BULLGUARD SPAMFILTER
GUIDE
Introduction
1.1 Spam emails – annoyance and security risk
If you are a user of web-based email addresses, then you probably do not need antispam protection as that is already offered by the email service provider.
If you use an email client like Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook or Windows
Mail, you may wonder why you need a spam filter if you are already protected by
an antivirus and firewall module.
Within spam emails, there can be lots of hidden threats to you or
your computer:
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Emails containing viruses or link to hazardous websites that would
automatically download virus infected archives.
-
Spoof emails imitating banking websites where you are asked to enter your
bank/credit card account details under the false pretense that their database
needs to refresh your account details or that it has reported unauthorized access to your account and you need to re-enter your details to unlock your
account. Examples: emails from PayPal, from banks or other online
payment companies.
-
Link to so-called free security products (generally known as rogue antivirus
applications) that are actually spyware.
-
Websites with “free” applications that generally cost a great deal of money and
you need to enter your email address to be able to download them. These
websites will collect the email addresses entered on those pages for spam
databases.
1.2 Why do email addresses get swamped by spam emails?
The main issue with spam is that you don’t necessarily need to have a rampaging
virus infecting your PC and wrecking havoc or to get a hacker into your computer
to receive massive amounts of spam emails.
Here are some ways in which you can get your inbox full of those
junk emails overnight:
-
-
A friend of yours who uses an email client and has your email address stored in
it can get infected with a virus/malware that can read the address book and
send it off to a spam server.
You may have posted your email address on a website to be able to receive a
newsletter; a website where it can be picked up from (by programs that browse
a specified list of Internet websites) and sent to a spam server.
-
There are automated bots that just browse forums to harvest email addresses
that can be spammed any time they want to; it only needs to be a forum where
you may have posted a reply only once.
-
A friend of yours may have given your email address to a forum where you
need to invite other people to join in order to get full membership.
-
Some spam servers use dictionary words and known domains (like @yahoo.
com or @msn.com) to randomly spam email addresses.
-
If you made it onto a spam server emailing list, there is a high probability that
your email address will be sent to other servers as well, because it is a known
fact that spammers exchange email address lists.
The fact is that there are countless ways in which you can receive spam emails and,
unfortunately, it does not always depend on you not to get spammed. Best practices
are still recommended as you will be less exposed to receiving spams.
1.3 Best practices to reduce the spam amount you risk
getting in your email inbox:
-
Some people create a sacrifice email address they use when registering on
some websites, forums, blogs until they are certain that they will not get
spammed and then they can switch to they regular email address if the website
proves trustworthy.
-
Never provide your email address to untrustworthy sites/forums/blogs
or persons.
-
Try not to use your email address in signatures for posting on forums or blogs
that are not secured by a login procedure.
-
Always have a spamfilter on your computer (besides the one your email service
provider has).
-
Banks, PayPal or similar organizations will never ask you to provide them
with your email address or personal account details via emails or other online
means.
1.4 What is the role of an anti-spam application?
-
Spamfilters are applications designed only for email clients (applications that
are used to retrieve the emails from a server directly to the user’s computer).
This is why anti-spam applications will not work with web-based emails
(email accounts that are accessed through an Internet browser like Hotmail,
Gmail, Yahoo mail etc).
-
The spamfilter will reduce the spam emails that end up in your inbox by
redirecting the spams to a designated spam folder. Note that the spamfilters
will not delete the email, but only redirect them to a specified folder.
-
The main purpose is to keep your inbox as clean as possible.
1.5. How does BullGuard help you keep your inbox clean?
Characteristics and features
BullGuard’s Spamfilter consists of two modules that will help you
getting rid of spam emails:
-
The local component is the Spamfilter client installed on the user’s computer
that will interact with the user’s email client. When receiving emails, it will
send the spams to a designated spam folder. It will allow you to mark emails
as spams and it will allow you to mark them as legitimate spam (for false
positive cases in which emails that you need have been taken as spam). Also,
you can attune the Spamfilter to your email client so that it will take spam more effectively and reduce false positive cases as much as possible.
-
The remote component is the server side part of the BullGuard Spamfilter. It
consist of a server database with spam emails signatures. The main features of
the server side module:
-
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A Bayesian filter is personalized to each user and adapts automatically to
changes in spam email content. To determine the likelihood that an email is
spam, this type of filter uses Bayesian analysis to compare the words or
phrases in an email to the frequency of the same words or phrases in your
previous emails, both legitimate and spam. Bayesian filters are very powerful
and are regarded as one of the most accurate techniques for blocking spam.
It is a collaborative filter. BullGuard Spamfilter uses the collective input of
BullGuard users worldwide to build a database of spam footprints. As this
footprint database grows, it becomes increasingly sophisticated and accurate
when blocking unsolicited mail. Your input is thus a key part in ensuring that
you and other BullGuard users receive a minimum of unsolicited mail in the
future. No personal identifiable information is included in the footprint
-
The Spamfilter supports Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail
and Mozilla Thunderbird email clients. For each email client you will have a
specific toolbar added which will allow you to mark/unmark emails as spam.
Installing the BullGuard Spamfilter
2.1 Downloading and installing
1) At the download page (http://www.bullguard.com/why/bullguard-spamfilter.
aspx) click on the Download button and then choose the Save button and choose a location to save the application on your computer.
2) To download the file to the My Documents folder, just click on the My Documents button from the Save As window.
3) To download it to your Desktop, click on the desktop button and then choose to download it.
4) You will need to wait for the BullGuard application to finish downloading (until the progress bar is filled).
5) After the download is finished, you will be able to either run the installer file directly (click on the Run button) or open the folder where you downloaded the application.
6) The first step to install BullGuard is to choose the language in which to install it. Click on the drop down menu to choose your preferred language.
7) The welcome screen is next. We recommend you to close any running application to make the installer run faster and to be able to restart the computer if required without losing any unsaved documents or projects.
8) To proceed further you will need to read and accept the End User License Agreement.
9)
If you don’t want the BullGuard Spamfilter to be installed in the default location from the Program Files folder, feel free to click on the Browse button
and choose another location to your liking. Click on Next to start the
installation of the Spamfilter.
10) The progress bar will show you how much of the application has been installed
and how much remains until completed.
11) Click Finish to exit the installer and start using BullGuard’s Spamfilter.
2.2 Starting up the Spamfilter
After the installation has finished, you can start BullGuard as
follows:
a. from the red round icon on your Desktop screen
b. from the BullGuard Spamfilter folder under your Windows Start button. Click on the Start button, go to All Programs, look for the BullGuard folder and click on the BullGuard item in that folder.
2.3 Creating the free account for using the Spamfilter
When you start the Spamfilter for the first time, you will be asked to register an
account
The username for your account needs to
be in the form of an email address. We
recommend you to use your valid email
account as we will need to send you
an email to confirm your registration.
After entering your email address, click
on Register.
The next step is choosing a password
to your liking for your account. By
clicking the Finish button, an email will
be sent to your email address to confirm
the registration. With the account
created, the application will open and
you can start using the Spamfilter with
your email client.
3. Using the Spamfilter for the
first time
The account you have just created comes with a free 10 year license that will grant
you the free use of the Spamfilter and Support modules.
3.1 Short description on the Spamfilter screen
By default, BullGuard Spamfilter will start on your computer at the Windows
startup. You will see the red round icon for BullGuard in your System Tray (in the
lower right corner of your screen, near where the computer clock is located). You
can always see if BullGuard is started by checking whether you have the icon in
your System Tray.
To open BullGuard you have these possibilities:
a. double click the System Tray icon of BullGuard – it will open the BullGuard
console.
b. double click the BullGuard icon from your desktop
c. from Start menu: click the Start button, then go to the All Programs and look
for the BullGuard folder where you need to click on the BullGuard icon.
3.2 Overview of the Spamfilter window
Once you have BullGuard open, click on the Spamfilter icon in the console window.
You will see the Overview tab of the Spamfilter.
Along with customizing the Spamfilter directly from the installed application, a
very important step is to complete the Training Wizard from the chosen email
client. This is important as it will fine-tune the Spamfilter, increasing the accuracy
of detecting spam emails and of identifying legitimate emails. The Wizard should
automatically start the first time you open your email client after installing the
BullGuard Spamfilter. You can also choose to run it manually by simply clicking
the Wizard button from the Spamfilter icons that are added to your email client
toolbar. You can find specific information regarding the Wizard in the sections of
this manual dedicated to using the Spamfilter with different email clients (4.1, 4.2
and 4.3).
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Automatically whitelist addresses I write to and Automatically whitelist cc’s of trusted senders – with these two options the Spamfilter will add to the
whitelist any addresses you send emails to or the other recipients of those
emails if the main recipient is an already whitelisted address. Whitelisted
addresses will always appear in your inbox, never in your spam folder.
-
The Statistics window will show you how many emails were received all in
all, how many emails where taken as spam by BullGuard, how many emails
you manually blocked in your email client and how many emails you have
manually unblocked. You can see how effective the Spamfilter is by looking at
the Statistics results.
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Include footer in sent emails – this will put a footer in all the emails you send
through the email client. The option cannot be unchecked if you are using the
free stand alone Spamfilter version.
-
Reset Spamfilter to default – this will reset the settings to the defaults it used
when you first installed the Spamfilter.
3.3 Selecting and configuring the email client you use
from the Spamfilter console
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Open BullGuard.
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Go to the Spamfilter section and then into the Overview tab.
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Select your corresponding email client (Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook or
Mozilla Thunderbird).
A. For Outlook Express:
-
After choosing the email client, click on the Settings button to open the
settings window.
-
You can only modify the settings Add emails you Block to your blacklist and
Add emails you Unblock to your Whitelist.
-
- Add emails you Block to your blacklist when you mark an email as spam in the
email client, the address from where
the email was sent is automatically
sent to the blacklist thus making
the Spamfilter automatically mark
all emails from that address as spam
and send them to the designated
spam folder.
Add emails you Unblock to your Whitelist – in case that a valid email has
been taken as spam by BullGuard you can unblock it by going into the spam
folder, selecting the email and then pressing the button This is not spam. It will make BullGuard put that email address in the Whitelist and all emails coming from it will be automatically taken as non-spam emails.
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Prefill whitelist with addresses from my Sent folder – this option will make
BullGuard read all the addresses you have sent emails to (it will pick them up from the emails you have in the Sent folder) and will add them to the whitelist.
This will greatly reduce the false positive detection of emails as spam.
Due to the architecture of Outlook Express, you cannot modify the default
spam folder or use the key shortcuts for marking / unmarking emails as spam.
B. For Microsoft Outlook:
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After choosing the email client, click on the Settings button to access the
setting window.
-
For Microsoft Outlook you can choose the spam folder or you can create a new
one in your email client. Just click on the Add new folder button.
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Move to spam folder as read – this option will make the Spamfilter mark all
emails taken as spam as read.
- Add emails you Block to your blacklist –
when you select an email in your email
client and then press the This is spam,
the address from where the email was
sent is automatically sent to the
blacklist thus making the Spamfilter
automatically mark all emails from
that address as spam and send them to
the designated spam folder.
-
Add emails you Unblock to your whitelist – in case that a valid email has been
considered spam by BullGuard you can unblock it by going into the spam
folder, selecting the email and then pressing the button This is not spam. It will make BullGuard put that email address in the whitelist and all emails coming from it will automatically be taken as non-spam emails.
-
Prefill whitelist with addresses from my Sent folder – this option will make
BullGuard read all the addresses you have sent emails to (it will pick them up
from the emails you have in the Sent folder) and will add them to the whitelist.
This will greatly reduce the false positive detection of emails as spam.
C. For Mozilla Thunderbird
-
After choosing the email client, click on the Settings button in order to open
the settings window
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You can only modify the settings Add emails you Block to your blacklist and
Add emails you block to your Whitelist.
- Add emails you Block to your blacklist when you select an email in your email
client and then press the This is spam,
the address from where the email was
sent is automatically sent to the
blacklist thus making the Spamfilter
automatically mark all emails from
that address as pam and send them to
the designated spam folder
-
Add emails you Unblock to your Whitelist – in case that a valid email has been
considered spam by BullGuard you can unblock it by going into the spam
folder, selecting the email and then pressing the button This is not spam. It will
make BullGuard put that email address in the Whitelist and all emails coming
from it will automatically be taken as non-spam emails.
-
Prefill whitelist with addresses from my Sent folder – this option will make
BullGuard read all the addresses you have sent emails to (it will pick them up
from the emails you have in the Sent folder) and will add them to the whitelist.
This will greatly reduce the false positive detection of emails as spam
outlook express
4.1.1. Overview
•Running the Wizard – to increase the accuracy with which the
Spamfilter will pickup the spams, it is recommended that you run the
wizard. It will fine tune the Spamfilter to your email client
•To block the emails it is sufficient to select the email and then press the
Spam button
•If BullGuard picked up an email you need as spam, just go to the Deleted
Items folder (the default spam folder), look for the email and mark it as
Not spam
•You can access the Spamfilter settings directly from the email client by
clicking on the Spamfilter button
4.1.2.Running the Wizard – fine-tuning the Spamfilter
- Click on the Wizard button to start
the Outlook Express Wizard to train
the Spamfilter
- As you are using Outlook Express
an email client, you will not be able to
choose a spam folder for the Spamfilter,
thus all folders will be grayed out and
the Deleted Items folder is selected by
default.
- At the next screen, the Spamfilter
will read the recipients of the emails
you have sent that are located in the
Sent Items folder. You can choose
which addresses you want to add to the
Whitelist by ticking the checkboxes.
Those email addresses will be added
to the Whitelist making sure that the
emails from those addresses will never
be mistaken for spam by the Spamfilter.
Note that the CC’s of those emails will
also be added to the Whitelist.
- Next, you will need to select the
folders that contain only valid emails
that are not spam. Select those folders
and click on the Next button to move
on. Note that the email addresses in
those folders will be automatically
added to the Whitelist.
- At the next step, you will need to
indicate to the Spamfilter what folders
contain only spam emails so that it will
add those addresses to the Blacklist and
permanently mark those addresses as
spam email source. It is important that
you choose folders like Trash or Junk
that do not contain deleted emails from
your trusted addresses.
- The Spamfilter will now start to analyze the folders you have indicated so far
and it will add the email addresses either to the Whitelist and Blacklist accordingly.
- After the above operation is
completed, you will get the last window
from the Wizard letting you know
that you have successfully trained
your Spamfilter. You can double check
the Whitelist and Blacklist and move
addresses if necessary.
4.1.3 Marking emails as spam
To have BullGuard take the email as spam, you just need to have the email selected
and then click the Spam button.
4.1.4 Marking emails as not spam (false positive detection)
If you have found an email that BullGuard has mistaken for spam emails, select the
email and then click the Not spam button.
4.1.5 Tips & tricks
We strongly recommend that you run the Spamfilter Wizard to greatly reduce the
chance of false positive detection of emails.
- To have the recipients of your emails automatically added to the Whitelist,
be sure to have these two options checked in the Spamfilter Overview tab:
Automatically whitelist addresses I write to and Automatically whitelist CC’s of trusted
senders.
- To make sure that the emails you mark as spam are automatically sent to the
spam folder next time you receive them, check the option Add emails you block to
the Blacklist from the Settings window you have in BullGuard.
microsoft outlook
4.2.1. Overview
- To fine-tune the Spamfilter to your email client, click on the
Wizard button
- To select an email as spam, press This is spam (key shortcut: Shift+Alt+P)
- To unmark an email taken as spam, press This is not spam (key shortcut:
Shift+Alt+M)
- To access the Spamfilter options from the email client click on Open BullGuard
Spamfilter
4.2.2. Running the Wizard – fine-tuning the Spamfilter
- click on the Wizard button to start the Microsoft Outlook Wizard to train the
Spamfilter
- Click the Next button to go to the
first step of the Wizard where you need
to designate a spam folder whereto the
Spamfilter will redirect all the spam
emails you may receive. To add a new
folder, select the location where you
would like the new folder placed, and
then click on the New folder button
and name the folder to your liking.
Press Next to jump to the following
step.
- At the next screen, the Spamfilter
will read the recipients of the emails
you have sent so far and that are located in the Sent Items folder. Those email
addresses are added to the Whitelist,
making sure the emails from those addresses will never be mistaken for spam
by the Spamfilter. Note that the CC’s of
those emails will also be added to the
Whitelist.
- Next you will need to select the folders that contain only valid emails that
are not spam. Select those folders and
click on the Next button to move on.
Note that the email addresses contained
in those folders will be automatically
added to the Whitelist.
- At the next step, you will need to
indicate to the Spamfilter what folders
contain only spam emails so that it will
add those addresses to the Blacklist and
permanently mark those addresses as a
spam email source.
- The Spamfilter will now start to analyze the folders you have indicated so
far and it will add the email addresses
either to the Whitelist and Blacklist
accordingly.
- After the above operation is completed, you will get the last window
from the Wizard letting you know that
you have successfully trained your
Spamfilter. You can double check the
Whitelist and Blacklist and move addresses if necessary.
4.2.3. Marking emails as spam
To have BullGuard take the email as
spam, you just need to have the email
selected and then click the This is
spam button.
4.2.4. Marking emails as not spam
If you have found an email that BullGuard has mistaken for a spam, select the
email and then click on the This is not spam button.
4.2.5. Fast access to the Spamfilter settings
Click on the Open BullGuard Spamfilter button and conduct changes within the
Spamfilter settings for the Microsoft Outlook email client.
4.2.6. Tips & tricks
- You can mark / unmark multiple emails as spam at once. You just need to select those emails and then click on the two buttons accordingly.
- with Shift+left mouse click for multiple emails in a row
- by keeping the CTRL key pressed and selecting different emails for multiple emails that are not in a row
- We strongly recommend that you run the Spamfilter Wizard to greatly reduce the chance of false positive detection of emails.
To have the recipients of your emails automatically added to the Whitelist, be sure to have these two options checked in the Spamfilter Overview tab: Auto
matically whitelist addresses I write to and Automatically whitelist CC’s of trusted senders.
- To make sure that the emails you mark as spam get sent automatically to the spam folder next time you receive them, check the option Add emails you block to the Blacklist from the Settings window you have in BullGuard.
4.3Mozilla Thunderbird
4.3.1. Overview
- Open the Spamfilter and go to the
Overview tab in order to choose the
Mozilla Thunderbird client to use with
the Spamfilter. In the Overview tab,
click on the email client drop down
menu and select the Mozilla Thunderbird option.
- Pressing the Settings button will allow you to configure the Spamfilter for your
email client to your liking.
- When you open the Mozilla Thunderbird email client for the first time after installing the Spamfilter, the Training Wizard will launch automatically to adjust the
Spamfilter to your email client. Should you choose to skip that step, you can run
the Training Wizard at a later moment directly from the email client.
4.3.2. Running the Wizard – fine-tuning the Spamfilter
Click on the Wizard button to start the Mozilla Thunderbird Wizard to train the
Spamfilter
- Click the Next button to go to the
first step of the Wizard where you need
to designate a spam folder whereto the
Spamfilter will redirect all the spam
emails you may receive. To add a new
folder, select the location where you
would like the new folder placed, and
then click on the New folder button
and name the folder to your liking.
Press Next to jump to the following
step.
- At the next screen, the Spamfilter
will read the recipients of the emails
you have sent so far that are located
in the Sent Items folder. Those email
addresses will be added to the Whitelist
making sure the emails from those addresses will never be mistaken for spam
by the Spamfilter. Note that the CC’s of
those emails will also be added to the
Whitelist.
- Next, you will need to select the folders that contain only good emails that
are not spam. Select those folders and
click on the Next button to move on.
Note that the email addresses contained
in those folders will be automatically
added to the Whitelist.
- At the next step, you will need to indicate to the Spamfilter what folders contain
only spam emails so that it will add those addresses to the Blacklist and permanently mark those addresses as a source for spam emails. It is important that you
choose folders like Trash or Junk that do not contain deleted emails from your
trusted addresses.
- The Spamfilter will now start to analyze the folders you have indicated so far and
it will add the email addresses either to the Whitelist and Blacklist accordingly.
- After the above operation is completed, you will get the last window
from the Wizard letting you know that
you have successfully trained your
Spamfilter. You can double check the
Whitelist and Blacklist and move addresses if necessary.
4.3.3. Marking emails as spam
To have BullGuard take the email as
spam, you just need to have the email
selected and then click the Spam button. You can also select multiple emails
and mark all of them as spam.
4.3.4. Marking emails as not spam (false positive detection)
If you have found an email that BullGuard has mistaken for a spam, select the
email and then click the Not Spam button.
4.3.5. For fast access to the Spamfilter settings
Click the Spamfilter button and conduct changes in the Spamfilter settings for the
Windows Mail email client.
5 Using the Whitelist
The Whitelist will allow you to tell the Spamfilter which emails are coming from
safe senders.
5.1 Add email addresses to the Whitelist
By adding emails to the Whitelist, you will exclude the emails from those addresses
from the Spamfilter check. It is recommended to add addresses to avoid false positive detection and to be sure that you will always receive those emails.
To add the email, just click on the “+” button from the Whitelisted e-mail addresses column and then write the email address and press the OK button.
To remove it, select the email address and click on the “-“ button to have it removed
from the list.
5.2 Add domains to the Whitelist
By adding an entire domain to the Whitelist, you will exclude all email address
from that domain from the Spamfilter check.
To add a domain to the list, click on the “+” button from the Whitelisted Domains
column, enter the domain name and click on the OK button.
To remove it, select the domain and click on the “-“ button.
6. Using the blacklist
This will tell the Spamfilter which emails should always be redirected to the spam
folder as they are coming from known spam sources.
6.1 Add email addresses to the Blacklist
By adding an email to the Blacklist, the Spamfilter will always redirect those emails
to the spam folder without any other check.
To add the email, just click on the “+” button from the Blacklisted e-mail addresses column and then write the email address and press the OK button.
Select the email address and click on the “-“ button to have it removed from the list.
6.2 Add domains to the Blacklist
By adding a domain to the Blacklist, all e-mails coming from that domain will be
automatically sent to the spam folder without any other check
To add a domain to the list, click on the “+” button from the Blacklisted Domains
column, enter the domain name and click on the OK button.
Select the domain and click on the “-“ button in order to remove the domain.
7.Accessing support resources
for the BullGuard Spamfilter
7.1 . Accessing t he support available t hrough t he
application
To access the Support module, open BullGuard, go to the Support section. You will
first need to fill in some details such as name, email address and a signature – you
can do that by going directly to the Settings tab. We recommend you to enter a
valid email address and your name to ease the communication between you and our
Support Team.
After completing the above, go back to the Overview tab and click on the New
Question button. You will have the option to choose the communication means
with our Support Team: either chat or email.
- Write an email – it will send an email directly to our Support Team and the BullGuard Supporters will make sure you receive a reply within the hour.
- Start a chat – this will initialize a chat sessions with any of the BullGuard Supporters so you will have live assis-
tance.
- Continue an old conversation – it will take you to the Message Center tab where you can pick up any previous conversations with our Support Team.
7.2. Accessing the Support Team through the BullGuard website
You can contact the Support team by going directly to the http://www.bullguard.
com/support.aspx page. You can either request for chat sessions live with the Support Team or send us an email.
If you contact us regarding any issue concerning the Spamfilter, we would need the
following information to speed up the entire process:
-the Windows version you currently use
-the Windows system language
-the BullGuard version (if applicable) and language
-what other security applications you have installed on your computer
-the email client you currently use
-type of email account (POP3, IMAP etc)
- type of internet connection
www.bullguard.com/support
BullGuard specialises in best-of-breed security solutions for home users and small businesses,
emphasising technical excellence, ease-of-use and customer care. BullGuard is a Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner with competencies in Security Solutions and ISV Software Solutions.
www.bullguard.com