One of the initial steps used in fighting SPAM is to reject messages from known SPAM sending servers. This is done using Third-Party SPAM-list services. These services may temporarily mark a server as a potential SPAM sender, only to remove it after a set number of days, if the server exhibits normal mail sending behavior. This is known as a passive list. Other lists are more rigid with their policies and require a request by the server admin to remove their server from the list.These lists are not hosted by Total1, but used as a common service given to many e-mail providers.

An individual sending a message to a Total1 client may see a message stating "SENDER IS ON A SPAM LIST". This means the individual's mail server is marked on one of the lists mentioned above, and not a Total1 controlled list. They must speak with their mail service provider to remedy the issue.

If the mail is deemed sent from a legit server it is passed through Total1's SPAM filter. Total1's SPAM filter is designed to detect messages that are most likely to be SPAM (unsolicited bulk email) and tag them as such before delivery to the user. This leaves the actual filtering and/or deletion of these messages up to the user, as some legitimate mail can share characteristics with SPAM.

It works like this:

The filter uses a list of characteristics commonly associated with spam to determine the likelihood that an individual message is spam.

When our filter determines that a piece of mail may be spam, the message is tagged by our filter with "*****SPAM*****" at the beginning of the subject line. A short explanation is added to the beginning of the message body as well. The message is then delivered normally.

A user can deal with the tagged email as he or she chooses. A filter can be set up in the user's mail client to direct tagged messages into a folder (for later sorting) or even to delete tagged messages.

Note: automatic deletion of tagged messages is not recommended since no spam filter (ours included) is 100% accurate. Legitimate messages can sometimes be tagged if they display enough similarity to characteristics of spam.