When email is sent to you, it travels across the Internet to your Mail Server (POP Server). Your email program (such as Outlook, Eudora, Outlook Express, etc.) connects to this Mail Server and downloads your email.
Once you subscribe to Spam Arrest, Spam Arrest logs into your existing mail server and moves all the email to Spam Arrest’s servers every two to five (2 to 5) minutes. Your email program is reconfigured to download your email from the Spam Arrest Mail Servers, after it is filtered based on the Challenge-Response verification process. Your email program downloads only the approved emails, while the spam is stored in your Unverified Folder on our web site for 7 days until it is automatically deleted. Please read more about our Email Filtering information.
Once you subscribe to Spam Arrest, Spam Arrest logs into your existing mail server and moves all the email to Spam Arrest’s servers every two to five (2 to 5) minutes. Your email program is reconfigured to download your email from the Spam Arrest Mail Servers, after it is filtered based on the Challenge-Response verification process. Your email program downloads only the approved emails, while the spam is stored in your Unverified Folder on our web site for 7 days until it is automatically deleted. Please read more about our Email Filtering information.
Challenge-Response is a three-step process that keeps the spam out of your Inbox.
1. An email is sent to you, which the Spam Arrest system receives.
2. If the email is from an ‘approved’ sender, the email is routed directly into your Inbox.
3. If the email is not from an approved sender, the sender is then sent a ‘challenge’ message explaining your decision to subscribe to the Spam Arrest service, and the steps necessary for them to authorize themselves so they can become one of your approved senders. Senders only have to authorize themselves once, and their email will automatically be routed directly to your Inbox from then on.
Automated spammers don’t respond to the challenge-response system, so their email expires after 7 days in your Unverified Folder. You can personally review your Unverified Folder should you choose, but this is not a requirement for the successful elimination of spam from your Inbox.
1. An email is sent to you, which the Spam Arrest system receives.
2. If the email is from an ‘approved’ sender, the email is routed directly into your Inbox.
3. If the email is not from an approved sender, the sender is then sent a ‘challenge’ message explaining your decision to subscribe to the Spam Arrest service, and the steps necessary for them to authorize themselves so they can become one of your approved senders. Senders only have to authorize themselves once, and their email will automatically be routed directly to your Inbox from then on.
Automated spammers don’t respond to the challenge-response system, so their email expires after 7 days in your Unverified Folder. You can personally review your Unverified Folder should you choose, but this is not a requirement for the successful elimination of spam from your Inbox.
The INBOX is the receiving end of your mailbox – it’s where all your email comes “in”. Your Spam Arrest Inbox can be located by logging in and clicking on the folder labeled ‘INBOX’ on the left side of the web page. This allows you to access your approved (spam-free) email anywhere you can access the Internet.
Approved Senders are email addresses you’ve either personally authorized or which have successfully verified themselves via Spam Arrest’s Challenge-Response process. Once a Sender has been approved, you will receive his or her email directly to your Inbox with no further verification necessary.
The Unverified Folder provides the Spam Arrest user a place to review email that hasn’t yet been authorized by either the sender or the Spam Arrest user. Generally, we recommend that users review their Unverified Folder when they’re expecting email from an automated sender such as Amazon.com, or any other large retailers that are unlikely to complete the Challenge-Response process. Unverified email that is 7 days or older is automatically purged from your Unverified Folder, so users don’t need to personally delete unverified email unless they choose to do so.
An Email Program is software such as Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora, which allow users to access their email without utilizing a web-mail interface (i.e. without having to login to an Internet account in order to check their email). Email Programs provide another way of viewing and using email, and Spam Arrest works seamlessly with most Email Programs.
Subscribers to the Spam Arrest service can sync their External Email Programs to access messages from their Spam Arrest Inbox. The web-site Inbox and your External Email Program provide access to the same Inbox, and Spam Arrest subscribers can choose to access their email via either method. However, deleting a message after viewing on the web site Inbox will prevent your External Email Program from downloading the message, and most External Email Programs automatically delete messages from the web site Inbox once they’ve been downloaded into the External Email Program. Some people choose to configure their email programs to use “leave-on-server” to cancel the immediate deletion of messages from their web site Inbox. Please contact a customer service representative via email or Spam Arrest’s Live Support should you have questions regarding reconfiguring your External Email Program.You may find it simpler to just use the inbox to access your new email on the web-site.
Subscribers to Spam Arrest find that Spam Arrest does its job with a minimum of time and management on their part. People sending you email respond to the Spam Arrest “challenge-response” messages, enabling themselves to send you email, while larger automated message senders (such as Amazon.com sending you receipts for online orders) can be authorized in advance. Just view your Inbox using the web site or your Email Program, and let Spam Arrest do the rest.
Because most spammers never send spam from the same email address twice, this makes having to personally manage and block spam from your Unverified Folder unnecessary, unless you choose to do so. Any unverified messages older than 7 days old are automatically deleted, so you don’t even have to look at the spam again. But because it can be useful to block a legitimate business or personal contact address, Spam Arrest includes the “Block Sender” option.
Before subscribing to Spam Arrest, you accessed your email directly from your ISP using an External Email Program or your ISP’s web-mail system. During the Spam Arrest sign-up process, you’ll provide ISP and email protocol information that will allow Spam Arrest to provide spam protection services for you (don’t worry if you don’t understand what ISP and email protocol information means – our customer service representatives are happy to help you through the process). From this point on, your email will be routed through the Spam Arrest mail server, and you can access your email either through your Inbox folder on the Spam Arrest web site or through an External Email Program of your choosing.
