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Tired of receiving unwanted messages in your email box? The Stargate Spam Filter is the most effective way to reduce them!
 What is spam?
What is the spam filter?
How does it work?
What happens if the spam filter catches an email I want to read?
How do I sign-up for spam filter service?
What is spam?
Whether it claims to reduce your debt, refinance your home mortgage or improve your love life, spam is annoying.
No, not the edible pork stuff from HormelŪ; the millions of intrusive junk e-mail messages that flood mailboxes around the world each day and are a growing problem for Internet users everywhere.
To spam is to flood the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products and get-rich-quick schemes. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.
Spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. Spam lists are often created by stealing Internet mailing lists or searching the Web for addresses. Spam typically costs users money out-of-pocket to receive. Many people - anyone with measured phone service - read or receive their mail while the meter is running, so to speak. Spam costs them additional money. On top of that, it costs money for ISPs and online services to transmit spam, and these costs are transmitted directly to subscribers.
Wondering how junk e-mail got its meaty nickname? An old Monty Python skit archive sets the stage for the comedy behind the name.
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What is the Stargate Spam Filter?
Because e-mail systems are spread out all around the world, spam is more difficult to regulate than other intrusive tactics like telemarketing or direct mail. In response to this growing challenge, Stargate has developed the spam filter as a solution that greatly minimizes the amount of junk email received. In fact, our lab tests have proven the new Stargate Spam Filter to be over 95% effective in preventing these annoying spam messages from reaching your mailbox.
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How does it work?
The Stargate Spam Filter traps junk email as it arrives so your inbox doesn't overflow with messages you don't want to see. The service detects junk email based on a heuristic pattern matching methodology.
Keywords, phrases and other attributes of known junk email messages are assigned a point value. We look for everything from messages that claim they comply with senate bills protecting spammers rights to the presence of explicit subjects. Depending on the different combination of these thousands of attributes present in any given message, the Stargate Spam Filter decides with a high degree of accuracy those it suspects to be spam and categorizes them accordingly.
Suspected spam is then automatically sidelined to a separate folder on the Stargate mail server called "Spam". You can use Stargate Webmail to view this folder. All suspected junk email messages are held for your review for 5 calendar days before they are permanently deleted.
Stargate Webmail is also used to control your filterīs sensitivity, create custom block lists and custom allow lists.
More detailed information on how spam filter works is also available.
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What happens if the spam filter catches an email I want to read?
The spam filter sensitivity control allows you to select from 5 levels of sensitivity to meet your individual needs to ensure filtering of only those messages you donīt want to see. Additionally, you can set subject notification, configure reports, and disable HTMl display of suspected spam messages.
Stargate Webmail includes these controls for filtering sensitivity.
You can also create customized "allow" and "block" lists to include individual email address or domain names to even further define the filtering settings for your inbox.
Stargate Webmail includes these controls for access lists.
Messages that do get moved to your "Spam" folder are stored as suspected spam for seven days before deleting it, so you should never lose any legitimate messages. If a legitimate email is mistakenly captured as spam, just go to your spam folder in Stargate Webmail and move the message to your inbox. Stargate makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of spam filtering, however, it cannot be guaranteed. Please check your "Spam" folder at least once a week using Stargate Webmail to ensure you are not losing any important messages. Messages in the "Spam" folder will be expired and deleted permanently after 5 calendar days. Use your spam filter controls to create the filtering settings that work best for you!
Once permanently deleted, messages cannot ever be retrieved. Under no circumstances will Stargate accept responsibility for incorrectly filtered messages. This process is in place so mailboxes do not exceed quota in the event that the "Spam" folder goes unchecked. Suspected spam counts toward the total quota for each mailbox (regularly 5 megabytes unless additional capacity has been purchased) and would cause all mail to be rejected if it became full.
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How do I subscribe to spam filter service?
Stargate Spam Filter is FREE with all Family SmartPak, Family SafePak, and Starguardian access products from Stargate. Customers with other Stargate products can purchase the Stargate Spam Filter add-on for an additional $1.00/month per e-mail box.
The Stargate Spam Filter service can be enabled and disabled "on the fly" through the myStargate spam filter control center (above).
If you are currently a Stargate customer, you can subscribe right now! Here's how!
1) Log on to myStargate with your Stargate email address and password
2) Click Services > Service Settings > Spam Filter from the main menu across the top.
3) Follow the easy instructions on the Spam Filter Control Center to purchase and activate your filter today!
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