mail addresses to ensure any e-mail from a particular sender is not marked as spam. Useful for e-mail such as newsletters that bear a close resemblance to real spam in nature and thus would normally be detected as spam.

To add an address simply enter the address in the Add New Email box and click Add New Address.

Note that only a bare e-mail address is valid: mailouts@melbpc.org.au   is valid,
Newsletter <mailouts@melbpc.org.au>  is not.

You may edit or delete an address you've entered by clicking Edit or Delete next to the particular address.

Whitelisting works by assigning a large negative spam score.

Blacklist

Allows you to enter e-mail addresses to ensure any e-mail from a particular sender is marked as spam. Useful for e-mail from someone who insists on sending large unsolicited attachments (such as "humorous" pictures or videos) despite your pleas not to.

To add an address simply enter the address in the Add New Email box and click Add New Address.

Note that only a bare e-mail address is valid: pesky@spamcentral.com   is valid,
Videoman <pesky@spamcentral.com>  is not.

You may edit or delete an address you've entered by clicking Edit or Delete next to the particular address.

Blacklisting works by assigning a large positive spam score so use with caution. Be aware that when used in conjunction with setting the Spam Deletion Level any blacklisted e-mail will be permanently and irrecoverably deleted.

Sundry Controls

Main: returns to the SpamAssassin User Preferences page.

Mail Statistics: details statistics about total e-mail, spam detected & spam deleted. Refer to the mail stats FAQ.

Log Out: Logs you out of SpamAssassin User Preferences.

Proceed to altering your individual SpamAssassin settings.