The New Panix Webmail System:

Introduction and Favorite Squirrelmail Features

Table of Contents:

• Conversion Details
• Getting Started - Your First Webmail Login
• Setting Up SpamAssassin
• The Display Preferences Screen
• The Folder Preferences Screen

If you're interested in them, here are some technical details about folder formats and other aspects of the conversion process.

Users who don't want to use the new folder format, can use a simple procmail tweak to keep their mail in mbox format.

If you do this, you will not be able to use POP. POP will work just fine if you let the conversion set up the new standard file format for you.

https://mail.panix.com/

The first time you log in, Squirrelmail will ask you for your full name and your preferred return address. This is how it will spell the "From:" line on any mail you compose in Squirrelmail.

NOTE: If you have more than one return address and want the ability to choose between them when you compose mail, you can set them up in the "Personal Information" section of your Squirrelmail Options. Look for the "Multiple Identities" heading.

After that, Squirrelmail will open up in your Inbox, and you're ready to go!

IMPORTANT: If you already have your Panix email filtered via Procmail, SpamAssassin may already be activated in your Procmail settings. If that's the case, or if you're not sure if you're using Procmail, please check this page before setting up SpamAssassin in webmail.

Turning on SpamAssassin in Webmail:

Click the "Options" link at the top of your Webmail window. Then click "SpamAssassin - Marks Probable Spam" near the bottom of the options menu. This will open your SpamAssassin preferences screen.

Now, check the "Yes" checkbox for "Use Filtering", and click the "Change Default Settings" button to activate. That's all!

Now SpamAssassin will filter most of your spam into your Trash folder, using the standard settings.

Customizing the general SpamAssassin options:

The "General Options" table gives you a few other choices, like the ability to adjust its filtering strength and to tell it where to put your spam.

The "Current" column shows your current settings. The "New Value" column lets you change them. After you change a setting, you need to click the "Change Default Settings" button to make the change official. Here's what you'll see:

Some quick notes about these fields:

• Use Filtering: This turns on SpamAssassin filtering. To start SpamAssassin, change this to "Yes" and then click "Change Default Settings".
• Required Hits: SpamAssassin works by assigning a "spam score" to every piece of email that comes in. The higher the score, the more likely it is to be spam. Messages scored 5 and up are very likely to be spam. Messages scored 2 and under are very likely to be legitimate. Between 1 and 5, you'll usually find a mixture of spam and real mail, and your experience will vary within that range.
  The Required Hits field lets you change the threshold, i.e. what score a message needs to get to be tossed out with the spam. 5 is a good starting point; you can lower it if you're still getting too much spam, or raise it if you find real email going to the spam box by mistake.
• Subject Tag: Besides sending the (suspected) spam to a separate "spam box", SpamAssassin can add a "spam tag" to the Subject line. This is most useful if you're combining SpamAssassin with POP mail and a filtering function in your POP program. See the notes on "Rewrite Subject" and "Spam Folder," below.
• Rewrite Subject: When this is set to "Yes", SpamAssassin will add the "Subject Tag" (above) to the Subject line of probable spam. If you set it to "No", it will leave the subject lines alone. It's just an easy way to turn tagging off without having to clear out the "Subject Tag" field.
• Defang Mime: Setting this to "Yes" will modify the attachments that come with suspected spam so that you can only view their source, not the attachments themselves. It's a good defense against viruses, but if a piece of real mail gets tagged as spam it can keep you from seeing its attachments.
• Spam Folder: This pop-up menu lets you choose what folder to send your (suspected) spam to. "Trash" is the usual place, and mail in the Trash will disappear when it's one week old. Or you can tag the spam, put it in your Inbox, and download it with a POP mail program along with all your other mail. (Then use the POP mail program's filters to send the tagged messages to a spam folder on your own computer.) This method will keep your spam from filling up your disk quota on Panix.
  Or if you're daring, you can tell it to "Delete (PERM!)" and all the suspected spam will disappear automatically, without a trace. This is only recommended if you have "Required Hits" set pretty high, or don't mind losing an occasional bit of real mail.

Your SpamAssassin options include a tool to micro-manage your spam rules, a whitelist, and a blacklist. For more information about these features, just click the question-mark button in each table.

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