Unwanted Email FAQs

Unwanted email is defined as any mail that is sent to your inbox that you do not want to see. This is mostly perceived as spam, junk mail, subscription mail, or mail from blocked senders.

The Spam Filter is operated by Information Technology, and you do not have to modify settings for it to work (however, if the need be, you can add safe senders to the Spam Filter). The Junk Email folder, however, is used in Microsoft Outlook and BUmail Web. You can set up the junk email folder to work however you want. For more information, please visit our Junk Email page.

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If you have received spam, you will receive an email digest similar to the image below. These digests list all of your messages that have been quarantined because they are thought to be spam. Through the digest, you can verify that the mail quarantined is spam and allows for the release of any non-spam email.

The legal definition of spam is still being debated in the courts, but as a rule of thumb, spam is any unwanted, unsolicited, electronic correspondence.

Information Technology has implemented systems to filter incoming campus email. All email, sent to campus, will first be scanned for viruses and then given a spam rating ranging from 0 to 100. Any message receiving a spam rating of 0 - 59 will be delivered normally. If the message receives a rating from 60 - 100, the message is determined to be spam and will be quarantined. Information Technology has taken steps to ensure most of your legitimate mail will be delivered properly, but it may not detect all spam. It is impossible for Information Technology to guarantee the system will quarantine all of the spam all of the time. If you are consistently receiving unwanted mail from senders, you can add them to your  Junk Mail folder.

Each day that you receive spam, you will receive a quarantine digest at 7 am.

If you have kept a previous Quarantine Digest, you can request a new digest message by clicking the "Request New Quarantine Digest" link, located near the top right of the message.

If you do not have a copy of the Quarantine Digest in your inbox or trash, you may call the Help Desk (940-4357) and they will be able to send you a new Quarantine Digest.

To release a quarantined email, open the Quarantine Digest and click "Release" to the left of the message needing to be released. Click "Yes" to the security alert, if one pops up. The system should then return a message stating that the email had been released, and the message should soon appear in your inbox.

It is possible for a valid non-spam email to be mistaken for spam and be quarantined. In this case, you would need to open the Quarantine Digest, and then add the message to your Safe Senders List, by clicking the "Safelist" option to the left of the non-spam email. Click "Yes" to the security alert, if one pops up. Adding a sender to the Safe Senders List then allows future messages from that sender to be delivered to your inbox.

Before you can remove a sender from the Safe Senders list, you will need to click the "Manage Safe/Blocked Senders List" link in the top right corner of the digest. You may have to click "Yes" to the security alert, if one pops up. Locate and check mark the message(s) you wish to delete from the Safe Senders list. Then click the "Delete" button. You will be prompted to click "Yes" to verify the deletion request.

It is possible for spam email to be delivered to your email account by mistake. In this case, you would need to open the Quarantine Digest, and then click the "Manage Safe/Blocked Senders List" link in the top right corner of the digest. You may have to click "Yes" to the security alert, if one pops up. Select the Blocked Senders list from selections on the left and then click "New." Then type in the address to be blocked and then click "Save" to add an entry. Once you have added all the addresses you wish to block, click "Close."

To remove a sender from the Blocked Senders list, you would need to open the Quarantine Digest, and then click the "Manage Safe/Blocked Senders List" link in the top right corner of the digest. You may have to click "Yes" to the security alert, if one pops up. Select the Blocked Senders list from selections on the left. Then from the address listing, check to the left of the message(s) you wish to delete. Then click the "Delete" button. You will be prompted to click "Yes" to verify the deletion request.