Using MessageScreen to Manage Quarantined Messages

In the ongoing war against unsolicited commercial email (a.k.a. "spam"), Smith has implemented a commercial spam-blocking system called MessageScreen. The system provides improved spam detection that dramatically decreases the amount of spam in your inbox.

MessageScreen uses a set of spam-detection rules to determine which messages should be delivered to your GroupWise mailbox as usual and which are spam that should be placed in a special "quarantine area." The detection rules are continuously refined by the MessageScreen vendor, but as with any rule-based system, they may inadvertently block a message you want to receive.

To address this issue, MessageScreen lets you control the screening process. It provides a password-protected webpage that shows you a list of all the messages in your personal quarantine area, change the way individual messages are handled, and customize your quarantine settings. Click on any of the links below for instructions:

Accessing the MessageScreen webpage
Changing the status of individual messages
Adding a new sender to your "trusted senders" list
Adding a new sender to your "blocked senders" list
Customizing your quarantine settings
Understanding the message-scoring system
Ensuring that messages to Smith recipients are not blocked

It is highly likely that legitimate messages will be quarantined now and then, so we recommend that you treat your quarantine area as an extension of your mailbox and check it regularly, particularly if you are expecting an important message.


Accessing the MessageScreen Webpage

1. Open a browser window and go to: https://mscreen3.smith.edu/user
   
   
2. On the MessageScreen User Login window, enter your full GroupWise email address.
   
   Example: auser@email.smith.edu
   
   Note that the short form of your address (auser@smith.edu) will not work. This is because MessageScreen handles several different email systems at Smith, so it requires a full address to properly identify your account.
   
   
3. Enter your GroupWise password and click the Login button. The Inbound Email window will open.
   

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Changing the Status of Individual Messages

The Inbound Email window contains a list of all the messages sent to your email address that are currently quarantined by MessageScreen.

There are several icons to the left of each message. Click on the appropriate icon to:

	View a message	Opens the message in its own window so you can read it. You can also perform any of the other five actions from the View window. Note: In addition to spam, MessageScreen also quarantines many messages that contain viruses. Please do not View any message that you think may contain a virus. Infected messages are likely to be around 38-41K in size, and to have a subject like "Mail Delivery Error", "Mail Delivery Failure", or "Server Error".
	Forward a message	Brings up an email window that lets you forward the message to any email address.
	Release a message	Selects the message to be released from your quarantine area and delivered to your GroupWise mailbox when you click Commit.
	Delete a message	Selects the message to be permanently deleted from the system when you click Commit. Note that messages are deleted automatically after they have been in your quarantine area for 30 days.
	Release & trust sender	Selects the message to be released from your quarantine area and delivered to your GroupWise mailbox when you click Commit, and adds the sender to your Trusted Senders list. Note: After you click Commit, you will be asked if you want to add just that specific sender or all senders from that domain to your trusted senders list. Adding the whole domain could leave you vulnerable to spam from spoofed addresses, so we recommend selecting the specific sender.
	Delete & block sender	Selects the message to be deleted from your quarantine area when you click Commit, and adds the sender to your Blocked Senders list. Note: After you click Commit, you will be asked if you want to add just that specific sender or all senders from that domain to your blocked senders list.

• Don't forget to click the Commit button after you select one or more messages and operations.
  
  
• To perform the same operation on all messages on a page at once, locate the final row in the quarantine list, labled All. Using the icons in this row, you can specify an operation to be performed on all visible messages when you click Commit.  If you have multiple pages of messages, you may need to repeat this process more than once.
  
  
• To search for a specific message or sender, click on the Search button at the top of the quarantine list and enter your preferred search criteria in the Search window.
  
  
• When you are finished working with your quarantine list, click on the Logout link to end your session.

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Adding a New Sender to Your "Trusted Senders" List

Messages from senders in your "Trusted Sender" list will not be blocked or quarantined by MessageScreen regardless of their content.

1. In your quarantine list, locate a message from the sender you want to add to your Trusted Sender list. 
   
   Note: If you want to add a sender to your Trusted Sender list, but you don't have a message from them in your quarantine list, click here.
   
   
2. Click on the Release & trust sender icon to the left of the message, then on the Commit button at the top or bottom of your quarantine list. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. When you click Commit, the system releases the message from your quarantine area and delivers it to your GroupWise mailbox.  It also displays the Add Trusted Senders window, shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
4. In this window, you can add the specific sender email address to your list, add all senders from the senders' domain to your list, or add none to your list (the default choice). Adding a whole domain can leave you vulnerable to spam from forged addresses, so we recommend selecting the "Sender email address" option.
   
   Note: After you select the sender email address, you must click on the OK button.  If you simply close the window, your selection will not be saved.
   
   
   
   

If you don't have a message from a sender in your quarantine list, but you still want to add that sender to your Trusted Senders list:

1. Click on the Trusted Senders link on the left side of the Inbound Email window.
   
   
2. When the Trusted Senders window appears, click on the Add New Sender link at the bottom of the list.
   
   
3. Enter a specific sender address or an entire domain name, then click OK.

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Adding a New Sender to Your "Blocked Senders" List

Messages from senders in your "Blocked Sender" list will be blocked by MessageScreen regardless of their content.

If you have a message from the sender you wish to block in your quarantine list, follow the steps in the section above, replacing all references to "Trusted Senders" with "Blocked Senders".

If you do not already have a message from the sender you wish to block in your quarantine list:

1. Click on the Blocked Senders link on the left side of the page. 
   
   
2. When the Blocked Senders window appears, click on the Add New Sender link at the bottom of the list.
   
   
3. Enter a specific sender address or an entire domain name, then click OK.

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Customizing Your Quarantine Settings

To customize your quarantine settings, click on the User Settings link on the left side of the Inbound Email page.

• Under the General heading, the Enable Filtering checkbox will be checked by default.  To turn off all filtering, click on the checkbox to un-check it.
  
  If you make any changes, click on the Save button on the bottom of the page to save your settings.
  
  
• Under the Quarantine Summary Email heading, click on the setting of your choice to have MessageScreen send you a list of any new messages in your quarantine area on a regular schedule.
  
  If you make any changes, click on the Save button on the bottom of the page to save your settings.

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Understanding the Message-Scoring System

Each message is scanned and tested against thousands of rules that assign a score based on what is found. The total score is then matched against a pre-set threshold to determine whether an individual message is passed to your GroupWise mailbox, quarantined, or deleted. Currently, any message scoring over 150 points is quarantined, while anything scoring over 2500 points is deleted.

Some scam messages do not get quarantined because they do not score enough points to cross the quarantine threshold. The detection rules are constantly evolving in order to find the right balance between blocking spam while not blocking legitimate email.

Sometimes a rule is created that has an unforseen side effect. For example, a recent rule addition that looks for the drug name "Cialis" also matched with the word "specialist." This caused many legitimate emails to score more points than they should have, and caused some to be quarantined. A new rule was added to score positively for the word "specialist" in order to offset this

Please note that messages that stay within the GroupWise system are not scanned and scored by MessageScreen. So if you use GroupWise and address your message to students and colleagues using name completion or their GroupWise username only, your message will stay within the system and delivery is almost certain.

If you use a POP/IMAP client or address your message to "auser@smith.edu", the message travels outside GroupWise and will be scanned by MessageScreen.

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Ensuring that Messages to Smith Recipients are Not Blocked

You can add a special phrase to outgoing messages to Smith recipients that virtually guarantees those messages will not be blocked or quarantined by MessageScreen. This approach is especially useful if you:

• Use POP or IMAP to send outgoing email
• Use a non-Smith email account (e.g., Yahoo) to send messages to
  Smith recipients
• Routinely use the "username@smith.edu" address format for Smith
  recipients

Note: If you always use GroupWise for email and always use name completion or the full "@email.smith.edu" address for your Smith recipients, you do not need to worry about messages to Smith recipients being blocked. Messages sent this way do not pass through the MessageScreen filter, and thus will never be blocked.

You can embed either of the following phrases in outgoing messages to Smith recipients to ensure they are not blocked:

• Smith College official correspondence
• Five College official correspondence

You can put the phrase anywhere in the text of your message, or include it in your GroupWise email "signature" if you use one. If you choose the signature option, remember to always add your signature to outgoing messages.

To create an email signature in GroupWise:

1. Open the main GroupWise window.
2. Click on Tools, then Options, then double-click on the Environment icon.
3. Click on the Signature tab, then the Signature checkbox.
4. Enter your signature text, select an inclusion option, and click OK.

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Questions?

To learn more about MessageScreen functions and features, click on the Help link on the left side of the MessageScreen page.  If you have any further questions about MessageScreen, please call the User Support Center at x4487.

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