Managing Spam at BU
Boston University uses SpamAssassin to automatically filter suspected spam e-mail messages on the incoming mail servers. Most people find that BU's default filter setting is highly effective and do not need to take any additional steps to manage spam on their own.
However, if you are still experiencing an unusually high volume of unwanted e-mail, the following suggestions will be helpful.
Modify BU's default setting
By default, BU e-mail accounts do not receive spam that is tagged at a SpamAssassin level 7.5 or higher. You can choose to modify your 7.5 setting to make it more restrictive. However, you should keep in mind that you will always get some unwanted mail and you need to be careful not to set such a low threshold that you block mail you actually do want to get.
What if I've modified the 7.5 setting and I'm still getting too much spam?
- Can I get a new e-mail address? It's very unlikely that getting a new e-mail address from BU will solve the problem. As we outline in more detail on a related page, everyone with a BU e-mail address is a target for the same kind of auto-generated spam.
- If you use a desktop e-mail program such as Outlook or Thunderbird you can further manage spam using the Junk Mail controls/filters that are built in to them.
Related information