Questions about basics

[rexall9000]

Fri 28 Apr 2023,, 5:42 pm

Hi All,

After 10 years, I am in the process of re-routing my mail through MWP instead of evil Samarrest. It's a rather tedious job. Spamarrest has suddenly raised it's prices from around $100/yr to more than #400/yr. Obviously a deal-breaker. And they have done it in an abrupt, unfriendly, uncommunicative way. Have not answered two emails I sent to support.

Anyway, I am a little confused about how MWP works. Or I should say, what is happening when MWP is working.

1. After I wash my mail in MWP, exactly how does it get into my Thunderbird client? Is it forwarded or is there some other process?

2. Do I still need to pop/smtp and imap setting for each of my accounts in TB settings?

3. Along those lines, when I download mail into TB, is it pulling messages from the provider's servers (e.g., gmail), or are the messages temporarily residing on MWP servers, or what?

Thanks for helping clear this up.

Rex

[Digerati]

1. After I wash my mail in MWP, exactly how does it get into my Thunderbird client? Is it forwarded or is there some other process?

See #2

2. Do I still need to pop/smtp and imap setting for each of my accounts in TB settings?

Let's say your normal email addresses are hosted by rexsisp.com and gmail.com.

MWP logs into your email accounts at those sites and analyses the emails (or the first few 100 lines - depending on your "Spam Throttle" settings) sitting in those inboxes. Then depending on your MWP settings, it typically then deletes the emails tagged as spam. The remaining "good" emails stay in your rexsisp.com and gmail inboxes until you fetch them with TB. That could be minutes, hours or days later - up to you.

3. Along those lines, when I download mail into TB, is it pulling messages from the provider's servers (e.g., gmail), or are the messages temporarily residing on MWP servers, or what?

The emails are never pulled down to MWP servers. So when you fetch them with TB, they are being pulled down from your provider's servers.

A tip here. Do NOT have TB set to automatically check for new emails - especially upon TB launch. If you do, you likely will download new (potentially evil) emails MWP has not yet had a chance to analyze.

I use Outlook 2006. I have MWP monitoring 6 different email accounts. In Outlook, I have it set to NEVER automatically look for new emails. I "process" all my emails in MWP. Out of 50 emails, there typically may only be 2 or 3, if that, I want to keep.

Once I am done processing my emails in MWP, I launch Outlook and have it sitting handy (having two monitors makes this simple). I tell MWP to "Check default email accounts" one last time and if no new emails, I quickly tell Outlook to download my new emails. Hopefully, no new emails came in during those few seconds between having MWP check for new emails and my Outlook checking for new emails. In those 2 or 3 seconds, it is possible for Outlook (TB in your case) to pull down a brand new email MWP didn't yet have a chance to check. The chance a brand new email sent to one of your accounts in that 2-3 second interval will never be 100% preventable - so don't dawdle between MWPs last check and you telling TB to fetch your emails.

That is where keeping your OS, TB, and your computer security current comes in - as well as your own user discipline (since the user is ALWAYS the weakest link in security). Before you open any email in TB, make sure it is one MWP has had a chance to check, and that it is one you want. If you see that one snuck in before MWP had a chance to analyze it, and you are not 100% sure it is legit, just delete it.

Edit comment: Fixed a couple typos.

[rexall9000]

What a great answer! Thanks a million, Bill.

[Digerati]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

[break80]

Digerati wrote: A tip here. Do NOT have TB set to automatically check for new emails - especially upon TB launch. If you do, you likely will download new (potentially evil) emails MWP has not yet had a chance to analyze.

I like the tip but how do I accomplish this in Outlook? I must be missing something in my search. I know how to set Outlook to send/receive at an interval like 30 minutes by navigating to Options - Send & Receive - Send/Receive, then set a time interval. But I cannot see any way to stop the checking. Or is there another options somewhere to do your tip?

[Digerati]

I like the tip but how do I accomplish this in Outlook?

I cannot speak for all versions of Outlook. I have Oulook 2016. And see this to learn how to stop Outlook 2016 from sending/receiving when opening. If you have a different version, hopefully the steps will be similar enough to follow.

Let us know if that works for you.