What if I'm not a "power user"?

It's okay — you're not alone. We appreciate your interest but setting up our service might cause you much frustration and we don't want that.

Here are some ideas for what to do instead:

• If you're in business and have your own domain, ask your I.T. staff/person to look into our business spam filtering service.
• If you have someone that takes care of your computer for you, ask them to set it up for you. (If they're a computer repair shop have them look at our value added reseller program.)
• Contact your Internet Service Provider and ask them why they don't provide our service.

Are there accounts OnlyMyEmail cannot filter?

Yes. In order to filter email under the Personal plan, standard POP or IMAP access is required, and there are email systems that do not support or offer POP access.

There are a few popular Webmail systems that do not allow external access. The free version of Yahoo mail is such an example, but if you pay to upgrade to the paid "Plus" version, then POP access is enabled and we can filter those accounts.

We have also seen private systems that will only allow access to computers actively connected to their own networks. This is not unheard of when it comes to private corporate networks. If you cannot access an email account from an outside location (such as a cyber-cafe or public Wi-Fi hotspot) then we will be excluded as well. If this is the case, contact your system administrator and ask them to allow connection from OnlyMyEmail.

Please note that you'll need to provide the address you want filtered when you subscribe. We will test that account's compatibility in real time and if we cannot connect, then the subscription process will be complete.

Notice: This does not apply to customers using our Business Spam Filtering service (MX-Defender).

What email protocols are supported?

OnlyMyEmail supports all standard protocols and methods for sending and retrieving email and can be used with the email software or hardware of your choice.

For receiving email the most common protocol is POP3 and our mail servers can be reached at mail.onlymyemail.com.

Using this protocol any computer/tablet/phone can download messages from our servers. If you use multiple devices you might want to configure your system to "leave mail on server" for a few days in order to allow each device time to download each message. For more on this subject, see: Email Basics

A more advanced option for keeping multiple devices in synch with one another is the IMAP protocol which also uses: mail.onlymyemail.com.

IMAP allows all of your computers/devices to access your mailbox on our servers. Actions performed on one device will be synchronized with the others. This includes sending or deleting messages, saving drafts, and moving emails with your folders. Unlike POP3, the IMAP protocol does not automatically delete downloaded messages from our server. As a result, if you don't manually delete old messages then you can quickly exceed your disk storage quota on our servers.

In addition to the selection of protocol, you can also choose among various security levels as well. In most cases your software will automatically configure to use the right settings, but in case you need to manually set these options, or just want to know that they are available, we support:

• TLS over the standard ports (110 for POP3, and 143 for IMAP)
• SSL over alternate ports (995 for POP3 S, and 993 for IMAP S)
• Unencrypted communications over standard ports

When it comes to sending mail, clients should use also use mail.onlymyemail.com and we support:

• SMTP with TLS over ports 25 (standard port)
• Port 587 (mail submission)
• SSL+SMTP over port 456
• Unencrypted connections on ports 25, and 587

In all cases we require that you enable "SMTP Authentication" within your email hardware or software device.

If you're on the go, and have access to a public computer, or some other computer you don't want to configure with your credentials you can use our webmail service at webmail.onlymyemail.com. Just be sure to log-out when you're done so the next person who uses that computer can't access your email.

What email software can I use?

All of OnlyMyEmail's filtering systems run exclusively on our servers. Because of this, there are no compatibility issues with any known email server or client software programs.

Do you need web-based email?

OnlyMyEmail provides a Web-Based email platform for our Personal account subscribers.

Web-Based access allows you to check your OnlyMyEmail.com email from any computer connected to the Internet.

Whether you decide to use this as your primary access to email, or simply to check email when you're away from your personal computer, it's a powerful tool that will provide access to email from anywhere, and without the burden of Spam and Viruses that plague similar services.

Additionally, our web-based email access is completely free from distracting banner ads and annoying pop-up marketing pitches. As a result, you can access your important email quickly and conveniently from wherever your travels may take you.

What are the Daily Report emails?

When enabled, our system creates and delivers a Daily Report email for each email address.

The report provides a summary list of all the emails that we blocked for that email address the previous day.

The owner of the address can then use the links in the report to view and, if needed, retrieve any emails listed in the report.

How do I retrieve messages OnlyMyEmail has removed?

Email that is blocked as Spam (or any other category you've chosen to block) is placed in a separate "deleted mail folder" and held on our servers for 14 days.

You can review these messages either through the "View Deleted Email" menu in our Support site or from the daily "SpamReports" that we will email to you.

Regardless of which method you use, the "Subject:" of each message displayed is a hyper-link that can be used to review a copy of the original.

Included in the display of this copy is a "Resend" button added to the to right-hand corner and selecting that button will re-deliver the original email to original destination address.

Once the resend is confirmed, you will be presented with the option of specifying whether future emails from that sender should be delivered.

How much delay does the filtering add?

OnlyMyEmail's "Personal" anti-spam solution must first wait for emails to reach the external email account that you want us to filter.

Our servers will attempt to connect to your filtered address every few minutes to check for new messages, and will then download, filter and unify them into your @OnlyMyEmail.com address.

This process means that you can expect delays ranging anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes, depending on a wide variety of factors. If you are experiencing delays greater than this, then visit the "Problems & Solutions" menu within the Support site for troubleshooting advice.

Notice: This does not apply to customers using our Business Spam Filtering service (MX-Defender).

How do I report spam that makes it through the filters?

First, make sure that you enable the "Spam Submission" option from within the Preferences menu of the Support site. This will allow OnlyMyEmail to insert a "spam reporting" hyper-link into your inbound messages. This link will allow you to "point and click" to report any spam that penetrates our filters.

Do I still need anti-virus software on my computer?

While OnlyMyEmail will prevent viruses from reaching you through email, there are still several other vectors for infection including: web sites, instant messaging, Wi-Fi and LAN connections and/or intrusion through open ports.

This being the case, you should consider OnlyMyEmail's services as a first-step in virus protection, and not a replacement for running anti-virus applications on your computer.

Can I receive email on my Blackberry?

BlackBerry Wireless Devices are not capable of accessing the POP standard used for email throughout the Internet. However, Research in Motion does provide desktop and server software that can be used to deliver email that we have filtered to their devices.

We do not provide any technical support for RIM's programs, but we're happy to provide a link to their Software Download page for your convenience.

Do I have to use my OnlyMyEmail address?

We need a place to put your filtered messages after downloading them from the external accounts we filter for you. We cannot put them back into the address that we downloaded them from because this would cause us to download and filter the same emails repetitively. Your "@OnlyMyEmail.com" address is where put your filtered email.

Consequently, having an @OnlyMyEmail address does not mean that you must use this in your outgoing messages or provide the address to anyone else (though you certainly may).

What is required is that you download your messages from your @OnlyMyEmail.com account because that's where we put your emails after we've filtered them.

There is one exception of which you should be aware. If you choose to send emails from our Webmail interface, these messages will be sent "From" your UserName@OnlyMyEmail.com address and this cannot be changed.

Notice: This does not apply to customers using our Business Spam Filtering service (MX-Defender).

Does OnlyMyEmail provide email auto-responders?

Unfortunately, "auto-responders" are responsible for a great deal of unwanted email on the Internet. Spammers seldom use their real address when sending email and when they send to an account that will "auto-respond" this reply ends up being sent to an innocent bystander whose address was "spoofed" as the sender of the spam message.

It's not unheard of for such a person to receive tens of thousands of "auto-replies" to emails they never sent. Because of the great inconvenience this creates for people victimized in this manner, OnlyMyEmail does not provide any auto-response services to it's clients, nor do we use them ourselves.

Does OnlyMyEmail Support IMAP?

Yes we do support IMAP. However, some care is necessary in managing mailboxes accessed via IMAP in order to avoid exceeding the mailbox storage limit of 500MB.

Can I forward an external address to OnlyMyEmail?

Forwarding an external email account into your UserName@OnlyMyEmail.com address will typically result in reduced filtering accuracy as well as an increased rate of false-positives.

Because the email server that provides the forwarding becomes an unwitting spam relay, there is even the chance that this server could become blocked by our firewall, resulting in all messages (spam and otherwise) being refused by our server and returned to the original sender as undeliverable.

For these reasons, we prohibit users from forwarding external email addresses into accounts that are filtered and protected by our system. We will not filter such forwarded messages, and may refuse to accept them as well.

Can filtered email be forwarded to another address?

While you can manually forward any email to an external address, we do not provide automatic "email forwarding" services that will redirect all of your inbound mail to an external address.

What is my disk quota for storing email?

Each Personal user is provided with 500 MB on our system. We recommended that you configure your email software to "Delete Mail From Server" after downloading so that you do not have to worry about exceeding this limit.

Notice: This does not apply to customers using our Business Spam Filtering service (MX-Defender).

What is the "Daily Quota" of emails?

OnlyMyEmail's Personal anti-spam solution is designed for "Personal" users who receive a modest amount of daily email, and excessive volume may preclude you from successfully using this system.

Inbound Limits

Currently, Personal users are limited to receiving 400 inbound emails each day, per external unified/filtered address. After that level is reached, the system will stop downloading new emails from the external addresses that we are filtering for your account.

There is no limit regarding how many emails can be sent directly to your Username@OnlyMyEmail.com address.

Notice: This does not apply to customers using our Business Spam Filtering service (MX-Defender).

Outbound Limits

For outbound emails sent through our SMTP server there is a 25 recipient limit per message.

There is also a 100 email per hour limit (not counting cc or bcc recipients) on outgoing emails.

While these limits may not satisfy everyone who would like to use our Personal anti-spam solution, they are certainly more than enough for the vast majority of users.