Frequently Asked Questions About the Junk Mail Analyzer

In the world of e-mail, junk mail is the equivalent of the unwanted houseguest, showing up frequently when least welcome. It clogs your inbox, eats up your valuable time, and generally is a pesky nuisance.

Although there is no way to completely eliminate unwanted e-mail (also referred to as spam or bulk mail), you can use the Junk Mail Analyzer the Office of Information Technology offers to help identify junk mail. By visiting a Web page, you can activate a tool to help you manage the junk mail directed to your address.

What does the Junk Mail Analyzer do?

Who can use the Junk Mail Analyzer?

What's my first step?

How can I get even more protection from junk mail?

Is there even more I can do to automate the processing of the junk mail I receive?

What determines what mail is marked?

Why can't the university just eliminate all unwanted e-mails before they even get to my inbox?

Will the Junk Mail Analyzer mark all the unwanted mail directed to me?

Will "legitimate" mail to me ever get tagged as junk mail?

Where can I learn more about the Junk Mail Analyzer?

Is there an address to which I can send suggestions/questions about the Junk Mail Analyzer?

I have more questions! How can I talk to a person about the Junk Mail Analyzer?

What does the Junk Mail Analyzer do?

• At the most basic level, the Junk Mail Analyzer runs several tests on incoming e-mail before it even reaches your inbox. If an e-mail message receives a high score, the analyzer will tag it in the subject line with a label you set; the standard setting is [Junk Mail]. The tag lets you know it's probably junk mail and then you can choose to delete it.

Who can use the Junk Mail Analyzer?

• Right now, the analyzer tool is available to anyone who receives mail at the addresses: @umd.edu, @wam.umd.edu, and @glue.umd.edu. You can also use it if mail to accmail, deans, umail, umd5 or other accounts is forwarding to your @umd.edu address. A prerequisite to using the system is that you have gone through the ID consolidation process. : To go through the ID consolidation process, call the Help Desk at 301.405.1500.

What's my first step?

• Log in to https://www.oit.umd.edu/email/junkmail/login.cfm with your directory ID and password. Click on the "SCORE MY MAIL" button. Once you select this option, your mail will be analyzed to tag junk mail. The default settings for the Junk Mail Analyzer will be used. Monitor your e-mail for one week to see how the analyzer works. If you'd like additional layers of protection from junk mail, see the next question.

How can I get even more protection from junk mail?

• Now that you've activated the mail scoring mechanism, you may find you'd like to do more to control what mail is labeled and not labeled by the Junk Mail Analyzer. You can go to the second level of protection, server-side analysis. What you can do at this stage is customize your settings to fit your needs. For example, let's say you get persistent e-mails from one particular bulk e-mailer. You can add that e-mail address to your settings so that anything you receive from that address is automatically tagged with the label you choose. (Click here for more information on setting options: http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/4/4392/)

Is there even more I can do to automate the processing of the junk mail I receive?

• If you'd like even more help with junk mail, you can go to the third level of protection, client-side filtering. Here, you use your e-mail client (e.g. Outlook Express, Netscape) and set up folders where your junk mail can be rerouted. From there, it's simple to scan your junk mail folder to make sure there are no e-mails you actually want and then delete the unwanted contents.

What determines what mail is marked?

• Rules built into the product and the configuration settings each user chooses determines what gets marked. The rules are adjusted on an ongoing basis to improve accuracy.

Why can't the university just eliminate all unwanted e-mails before they even get to my inbox?

• The system does scan e-mail messages as they come into the network, before they reach your inbox. E-mail sent from known bulk e-mail addresses is refused. However, because these addresses are constantly changing and we don't want to accidentally delete wanted messages, we offer the next best thing: tools that make it easier for you to manage junk mail, determine what is unwanted, and get rid of it.

Will the Junk Mail Analyzer mark all the unwanted mail directed to me?

• It is not likely that the Junk Mail Analyzer will catch all your unwanted mail.

• During times when server loads are unusually high, some mail may be passed through the system to you without being analyzed. Timely delivery of mail has been set as a higher priority than analyzing/marking all mail.

• At this time, the Junk Mail Analyzer will not work with mailing lists like majordomo, listserv, or reflectors (except as noted at http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/4/4401/). We understand the need to address this, and are working on a solution.

Will "legitimate" mail to me ever get tagged as junk mail?

• It is possible, therefore, we recommend against setting up your system to automatically delete the mail marked by the analyzer. And you should not just empty your junk mail folder(s) without a quick scan of the messages. We welcome reports of messages that have been inappropriately identified as junk mail. Analysis of these "false positives" will be conducted on an ongoing basis and the analysis will be incorporated in improvements to the scoring system. Reports of false positives should be sent, with full headers of the message, to: junkmail-feedback@umd.edu.

Where can I learn more about the Junk Mail Analyzer?

• OIT maintains a listserv list to publish system announcements for the Junk Mail Analyzer. That list is called: junk-mail-analyzer@umd.edu. To subscribe, enter your e-mail address on the page http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/4/4383/ and click the "Sign Up" button.

Is there an address to which I can send suggestions/questions about the Junk Mail Analyzer?

• junkmail-feedback@umd.edu is the address.

I have more questions! How can I talk to a person about the Junk Mail Analyzer?

• Call the Help Desk at (301) 405-1500. Our trained staff will be happy to assist you.