Macintosh Eudora 5 & 6 - Advanced Spam Filtering

Set up e-mail filters to:

Reduce the amount of junk mail (also known as "spam") that reaches your inbox.
Specify how strictly Eudora uses "spam scores" to sort incoming mail.
Sort spam into a separate folder so you can check for legitimate messages before deleting them.
Create rules to allow specific messages through the filters without receiving a spam tag.

Step 1. Determine the spam tolerance level

UCSD uses SpamAssassin software to monitor the UCSD mail gateways. SpamAssassin is a filtering system that examines each piece of incoming mail for properties commonly found in junk mail. After examination, the system assigns each message a spam score. The higher the score, the stronger the probability that the message is spam. You can configure Eudora to look at the spam scores assigned by SpamAssassin and sort messages with high spam scores out of your inbox and into a separate folder.

Before you set up mail filtering, decide where to set the minimum cutoff level. Anything with a score higher than your cutoff will be tagged as spam. If you choose a lower level, more spam will be kept from your inbox. Unfortunately, a low level also increases the chance that legitimate mail is accidentally sorted out with the spam. To determine a good cutoff, examine the assigned score on a variety of mail (both legitimate and spam) in your inbox.

With Eudora open, double-click on an e-mail message and look at the X-Spam-Level: line just below the Subject line.
Make a note of the number of asterisks (*) in this line. Spam messages may have a row of several asterisks; legitimate messages may have one or none. Check several messages to compare scores.
Decide on a number somewhere in between and remember you can change the settings later if the filters are too strict or let in too much spam. 4 or 5 is a good place to start.

Step 2: Create a new filter

Click on the Window pull-down menu and select Filters.

In the Filters window, click the New button.

In the Match section of the window, select the Incoming and Manual check boxes.

Step 3: Tell the filter what to look for

In the Header: text box, click on the arrow to open the pull-down menu. Select <<Any Header >>.
Leave the next text box at the default contains setting.
In the text box to the right of contains, type the word level, then a space, and then type the number of asterisks (*) you wish to set as your cutoff level (see Step 1).
Leave the next text box at the default ignore setting.
Leave the second Header: section blank.

Step 4: Tell the filter what to do with spam

In the Actions section, open the pull-down menu in the first None text box.
Select Transfer To from the pop-up menu.
When prompted, open the Transfer menu at the top of your screen and select New.
In the New Mailbox window, type Spam and then click OK. Always sort spam into a separate folder and check it periodically before you delete the contents. Sometimes legitimate mail is tagged as spam, and this way you will find it before you delete it permanently. If messages from a specific sender are frequently tagged as spam, you may wish to create an exception to the filter.
If you want to create an exception to the spam filter, skip the next step and follow the directions in Step 5. You can create exceptions at any time as the need arises.
If you do not need to create an exception, click on the red button at the top left of the Filters window. Save the filter when prompted.

Step 5: Create an exception

The spam filter may occasionally sort legitimate mail into your spam folder. Sometimes automated messages such as those sent by your bank or messages from a specific sender receive a spam tag. An exception makes a hole in the filter to let certain messages through, no matter what the spam score is. For example, if most messages from your friend George Blufin, gblufin@hotmail.com, are unintentionally intercepted, an exception will tell the filter to skip messages from him.

In the Match section of the Filters window, click on New.
Select the Incoming and Manual check boxes.
In the Header: text box, click on the arrow to open the pull-down menu. Select From:
Leave the next text box at the default contains setting.
In the text box to the right of contains, type the e-mail address of the sender whose mail you want to receive (for example, gblufin@hotmail.com).
Leave the next text box at the default ignore setting.
Leave the second Header: section blank.

In the Actions section of the Filters window, open the pull-down menu in the first None text box.
Select Skip Rest from the pull-down menu. This instructs the filter to ignore e-mail from the specified address.
The filter you just created has not been saved yet and is called Untitled. From the list of filters to the left of the Filters window, click on Untitled. Hold down the mouse button, and drag the filter from the bottom of the list to the position just above your spam filter (<<Any Header>>level *****).
Release the mouse button. Untitled will rename itself as the e-mail address you entered.
Click on the red button at the top left of the Filters window. Save the filter when prompted.

Step 6: Filter existing spam out of your inbox

Click on any message in your inbox.
Press Command-A (hold down the Command and A keys on your keyboard at the same time) to select all messages.
Open the Special menu at the top of your screen and select Filter Messages.
When the filtering process has finished, open the Mailbox menu at the top of your screen and select Spam. Remember to check for legitimate mail before you delete the contents of the folder.
You will not need to repeat this step. Once you set up filters, Eudora will sort all incoming mail.

Questions

If you have any further questions or encounter problems while attempting to set up your spam filter, send an e-mail message to ecehelp@ece.ucsd.edu