- What is SpamGuard? What is VirusGuard?
SpamGuard and VirusGuard are the names we use to describe our different features to protect your email from Spam and Viruses. They are generic names that we apply to whatever technology we deploy to manage that particular risk.
- What is this summary email in my inbox? Why does it get sent to me almost every day?
This email is an automatically generated email that gives you a snapshot of your current quarantine. Your quarantine is scanned daily, and if there is new mail in your quarantine, you will have a summary generated. When you receive your daily summary the emails contained therein are those received that day. The reason for this frequency of email is that many people receive a signifcant quantity of spam and without daily updates, the list becomes unreasonable.
If you want to change the delivery frequency of these emails, you can do so by clicking on the link in the summary email. It takes you to your quarantine, where you click on "Manage Spam Settings" and then click on your prefered delivery frequency from the drop-down list. You have the option to change the delivery frequency to every 2 days, 3 days, etc., up to once every 6 days. You may also select "never" if you wish to discontinue receiving the quarantine email.
- How do I “delete all” spam in my quarantine? Do I have to delete them one at a time?
This is something you do not need to do. Execulink will automatically purge email from your quarantine after 7 days. If, however, you wish to remove the spam from your quarantine, you can use one of the following methods.
Method One:
1. Within the quarantine email we send to you, simply click on the link provided or paste the link into your web browser.
2. Doing #1 above takes you to your quarantine. At the very bottom of your quarantined emails is a button called "Delete Entire Quarantine".
3. Click on the "Delete Entire Quarantine" button. Doing so immediately deletes all emails from your quarantine.
Method Two:
1. Use the web based method to view your quarantine (via Member Services).
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the list of quarantined emails.
3. Click the "Delete Entire Quarantine" button at the bottom of the page.
Method Three:
1. Log into webmail.
2. Select your 'spamguardplus' folder (if you do not see this folder, please see below).
3. If the quarantined messages span more than one page, you may need to click "Show All" at the top. (Caution! This may result in a very large list of emails!)
3. Click the link which says "Toggle All" and then choose "Delete" to remove all messages in your quarantine.
Creating a 'spamguardplus' Folder:
1. Select the "Folders" link at the top of your webmail page.
2. Under "Unsubscribe/Subscribe" choose 'spamguardplus' and click "Subscribe".
- It appears that I am getting more spam now than I was before. Is that possible?
Spam filters rely on a complex formula to detect spam. They all use a different approach to maximize the chances that they are able to detect spam. Some spam will be easily detected on one system, and less likely detected by another. Unfortunately, this means that you might perceive an increase in spam. These systems are continuously changing to reflect the activities of the spammers, and thus over time you should notice a change in the amount of spam that is reaching your inbox. If you are seeing spam but you are not seeing anything in your quarantine, then please contact a Technical Support agent
(1-877-393-2854), as there might be an issue with your account.
- How long does spam mail stay in my quarantine?
We allow for 7 days of retention for spam. The quarantine is there to allow you to review the messages that our automated systems believe to be spam.
- Is my old quarantine still accessible? Why isn't any new Spam showing up in it?
On March 31, we removed all of the former quarantines.
- Where are the different places I can access my spam from? (ie. From link in email, member services, webmail, etc.)
You can access your quarantine through one of 3 current places.
1. From the regular quarantine summary email you will be receiving.
2. From the links provided on the Member Services site.
3. From webmail by subscribing the the spamguardplus folder.
- I'm not sure if this message is spam or not, I'd like to see some more of the message before I decide to add it to my Approved Senders List, or or deliver it.
We are investigating ways of making this easy to accomplish. Right now, we recommend one of two ways of doing this:
1. Use webmail. If the spamguardplus folder is not available to you in webmail, you can select the Folders Link from the menu bar, and either "Subscribe" or "Add folder" (the spamguardplus folder).
2. If you suspect the message should be whitelisted, just deliver it, and view it in your normal client. You can manually maintain your whitelist/blacklist through your Member Services link.
- I’ve received a message that says [VirusGuard] on the subject, what does this mean?
When VirusGuard detects a virus, it removes the virus and replaces the virus with an attachment that describes what was found. There are also situations where the anti-virus software can’t determine if the attachment is a virus or not (encrypted attachments) in which case, it will tag the subject as [VirusGuard] and insert a text attachment prior to the real attachment indicating that it suspect.
What does this mean? What should I do?
These messages are suspect. Please exercise extreme caution with these types of emails. It is recommended that you contact the sender of the email to confirm that the contents of the attachment are virus-free.
- I see messages with [SpamGuard: ] delivered into my inbox. Why is that?
This will happen for one of three reasons.
1. Someone has sent you an email with this tag in the subject. Nothing uses the subject to determine what is spam or not. It is there to give you a visual clue.
2. You have mail that has been delivered from your quarantine.
3. The probability that the message was indeed spam, was borderline. Our quarantine is based on the probability that a message is spam. There are very few messages that have a low threshold, but some will. The [SpamGuard:#####] hashes represent the change that a message is spam. The more hashes, the higher the probability.
- Can I turn virus protection off with this new filtering system?
VirusGuard is handled as a separate product, and can be turned “on” or “off”. The default setting is “on”. Our Technical Support staff would be pleased to help you with this.
- What is this 'spamguardplus' folder under my inbox in webmail?
Some customers may notice that they have a folder in webmail called ‘spamguardplus’; it is not necessarily visible for everyone due to a feature in webmail where you can subscribe or unsubscribe to a folder. This folder is where your spam is quarantined, and where all of our various tools work with your quarantine.
It is very important that you do not remove this folder. The system delivers your spam to this folder, but if it does not exist, it will simply deliver the messages to your normal inbox. This eliminates the benefit you gain from having SpamGuard.
- What are these new options in Member Services?
You should see two new links in Member Services. The first is “Manage Spam Settings”. This lets you make changes to your different groups of email addresses. When you select an email address, you are then presented with a display where you can Add or Remove entries from either your Approved Senders or Blocked Senders lists.
The other option will be your ability to view your spam Quarantine. This is a page similar to the email that is sent to you. You have similar abilities on this page to remove items from your quarantine, or to deliver messages to your normal inbox. An additional enhancement to this page allows you to control the frequency of the quarantine email being delivered to you. By clicking on the "Manage Spam Settings" button on your quarantine page, you can select from a drop-down list the frequency for receiving the daily quarantine summary email. You have the option to change the delivery frequency to every 2 days, 3 days, etc., up to once every 6 days. You may also select "never" if you wish to discontinue receiving the quarantine email.
- Do I still have the ability to Approve and Block senders with this new filtering system?
Yes, please see question 13.
- I have previously blocked an email address, why am I getting email from that address again?
This should not be happening. We are taking steps to move your Approved and Blocked senders lists from the old system to the new system. If this is happening, please re-add the address to your list and let us know by contacting a Technical Support agent at 1-877-393-2854.
- I have allowed a specific email address, why am I not getting email from that address all of a sudden?
Please see question 15.
- Where are the 'Spam Filter' options I used to have to block Sexually Explicit, Get Rich Quick, Special Offers and Racially Insensitive emails?
The current solution we are moving you to does not support this type of differentiation. Over time, these features have simply become less applicable. The spam that you are seeing is crafted to bypass this type of filtering. You are not likely to have the system fail to notice the email is spam, yet pick up on the fact that it is a Get Rich Quick scheme.
Most spam is detected not based on the images that are sent, but on a collection of tests that look at everything from how the message was delivered and where it came from to what is in the message itself. The same person sending spam will send one message being sexually explict, the the next being a get rich quick scheme.
- If I have a problem or a question not listed above who do I contact?
Please contact Execulink Telecom’s Helpdesk. You can do so via email at:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, or by phone at 1-877-393-2854.
- Do I need to do anything for this service to be enabled?
No. All you need to do is take advantage of the solutions we are providing for you.
- Will I be charged more for this protection?
No. This protection is included as a free service with our email accounts.
- I have multiple email accounts but only one Member Services account. How is it possible to manage spam for each separate email account I have?
We have enhanced the system to permit individual email account holders to manage their spam, by clicking on the following link: https://account.execulink.com/services/SingleService/quarantine-single.pl. This website allows a user to login with their email address and access the quarantine and manage their spam settings.
Q. What is my password?
A. You will use the password that you log into your email with.
Q. What if I have forgotten my password?
A. If you have forgotten your password, the only way to retrieve it is to call Technical Support at 1-877-393-2854.
Q. Will I need the master account holder's password to access my Spam settings?
A. No, you will only need the email address and password for the single account you are trying to access.
Q. Can I access all of my email address from one login session?
A. No, you will need to log in separately for each address. This will allow you to control the settings for each email account separately.
- Why are more emails appearing in my quarantine than before?
Our spam filtering systems makes all mail available to you, including those emails it determines to be spam. The system puts all mail it believes to be spam in a quarantine allowing you the opportunity to determine if the quarantined emails are indeed legitimate or not.
If you are a customer who has recently been migrated to the new spam management system, you are likely to notice an increase in the number of emails in your quarantine. The previous spam filtering system automatically deleted emails that it was sure were spam, and thus they were never made available in your quarantine. We believe that allowing you to determine if your email is spam or not is a better approach, and provides our customers with an improved level of control over the email they receive.
- What does "SPQ" mean?
SPQ is an acronym for Spam Probablility Quotient - the probability that the email in question is spam. A lower percentage probability indicates a lower likelihood that the email is spam, and a higher percentage probability indicates that there is a greater likelihood that the email is spam. We present the probabilities from lowest to highest to make it easy for you to scroll quickly through the list.
