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New Customer FAQ

After you have completed the order and setup process you may be wondering what to expect next. 


How does SpamHero know what email addresses are valid for my domain?

For the first 30 days after your domain is setup we'll accept email that is sent to any address on the domain (this is also known as the 'catch-all' feature).  When we receive a "good" message we'll deliver it to your domain and mark the address as one that we should accept mail for in the future.

You can review which recipient email addresses we've detected so far by signing in to your control panel and going to Settings -> Email Recipients and then clicking on the Detected tab.

Or, you can also provide a list of email addresses that are valid for your domain by signing in to your control panel and going to Settings -> Email Recipients and clicking on the Add New button on the Approved tab.


How long does it take for the filtering to start working after my domain is setup?

Most users will see a drastic reduction in spam within the first hour or two from the time their domain is fully setup.  However, because of the way the internet works, it can take up to 72 hours before all of the mail servers around the world begin sending your domain's mail through our filter.


Can I setup separate quarantine logins for each of my users?

Yes, you can setup a private quarantine for your users so that they can review spam that was sent to their address (or set of addresses).  The quarantine user logins are limited to the Quarantine and the Dashboard. You can also setup a single quarantine for a group of users to share (sales@, jim@, mary@, bob@). Users can also have Quarantine Reports sent to them on an hourly, daily or weekly basis so that they can review and release quarantined messages directly from their own email software.


Should I use the catch-all feature?

If your mail server uses LDAP or Active Directory, we recommend using that instead of enabling the catch-all feature: Using Active Directory (Exchange) or LDAP to set up valid email addresses

The catch-all feature is normally temporary

By default, the catch-all will automatically turn off after the first 30 days. When the catch-all feature is enabled our system will accept mail sent to any email address on your domain. This feature is enabled for the first 30 days after setup so that we can automatically detect which email addresses are valid on your domain. Once the feature is disabled, our system will only accept mail that is sent to addresses that have been previously approved or detected.

Overriding the catch-all setting

You have the option to override this behavior by signing in to the control panel and going to Settings > Catch-all. Be warned that domains that leave their catch-all enabled may have a much higher total email volume due to spammers sending spam to random email addresses on your domain. In some cases, this extra email volume can be enough to generate billable overages if the amount exceeds the amount of email included with your filtering plan.

To review email addresses that have been detected for your domain, go to Settings > Email Recipients and click on the Detected tab. Mail sent to addresses listed under the Invalid tab will be rejected and will not count against the total number of messages filtered.

A note about greylisting

When the catch-all feature is enabled, any messages sent to a recipient that our system has not seen before will be initially deferred (also known as "greylisting"). When email is coming from a valid sender, the sending server will automatically immediately retry the message resulting in a very brief delay in delivery for the first message sent to a new recipient (usually less than a minute).

Because spammer's mail servers are focused on sending email very fast to as many users as possible, they will usually skip recipients with greylisting enabled. This protects your domain from having a bunch of invalid email addresses added as recipients in SpamHero, especially when a spammer executes a dictionary attack against your domain.

Disabling the catch-all feature will also disable greylisting automatically. If you wish to leave the catch-all enabled but want greylisting disabled, contact our support team for assistance. Be aware that having greylisting disabled while the catch-all is enabled may result in a large number of invalid email addresses being detected as valid.

If a single recipient listed on an email is unrecognized, the message will be greylisted. If there are multiple unrecognized recipients, the delivery of the message can be delayed significantly.

Is it possible for spammers to get around the filter?

Unfortunately, even after switching your MX records, some spammers will continue to send spam directly to your mail server. To prevent this, be sure to check out our article on how to Prevent spam from getting around the filter. This step is not required to use SpamHero, but we recommend it.

Last updated May 14, 2010