Hello, VolcanoHost clients!

We are way past-due for a newsletter update.  One subject we haven't covered is email.  Just so you know, your web hosting accounts all include at least 2 email accounts (yourname@yourdomain.com).  You are already paying for them, so why not use them?  It makes a business appear more professional when there is an email account that matches the web domain.

You have a several options with your email accounts.  If you want to keep your existing email account, you can create an "alias" email address that bears your domain name.  All emails sent to this account will be forwarded to whatever email address you type in. This is the easiest way to make use of your domain's email, but you can't enable Spam Assassin for alias accounts.  You can, however, create as many aliases as you want.

Another option is to create a POP3 email account and use the webmail interface to send and receive your email.  And the final option is to use your own email client, such as Outlook Express (this also requires you to create a POP3 account).  Of course, you are always free to use the web interface to check your email when you are away from your normal computer.  The webmail interface is the only way to view and delete spams if you enable Spam Box (see below).

To create an "alias" email account, follow these simple steps:

1. Login to your control panel (yourdomain.com/cpanel).
2. In the E-Mail section, click on "Forwarders".
3. Click on "Add Forwarder".
4. Type in a name for the email account in the first box (no spaces allowed).
5. Type in the email address you want the new account forwarded to (your existing email account).
6. Click "Add Forwarder".
7. Click "Go Back" to return to the previous screen. Your new email address should now be listed.

That's it! Start giving out your new email address.  All emails sent to this address will show up in your existing email inbox.  You may want to change your "Reply To" address to this new email address.  This way, when you send a reply, it will appear to come from your new email account (even though it is coming from your old email account).

For the maximum flexibility, you should create a real POP3 email account.  Doing so will allow you to enable the Spam Assassin filter to protect your inbox from unwanted emails. 

To create a real POP3 account, follow these simple steps:

1. Login to your control panel (yourdomain.com/cpanel).
2. In the E-Mail section, click on "Manage Accounts."
3. There will already be a default account with your user ID. You may use this one or create a new one.
4. To create a new account, click on "Add Account."
5. Type in a name in the E-mail box and a password in the Password box (spaces are not allowed in either).
6. Type in an amount for the monthly quota (the default 10MB is usually sufficient).
7. Click "Create" to activate the account.
8. Click "Go Back" to return to the administration screen.
9. If you use Outlook Express, click the "Outlook Express AutoConfig" link to setup your Outlook automatically.

That's it! You have created a POP3 account!

Note:  If you use an email client other than Outlook Express, or just don't want to use the AutoConfig wizard, you will have to manually set your incoming and outgoing servers to mail.yourdomain.com, being sure to replace "yourdomain.com" with your actual domain name.  The login name will be the complete email address of the account you created in the preceding steps.

To enable Spam Assassin, click on the Spam Assassin link in the main E-Mail section of your control panel.  Then click on the appropriate buttons to enable Spam Assassin and Spam Box, if needed.  Please see our previous newsletter for more details on Spam Assassin and Spam Box.   Remember to check your spam folder using the webmail interface if you are using Spam Box.

***Once you have created your account(s), you should click on "Default Address" to tell the mail server what to do with unrecognized emails (unrecognized email is any email sent to an address that does not have an account or alias).  You have 3 options for dealing with unrecognized emails:  Forward them to one of your existing accounts or aliases, Discard them or Bounce them.  

• To Forward unrecognized emails, type in the email account you want them to be forwarded to.  
• To Discard them, type :blackhole: for the email address.  
• To Bounce them (send an error message to the sender), type :fail: for the email address. 

Don't forget to include the colons before and after :blackhole: or :fail:.

Another option available with your email accounts is the "Auto-Responder".  You can use this feature to send out a canned message to all senders, usually used for vacation notices, etc. Click on the Auto-Responder link to select the email account and compose the auto-reply message.  Note:  This feature works with forwarder accounts and POP3 accounts!

Now you are ready to project that professional image!  Put your email on your business cards, letterheads and website! If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in our tech support forum at  http://www.volcanoserver.com/sample/.

Thanks.  We appreciate your business!

-VolcanoHost.com Administration

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