BULLGUARD SPAMFILTER

Transcription

1 BULLGUARD SPAMFILTER GUIDE

2 Introduction 1.1 Spam s annoyance and security risk If you are a user of web-based addresses, then you probably do not need antispam protection as that is already offered by the service provider. If you use an 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 s, there can be lots of hidden threats to you or your computer: - s containing viruses or link to hazardous websites that would automatically download virus infected archives. - Spoof s 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: s 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 address to be able to download them. These websites will collect the addresses entered on those pages for spam databases. 1.2 Why do addresses get swamped by spam s? 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 s. Here are some ways in which you can get your inbox full of those junk s overnight: - A friend of yours who uses an client and has your 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 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.

3 - There are automated bots that just browse forums to harvest 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 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 com to randomly spam addresses. - If you made it onto a spam server ing list, there is a high probability that your address will be sent to other servers as well, because it is a known fact that spammers exchange address lists. The fact is that there are countless ways in which you can receive spam s 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 inbox: - Some people create a sacrifice 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 address if the website proves trustworthy. - Never provide your address to untrustworthy sites/forums/blogs or persons. - Try not to use your 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 service provider has). - Banks, PayPal or similar organizations will never ask you to provide them with your address or personal account details via s or other online means.

4 1.4 What is the role of an anti-spam application? - Spamfilters are applications designed only for clients (applications that are used to retrieve the s from a server directly to the user s computer). This is why anti-spam applications will not work with web-based s ( accounts that are accessed through an Internet browser like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo mail etc). - The spamfilter will reduce the spam s that end up in your inbox by redirecting the spams to a designated spam folder. Note that the spamfilters will not delete the , but only redirect them to a specified folder. - The main purpose is to keep your inbox as clean as possible 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 s: - The local component is the Spamfilter client installed on the user s computer that will interact with the user s client. When receiving s, it will send the spams to a designated spam folder. It will allow you to mark s as spams and it will allow you to mark them as legitimate spam (for false positive cases in which s that you need have been taken as spam). Also, you can attune the Spamfilter to your 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 s signatures. The main features of the server side module: - A Bayesian filter is personalized to each user and adapts automatically to changes in spam content. To determine the likelihood that an is spam, this type of filter uses Bayesian analysis to compare the words or phrases in an to the frequency of the same words or phrases in your previous s, 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

5 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 clients. For each client you will have a specific toolbar added which will allow you to mark/unmark s as spam.

6 Installing the BullGuard Spamfilter 2.1 Downloading and installing 1) At the download page ( 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.

7 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 address. We recommend you to use your valid account as we will need to send you an to confirm your registration. After entering your address, click on Register. The next step is choosing a password to your liking for your account. By clicking the Finish button, an will be sent to your address to confirm the registration. With the account created, the application will open and you can start using the Spamfilter with your client.

8 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 client. This is important as it will fine-tune the Spamfilter, increasing the accuracy of detecting spam s and of identifying legitimate s. The Wizard should automatically start the first time you open your 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 client toolbar. You can find specific information regarding the Wizard in the sections of this manual dedicated to using the Spamfilter with different clients (4.1, 4.2 and 4.3).

9 - 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 s to or the other recipients of those s 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 s were received all in all, how many s where taken as spam by BullGuard, how many s you manually blocked in your client and how many s you have manually unblocked. You can see how effective the Spamfilter is by looking at the Statistics results. - Include footer in sent s this will put a footer in all the s you send through the 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.

10 3.3 Selecting and configuring the client you use from the Spamfilter console - Open BullGuard. - Go to the Spamfilter section and then into the Overview tab. - Select your corresponding client (Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird). A. For Outlook Express: - After choosing the client, click on the Settings button to open the settings window. - You can only modify the settings Add s you Block to your blacklist and Add s you Unblock to your Whitelist. - Add s you Block to your blacklist - when you mark an as spam in the client, the address from where the was sent is automatically sent to the blacklist thus making the Spamfilter automatically mark all s from that address as spam and send them to the designated spam folder. - Add s you Unblock to your Whitelist in case that a valid has been taken as spam by BullGuard you can unblock it by going into the spam folder, selecting the and then pressing the button This is not spam. It

11 will make BullGuard put that address in the Whitelist and all s coming from it will be automatically taken as non-spam s. - Prefill whitelist with addresses from my Sent folder this option will make BullGuard read all the addresses you have sent s to (it will pick them up from the s you have in the Sent folder) and will add them to the whitelist. This will greatly reduce the false positive detection of s as spam. - Due to the architecture of Outlook Express, you cannot modify the default spam folder or use the key shortcuts for marking / unmarking s as spam. B. For Microsoft Outlook: - After choosing the 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 client. Just click on the Add new folder button. - Move to spam folder as read this option will make the Spamfilter mark all s taken as spam as read. - Add s you Block to your blacklist when you select an in your client and then press the This is spam, the address from where the was sent is automatically sent to the blacklist thus making the Spamfilter automatically mark all s from that address as spam and send them to the designated spam folder. - Add s you Unblock to your whitelist in case that a valid has been considered spam by BullGuard you can unblock it by going into the spam folder, selecting the and then pressing the button This is not spam. It will make BullGuard put that address in the whitelist and all s coming from it will automatically be taken as non-spam s.

12 - Prefill whitelist with addresses from my Sent folder this option will make BullGuard read all the addresses you have sent s to (it will pick them up from the s you have in the Sent folder) and will add them to the whitelist. This will greatly reduce the false positive detection of s as spam. C. For Mozilla Thunderbird - After choosing the client, click on the Settings button in order to open the settings window - You can only modify the settings Add s you Block to your blacklist and Add s you block to your Whitelist. - Add s you Block to your blacklist - when you select an in your client and then press the This is spam, the address from where the was sent is automatically sent to the blacklist thus making the Spamfilter automatically mark all s from that address as pam and send them to the designated spam folder - Add s you Unblock to your Whitelist in case that a valid has been considered spam by BullGuard you can unblock it by going into the spam folder, selecting the and then pressing the button This is not spam. It will make BullGuard put that address in the Whitelist and all s coming from it will automatically be taken as non-spam s. - Prefill whitelist with addresses from my Sent folder this option will make BullGuard read all the addresses you have sent s to (it will pick them up from the s you have in the Sent folder) and will add them to the whitelist. This will greatly reduce the false positive detection of s as spam

13 outlook express 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 client To block the s it is sufficient to select the and then press the Spam button If BullGuard picked up an you need as spam, just go to the Deleted Items folder (the default spam folder), look for the and mark it as Not spam You can access the Spamfilter settings directly from the client by clicking on the Spamfilter button 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 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.

14 - At the next screen, the Spamfilter will read the recipients of the s 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 addresses will be added to the Whitelist making sure that the s from those addresses will never be mistaken for spam by the Spamfilter. Note that the CC s of those s will also be added to the Whitelist. - Next, you will need to select the folders that contain only valid s that are not spam. Select those folders and click on the Next button to move on. Note that the 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 s so that it will add those addresses to the Blacklist and permanently mark those addresses as spam source. It is important that you choose folders like Trash or Junk that do not contain deleted s from your trusted addresses.

15 - The Spamfilter will now start to analyze the folders you have indicated so far and it will add the 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 Marking s as spam To have BullGuard take the as spam, you just need to have the selected and then click the Spam button Marking s as not spam (false positive detection) If you have found an that BullGuard has mistaken for spam s, select the and then click the Not spam button.

16 4.1.5 Tips & tricks We strongly recommend that you run the Spamfilter Wizard to greatly reduce the chance of false positive detection of s. - To have the recipients of your s 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 s you mark as spam are automatically sent to the spam folder next time you receive them, check the option Add s you block to the Blacklist from the Settings window you have in BullGuard.

17 microsoft outlook Overview - To fine-tune the Spamfilter to your client, click on the Wizard button - To select an as spam, press This is spam (key shortcut: Shift+Alt+P) - To unmark an taken as spam, press This is not spam (key shortcut: Shift+Alt+M) - To access the Spamfilter options from the client click on Open BullGuard Spamfilter 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 s 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.

18 - At the next screen, the Spamfilter will read the recipients of the s you have sent so far and that are located in the Sent Items folder. Those addresses are added to the Whitelist, making sure the s from those addresses will never be mistaken for spam by the Spamfilter. Note that the CC s of those s will also be added to the Whitelist. - Next you will need to select the folders that contain only valid s that are not spam. Select those folders and click on the Next button to move on. Note that the 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 s so that it will add those addresses to the Blacklist and permanently mark those addresses as a spam source.

19 - The Spamfilter will now start to analyze the folders you have indicated so far and it will add the 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 Marking s as spam To have BullGuard take the as spam, you just need to have the selected and then click the This is spam button Marking s as not spam If you have found an that BullGuard has mistaken for a spam, select the and then click on the This is not spam button.

20 Fast access to the Spamfilter settings Click on the Open BullGuard Spamfilter button and conduct changes within the Spamfilter settings for the Microsoft Outlook client Tips & tricks - You can mark / unmark multiple s as spam at once. You just need to select those s and then click on the two buttons accordingly. - with Shift+left mouse click for multiple s in a row - by keeping the CTRL key pressed and selecting different s for multiple s 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 s. - To have the recipients of your s 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 s you mark as spam get sent automatically to the spam folder next time you receive them, check the option Add s you block to the Blacklist from the Settings window you have in BullGuard.

21 4.3 Mozilla Thunderbird 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 client drop down menu and select the Mozilla Thunderbird option. - Pressing the Settings button will allow you to configure the Spamfilter for your client to your liking. - When you open the Mozilla Thunderbird client for the first time after installing the Spamfilter, the Training Wizard will launch automatically to adjust the Spamfilter to your client. Should you choose to skip that step, you can run the Training Wizard at a later moment directly from the client 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 s 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.

22 - At the next screen, the Spamfilter will read the recipients of the s you have sent so far that are located in the Sent Items folder. Those addresses will be added to the Whitelist making sure the s from those addresses will never be mistaken for spam by the Spamfilter. Note that the CC s of those s will also be added to the Whitelist. - Next, you will need to select the folders that contain only good s that are not spam. Select those folders and click on the Next button to move on. Note that the 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 s so that it will add those addresses to the Blacklist and permanently mark those addresses as a source for spam s. It is important that you choose folders like Trash or Junk that do not contain deleted s from your trusted addresses. - The Spamfilter will now start to analyze the folders you have indicated so far and it will add the addresses either to the Whitelist and Blacklist accordingly.

23 - 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 Marking s as spam To have BullGuard take the as spam, you just need to have the selected and then click the Spam button. You can also select multiple s and mark all of them as spam Marking s as not spam (false positive detection) If you have found an that BullGuard has mistaken for a spam, select the and then click the Not Spam button For fast access to the Spamfilter settings Click the Spamfilter button and conduct changes in the Spamfilter settings for the Windows Mail client.

24 5 Using the Whitelist The Whitelist will allow you to tell the Spamfilter which s are coming from safe senders. 5.1 Add addresses to the Whitelist By adding s to the Whitelist, you will exclude the s 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 s. To add the , just click on the + button from the Whitelisted addresses column and then write the address and press the OK button. To remove it, select the address and click on the - button to have it removed from the list.

25 5.2 Add domains to the Whitelist By adding an entire domain to the Whitelist, you will exclude all 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.

26 6. Using the blacklist This will tell the Spamfilter which s should always be redirected to the spam folder as they are coming from known spam sources. 6.1 Add addresses to the Blacklist By adding an to the Blacklist, the Spamfilter will always redirect those s to the spam folder without any other check. To add the , just click on the + button from the Blacklisted addresses column and then write the address and press the OK button. Select the address and click on the - button to have it removed from the list.

27 6.2 Add domains to the Blacklist By adding a domain to the Blacklist, all s 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.

28 7. Accessing support resources for the BullGuard Spamfilter 7.1. Accessing the support available through the 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, address and a signature you can do that by going directly to the Settings tab. We recommend you to enter a valid 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 . - Write an it will send an directly to our Support Team and the Bull- Guard 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 assistance. - 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.

29 7.2. Accessing the Support Team through the BullGuard website You can contact the Support team by going directly to the com/support.aspx page. You can either request for chat sessions live with the Support Team or send us an . 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 client you currently use - type of account (POP3, IMAP etc) - type of internet connection