The amount of Internet e-mail identified as spam in December 2003 consumed 58 percent of the average American's Web mailbox, according to Brightmail.com, The Anti-Spam Leader.
To combat spam on the Ohio University campus, the Communication Network Services team recently instated a new spam-filtering tool that students and faculty can use to clean unwanted mail from their mailboxes.
Spam volumes have grown horrendously over the past 18 months
said Todd Acheson, Unix systems manager at CNS.
Spam scoring is done automatically on all e-mail that comes into the Oak system. All incoming e-mail is evaluated by certain attribute and
given a final spam score.
With additional spam filtering from www.cns.ohiou.edu, the e-mail user can decide how the classified spam should be treated, either choosing to move them to a designated spam folder or simply deleting them, Acheson said.
The new spam and virus-filtering interface is very user-friendly and reduces the confusion individuals experienced when previously installing spam and virus filters on specific e-mail clients. Because filtering occurs on the server, the new interface is not dependent on the e-mail client that the individual uses, said Stacy Sater, senior network engineer at CNS.
So far, CNS spokesman Sean O'Malley said he has heard nothing but positive feedback from the program.
I had 759 e-mails when I came back from break that I had to delete and then 600 more popped up instantly said freshman Melissa French. After she installed the software, she now receives none. I have six e-mails
and they are all from people I know.
CNS also has made improvements in accessing e-mail through Webmail (https://webmail.ohio.edu/), a Web interface like a Hotmail or Yahoo! Account, which students and faculty can use to access their e-mail accounts from any location.
CNS officials sent an e-mail this week hawking Webmail's better security
simplified log-in page
simplified attachment handling and new preferences.
This has been the first major change to Webmail since its start two years ago, Acheson said. We are now looking at Webmail as more of a commitment we have invested in seriously. This should be significant to users.
The previous version had performance issues that were corrected in Webmail's latest installment. Bugs have been fixed, and the overall speed has been increased, Acheson said. Vitaliy Shipitsyn, CNS senior network engineer, said that the early feedback he has heard from the Webmail advancements has been positive from both students and faculty.
CNS also has implemented WebDAV, a program that lets students free themselves from floppies and Zip disks
according to the CNS Web page.
Students can use the Web space, or home directory, as a reliable space to keep papers and access them anywhere on campus, Acheson said. WebDAV is a more convenient
easy-to-use and intuitive program for accessing the Oak Home Directory space OU provides to its students and faculty.
For information and instructions
for WebDAV, visit http://www.cns.ohiou.edu/webdav/.
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