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Flinx's avatar
Flinx
Contributor
9 months ago

How I am dealing with spam

for reasons I am not quite sure I have started getting inundated with spam starting a couple years ago. prior to that I rarely got any. whatever the reason I have been trying to use cox's horrible spam filtering.

currently this is my strategy:

create a "white list" filter labeled "ignore spam filters" this is a list of from addresses/email domains with the action of keep and do not process subsequent rules.

create filters for the from field, and other fields that contain words that I am certain no one I know, and no company I know will use, and/or contain words and phrases/misspellings mangled fonts etc that I am certain no one I know uses. this rule is set to REJECT with reason: "553: account doesn't exist" 553 is an actual error code for a mailbox that does not exist. my hope is spam and phishing software may receive this error and remove my email address. either way I won't get the email.

create a filter for all other words and phrases that goes to a folder I created that is not the spam folder to see what filters are working, and what is being filtered by cox, also to catch any false positives to add to the white list.

email
emails
junk
mail
phishing
spam

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  • Flinx's avatar
    Flinx
    Contributor
    8 months ago

    So far my system works, the only fly in the ointment is cox putting stuff in my spam folder without my permission. All other spam has stopped. my wife went from over 100 a day to 5 to 10 that I cannot filter because of cox (or who ever).

    mine went from 20 to 30 per day to 1 or 2.

    • RaquelD's avatar
      RaquelD
      Moderator
      8 months ago

      Hello Flinx, Thank you for noticing there was a change in Cox's spam filtering. I apologize for the extra steps to make your email filtering easier to view. With our recent webmail update, the feature has changed. Now you can right click over the message in your inbox to label an email as 'add to spam', but also right click over the message in your spam folder to label as 'not spam'. The 3 dots on the top right of each email also will allow this same option. We appreciate your business and continue to strive to provide the most user friendly options with the services we provide. Can you please email us at cox.help@cox.com with your name, address, and a link to this thread if you have any trouble finding these setting options or need any additional assistance from Cox Support? 

      • Flinx's avatar
        Flinx
        Contributor
        8 months ago

        so far marking as not spam, moves the mail to the inbox, but the same mail keeps coming back to the spam filter the next day. I've been doing this for a couple of weeks and there really needs to be a way to turn off the spam filter like the old webmail had. Cox spam filter is terrible and has never worked right in the last 28+ years that I have had it.

  • CurtB's avatar
    CurtB
    Valued Contributor III
    9 months ago

    Using Filter Rules is the best way to block unwanted email from going to your Inbox.  But Webmail that's been flagged as spam by an online security company will go directly to the Spam folder without Filter Rules being applied.

    You can test this by creating a Filter Rule with Conditions that match an email in your Spam folder and Actions "Copy into" a test folder you create for this purpose only.  When another Webmail is received from that sender, it will go into the test folder if Filter Rules are applied.  Otherwise, it will continue to go into the Spam folder.

    I tested by creating a Filter Rule with Conditions: Contains <primary> and Actions: Copy into Archive/2023 (folder I created).  I then sent myself a spam email from my primary account. 

    <primary> was substituted for my actual primary email address.

    The spam email I sent to Webmail from primary contained my Webmail address within the body.  That email went to Spam folder.  I sent another email to Webmail from primary that didn't contain my Webmail address in the body.  That email went to Inbox and Archive/2023.

    This test confirms Filter Rules are not applied to Webmail that has been flagged as spam.

    The only way to block Webmail going to the Spam folder is to unsubscribe from the sender. 

  • DRVEGAS's avatar
    DRVEGAS
    Valued Contributor
    9 months ago

    I've given up trying to filter spam because it's impossible to do regardless of which email service you use.  I check my spam folder every time I check my inbox because that's the only way to be sure that we are getting all our emails and if I see emails I don't like I just delete them instead of marking them as spam.

    • Flinx's avatar
      Flinx
      Contributor
      9 months ago

      well my method works pretty well, I set it up on my wife's account and her spam mail to inbox went from about 100 per day to 2 or 3 per week.

      mark as spam and mark as not spam does not do anything as far as my testing has shown.

      • DRVEGAS's avatar
        DRVEGAS
        Valued Contributor
        9 months ago

        I can't create filters because I'm using only my smartphone.

  • Flinx's avatar
    Flinx
    Contributor
    9 months ago

    forgot to mention that the from field filter also does not process subsequent rules.