1.		How does SpamTrap work?
2.		What happens to the spam detected by SpamTrap?
3.		Can I exclude some email addresses from SpamTrap?
4.		What's the difference between SpamTrap and the spamming filter provided by my ISP?
5.		What's the difference between SpamTrap and desktop software I can install on my computer?
6.		Can any email account use SpamTrap?
7.		What technical resources do you I need to provide in order to use SpamTrap?
8.		After I sign up, how soon will SpamTrap be active?
9.		Is there any chance SpamTrap will filter out an important business email?
10.		If there is even the smallest chance I could lose a legitimate email, why should I use SpamTrap?
11.		Do you keep backup copies of my emails?
12		Since all my incoming emails will have to pass SpamTrap first, will that affect the security of my emails?
13.		Can I customize SpamTrap to accept or block emails from specific addresses?
14.		What else do I need to do once SpamTrap is up and running?
15.		Does SpamTrap delay my emails?
16.		What if I have a lot of email and use a lot of bandwidth?
17.		Can I add virus filtering later?
18.		What if I get spam that SpamTrap didn't catch?
19.		How do I prevent email harvesting at my web site?
1.		How does SpamTrap work?
		In a nutshell, when your account is setup, a small change is made to your email server DNS record. This change directs your email to a SpamTrap server. SpamTrap then scans all your emails and within a second or so sends legitimate emails to your email server for you to download. You decide how SpamTrap handles detected spam - SpamTrap can either delete it at the server, forward it to a separate email box or tag it for disposition by the recipient. SpamTrap does not require the installation of any software or hardware on your system. Your email server and email settings on individual computers require no changes at all. For more information, please see "Why Use SpamTrap".
2.		What happens to the spam detected by SpamTrap?
		You have three options for disposing of the spam detected by SpamTrap. Each option can be applied to different filter levels. Server-Side Deletion: Spam can be deleted at the server. This is the recommend option for the URL/Phone filter as it is highly unlikely this filter will hit on a legitimate email. Forwarding: Spam can be forwarded to a special email box (e.g. spam@yourdomain.com) for further inspection. This option is useful during the initial stage when you monitor the spam that is detected and the rate of false positives. It is also recommended if you have any concerns about employees being subjected to pornographic spam. Tagging: Spam can be tagged at the Subject line, and then sent to the recipient. This option should be used by users who absolutely need to retain every possible legitimate email. The recipient can then sort the email by the subject line or create a mail rule to automatically move the tagged emails into a different folder. We'll be happy to help you set this up.
3.		Can I exclude some email addresses from SpamTrap?
		Yes. We call these by-pass email addresses. Emails sent to those addresses will not be processed by SpamTrap. For example, if you receive large graphic files from your customers, you may want to create a separate email account to receive those, and choose to have that account as a bypass account. Otherwise, you may exceed your SpamTrap bandwidth limit and incur fees for overages.
4.		What's the difference between SpamTrap and the spam filter provided by my ISP?
		The antispam filter provided by your ISP most likely comprises simple filters and uses public databases. If it's free, then there probably aren't budgets to maintain it or service it very frequently. Compared to SpamTrap, ISP filters often have the following drawbacks: Low efficiency. They only detect 50% - 70% of spam High probability of false positives. You will have a high risk of losing legitimate emails. Many ISP antispam filters rely on simple content filtering. We have heard cases where the legitimate emails were deleted simply because the word "credit card" was present in the email text. Once these emails are deleted, there is no way to recover them. No flexibility. Users can not adjust or customize the filters. No support. Since this is usually a free, add-on service from your ISP, there very likely won't be much support. Therefore, the antispam service offered by your ISP may be good enough for casual users. Business users will find it frustrating due to the lack of reliability and flexibility. SpamTrap, on the other hand, was designed with business user in mind. It is highly efficient, reliable and flexible. If your business depends on email communication, you need SpamTrap.
5.		What's the difference between SpamTrap and desktop software I can install on my computer?
		Desktop software could be more effective than free offerings from ISPs and it offers some degree of flexibility for configuration. However, you must install the software on each of your computers. And upgrades and maintenance come with the typical headaches with which you are already familiar. There could be complications caused by system incompatibility or conflicts with other software on your computer. And, you may need to purchase software support separately. Consider also, that employees may easily circumvent the software thereby subjecting your company to certain risks you are trying to avoid. Add it all up, and chances are that you will have spent more and gotten less when compared to SpamTrap. SpamTrap does not require the installation of any software or hardware on your system. Your email server and individual email settings stay as they are now. The price for the SpamTrap service is all inclusive.
6.		Can any email account use SpamTrap?
		SpamTrap works with any email accounts that are under the domain names you own - for example, your company's domain name or your personal domain name. If you prefer using an ISP email account (earthlink.net, aol.com, msn.com) NetLiance can help you set up a company or personal domain name and configure it to forward email to your ISP account after filtering by SpamTrap.
7.		What technical resources do you I need to provide in order to use SpamTrap?
		In order to put SpamTrap to work, we need to list SpamTrap servers as your primary email servers. This step is accomplished by modifying the MX records of your domain's DNS entries. For this purpose, you will need to provide this information to whoever manages your domain name. It is usually the organization where you registered your domain name or your web hosting company. If you use NetLiance for DNS management or hosting, we will make these changes for you.
8.		After I sign up, how soon will SpamTrap be active?
		The major step to get SpamTrap up and running is to modify the MX records for your domain name's email servers. If your domain's DNS is managed by NetLiance, which is the case for most of our hosting customers, we can make the modification immediately after your sign up. If you need to contact a 3rd party, it will depend on how soon they respond. After we modify your domain's DNS entries, you may start seeing results in a few hours; however, due to propagation, it may take 1 or 2 days for SpamTrap to become fully active.
9.		Is there any chance SpamTrap will filter out an important business email?
		Despite our every effort, there is still a very small chance (<0.1%) a legitimate email may be identified as spam, especially when the filters are set in aggressive mode. However, SpamTrap offers several fail-safe measures to ensure you will never lose an important email. Emails that are detected as spam by SpamTrap can be either forwarded to a different email box or tagged for sorting in the recipient's own email software.
10.		If there is even the smallest chance I could lose a legitimate email, why should I use SpamTrap?
		It is possible that SpamTrap could incorrectly identify a good email as spam. However, with the tagging and forwarding actions, you will never lose such an email because it will either have been forwarded to your spam email account or tagged and sent to the recipient for disposition. In the case of selecting server-side deletion, of course, a good email could be lost. In this situation you need to weigh the cost of spam against the remote probability of losing a legitimate email. Is it worth spending 30 minutes a day sorting through the spam to save one email? Employers also need to consider whether it's worth the potential legal exposure. The false positive rate of SpamTrap is very low, usually less than 0.1%. For users who ABSOLUTELY have to save every legitimate email, you can forward all the spam to a special email box and examine them periodically for good emails before deleting. This way, you can block the spam from employees and still reserve the chance to save every possible legitimate email.
11.		Do you keep backup copies of my emails?
		No, we do not keep backup copies of your emails. Once your emails are processed by SpamTrap, they are sent directly to your email server. If your email sever is not receiving mail due to technical problems, the SpamTrap servers will store and continue trying to send mail for up to 5 days.
12		Since all my incoming emails will have to pass SpamTrap first, will that affect the security of my emails?
		The SpamTrap service analyzes the emails to determine if they are spam. None of your emails will ever be read a human being. Our servers do not backup or make copies of your emails. Therefore, SpamTrap does not affect the security of your emails.
13.		Can I customize SpamTrap to accept or block emails from specific addresses?
		Absolutely! You can request that we add specific email addresses, IP addresses, or domains to your Custom Black List and Custom White List.
14.		What else do I need to do once SpamTrap is up and running?
		Nothing really. In most cases, the default settings provide exceptional results for our clients. However, you will probably want to monitor the efficiency and the rate of false positives periodically. You can then adjust the filter settings, your Custom Black List and your Custom White List to make SpamTrap work the best for you. If you subscribe to any email newsletters or establish new contacts in blocked countries, make sure you include their addresses in your Custom White List.
15.		Does SpamTrap delay my emails?
		SpamTrap does not cause any noticeable delay in receiving your emails. Typical processing time is about 1 second per email.
16.		What if I have a lot of email and use a lot of bandwidth?
		SpamTrap fees are based on the number of users per domain. However, to manage our costs we limit bandwidth usage to 20 megabytes of email per month per user per domain. Although this may not sound like very much, 20 megabytes equates to about 5000 2-page email messages.
17.		Can I add virus filtering later?
		Yes. SpamTrap can provide virus scanning at additional cost. The virus-scanning functionality is provided by a commercial-grade solution. You can upgrade at anytime by calling or using our support page.
18.		What if I get spam that SpamTrap didn't catch?
		Send it as an attachment to spam@netliancecorp.com. It must be sent as an attachment so that we can examine the headers and decide how it needs to be processed. Do not 'forward' it to us. To add an email as an attachment in Outlook Express or Outlook: Click 'Create Mail' or 'New Mail' to open a New Message box. Address the message to spam@netliancecorp.com. Open the Outlook Express (or Outlook) folder containing the spam email you want to attach. Now click on the spam email with the left mouse button. Keeping the mouse button pressed, drag the spam email over to the Outlook Express (or Outlook) message window. Drop the file in the body of the message by releasing the mouse button. Outlook Express will automatically add it as an attachment. You can also use this method to attach more than one file at a time. Simply mark the files or emails you want to add and drag them over to the Outlook Express (or Outlook) message to drop them there.
19.		How do I prevent email harvesting at my web site?
		Email harvesting is the process of using an automated system (spider) to scan web sites and retrieve email addresses from them. Spammers use such tools to help ensure that they have valid email addresses. One method is to use images instead of text to display your email address, but this is time-consuming and it still leaves the html code for the email address vulnerable to harvesting. To prevent a spider from harvesting addresses at your site, you can use this simple JavaScript. You can write this email address myname@website.com like this: <script language=javascript> <!-- var emailname = "myname"; var hostname = "website.com"; var emailtext= emailname + "@" + hostname; document.write("<a href=" + "mail" + "to:" + emailname + "@" + hostname + ">" + emailtext + "</a>"); //--> </script> Now a harvester can't read it, but the code is completely functional as an email link at your web site