This section explains how we scan and filter your incoming mail to block spam and viruses. You can control some of the settings used.
We use a number of different filters to detect and reject spam.
If the spam filter is blocking legitimate messages from one of your correspondents, but you don't wish to turn off the spam filter entirely, you can create a special forwarding address just for that person.
You can take a number of steps to minimize the amount of spam you receive.
We recommend using a free service such as SpamCop to report spam. This topic explains how to do that and describes the "full headers" needed to report spam.
Advance fee fraud spam (often called "Nigerian widow" or "419" spam), stock scams, and lottery scams are the most difficult types of e-mail for a filter to block.
All incoming e-mail for your account is checked for viruses, with virus patterns updated hourly.
If you use a forwarding alias to direct mail to a POP mailbox, the spam filter setting of the the forwarding alias is used when mail arrives for that address, and the POP mailbox spam filter setting is ignored.
We use a content-based scanner called SpamAssassin to allow advanced users to create additional anti-spam mail rules.
If spammers "forge" your address in mail they send, you might receive erroneous "bounce" messages.
Occasionally you might receive a warning claiming you sent a virus. If this happens, the virus was almost certainly sent by someone else with an infected computer, not by you or us.