Monday, September 17, 2007

Postini fights spam

Siena uses Postini to filter out spam. You can't run e-mail without a spam filter these days; Postini reports that up to 90% of all e-mail is spam (there are some interesting statistics on their web page).

The problem is that the harder you try to filter out spam, the more likely it is that some non-spam messages end up in your inbox. In order to release them, you need to log in to Postini.

Now, when your account was set up, you were sent an e-mail with the password. And I'm sure you kept it and can find it easily. Well, probably not.

OK. Definitely not. It's probably long gone into the bit bucket in the sky. But it's easy to get your Postini password reset:
  • Login to http://login.postini.com
  • Enter your e-mail address as your username.
  • Enter anything you want as your password. It doesn't matter.
  • Click "Login."

You will get a warning that the password is incorrect. There's also a link that says Forgot Your Password? Click on that and a new password will be sent to your inbox so you can login.

Once you've logged in, find the message you want to release and click "Deliver." You will be asked if you want to accept all e-mails from this person from now on, too.

There are also ways to block a sender, or to approve one. Click on "My Settings" and enter the names.

You can find general instructions at http://www.siena.edu/uploadedFiles/Home/Faculty_and_Staff/Technology/postini.pdf (pdf).

The battle against spam is even more neverending than the battle for Truth and Justice, but Postini is an excellent weapon in the battle.