SUBJECT:

SERVICES FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC MAIL "SPAM"

Academic Computing Services/Network Operations announced the deployment of the SpamAssassin spam management service for UCSD in February 2003. While many users have already reduced the amount of "spam" (unwanted commercial email) they have to see, we want to encourage everyone to take advantage of the benefits of this effective system.

The SpamAssassin software tries to decide how likely a piece of e-mail is to be spam and assigns a "spam score" based on that decision. All mail to UCSD email addresses which passes through the central email processing machines has been marked with a "spam score". UCSD email users can then use the 'filter' capacity of their mail readers to redirect high-scoring messages into a separate folder, where they can be viewed at the reader's convenience.

Though it is not perfect, SpamAssassin can significantly reduce the amount of spam delivered to your regular inbox.

Users can choose one of the following ways to use this tool and filter spam from their inbox:

ONLINE DOCUMENTATION:

Documentation for filtering spam in eight popular email clients, as well as other information about the spam-marking process, is available at:

http://www-no.ucsd.edu/documentation/spam/

TRAINING SESSIONS:

If your department or group would like a presentation at your location, please send e-mail to no-training@ucsd.edu. Network Operations can work with you to schedule a training session tailored to meet your needs. There is no charge.

Additionally, a 30 minute presentation on Spam Management can be seen at Sharecase on March 24, 2004:

Spam - Managing it at UCSD

Presenter: EJ Watson

Want to spend less time sorting through junk mail in your e-mail inbox? Come learn how ACS/Network Operations is helping the UCSD community deal with this ongoing issue.

Focusing on Windows-based e-mail programs, we'll discuss basic and advanced methods for filtering spam into separate folders (making sorting and deleting it quick and easy) and show you how to create advanced spam filters in Eudora and Outlook.

ONE-ON-ONE ASSISTANCE:

Help with spam filtering can be obtained by sending electronic mail to userserv@ucsd.edu or by calling the ACS/Network Operations help desk Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at (858) 534-1857.

Anthony Wood Director Academic Computing Services