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Hi Malcolm, Filtering email is a touchy problem. To be vigilant, legitimate email is in danger of being snagged and deleted because many 'free' mail services like Google's GMail and Yahoo pay for their 'free' service by placing ads within the email, especially many in html. Filters designed to look for html or keywords in spam will also grab that email and, although it's supposed to divert it, in some instances, it might be deleted. To prevent overzealous grabbing of everything that may look like spam, we tone the filters down a little. Also, depending on how much mail is flooding through the filters, some may get through while others, using the same criteria, are caught. This gives the appearance that the filters aren't working but, in fact, they are. It's all dependent on just how email flows in at any given time. Over 95% of all email received by CCN is spam; literally, millions of pieces a day. As for 'mail from me to me': spammers use addresses they skim from mailing lists, newsgroup postings, webpages (like Facebook or MySpace) etc to forge outgoing email addresses to millions of unlucky recipients. They used your email address as a 'From:' knowing that any bounces will go to you and not them. Spammers use 'valid' forged addresses because many mail services will check (via a ping across the internet) to see if a sender address is valid before even allowing an email into their queue. There's really nothing you (or anyone) can do about it. The only way to minimize spam and things like email forging is to never post, write or advertise your email address anywhere including webpages. Even then, you would be surprised how spammers can still get your email address. Since you weren't the one sending the emails, just delete the bounces and chalk it up to experience on the internet. No one has gotten into your account but you can always change your password, if it will make you feel more secure. Spammers rotate among millions of addresses at any given moment so your address may or may never be used again. The reason you see the bounces is that lazy admins of spam filters around the world send bounces back to the sender, even though that address may be forged (instead of checking the path and IP numbers which will give them the real sender most of the time), so the innocent address owner gets the bounce from the email the spammer sent. If you use POP3 to check your mail, you can use Thunderbird (by Mozilla, maker of the Firefox internet browser). This will give you even more control over your email and even more filters, which you, yourself, can manage. These filters will work in addition to CCN's broader filters. You can download Thunderbird (for free) at: www.mozilla.org. CCN Help ---------------- On Fri, 19 Dec 2008, Pat & Malcolm Bayne wrote: > I have left messages on two occasions on your phone line to contact me > but neither has been acknowledged. > 1 - I am concerned by the amount of junkmail in my Inbox which now on > occasions exceeds that in my Junkmail box. What bothers me is that, by > subject matter anyway, the junk that is getting into my Inbox is the > same as that in my inbox. How come it is not being rejected also? > 2 - Sitting in my Junkmail box at the moment are 11 notifications to me > about messages, etc. All these messages are addressed from me to me. How > can this be? > If you wish I will forward them individually to you or you are probably > able to look into my Junkmail. Does this mean someone has access to my > e-mail address? > I know I am belabouring on a matter I took up before but when I could > set my own filters I never had the problem I am having in (1) above. > I am extremely concerned with the problem in (2) > Malcolm
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