The GWMail (@gwu.edu) e-mail system has a built-in anti-spam solution. ISS recognized that spam has been a consistently worsening nuisance for our community, reflective of the anti-spam problem facing the entire country and world at large. As such, ISS implemented a top-rated enterprise anti-spam solution to complement GWMail.
To set your anti-spam options, go to the GW Account Management Center at https://amc.gwu.edu/. After logging in with your NetID (GWMail user name) and password, select "Anti-Spam Options" from the left-hand menu.
By default, spam is delivered to your INBOX. The first set of buttons allows you to change that. If you want to have all identified spam delivered to a separate "Spam" folder, select the option that says: File all spam mail to a folder named "Spam".
If you deliver the mail to a "Spam" folder, you can choose to have that mail automatically deleted on a regular basis. The second set of buttons allows you to have mail deleted if it is older than 1, 7 or 14 days. First select the first option ("delete mail") and then select the appropriate time period from the drop-down menu.
Hit the "Save Changes" to commit your changes, which should take effect immediately. You can switch settings whenever necessary to suit your preferences.
Please note the following important information about the GWMail anti-spam solution:
If you use an IMAP client such as Netscape Messenger, Outlook or Outlook Exprees to check your mail, you may have to subscribe to the Spam folder to see it in your folder list. Here is how to subscribe to IMAP folders.
If you use the "POP" protocol with a desktop client like Netscape or Outlook to check your GWMail e-mail, you will need to go to Colonial Mail at http://cmail.gwu.edu/ to review contents of your "Spam" folder. All other clients (IMAP desktop clients, Colonial Mail, and Pine) should see the "Spam" folder with all their other folders.
Messages in the "Spam" folder will count against your mail quota. If you choose not to have mail in your "Spam" folder automatically deleted, then you must delete mail in your spam folder on a regular basis to avoid going over quota.
The new spam filter will help control spam but no tool will eliminate 100% of spam. You will continue to receive a limited amount of spam because spammers change their methods frequently. ISS and GW's antispam solution vendor have developed a way for anti-spam filter users to help improve filter accuracy. You can use this new tool to report spam that the antispam filter did not catch, and also to report legitimate messages that the filter incorrectly marked as spam. For more details, please visit: http://helpdesk.gwu.edu/spam/
