This is an auto-generated response designed to let you know that our system received
your support inquiry and a Support Representative will review your question and
respond to you soon. Please note that you will not receive a reply if you respond
directly to this message.
IF YOU ARE NOT A HOTMAIL CUSTOMER AND ARE REPORTING SPAM FROM HOTMAIL:
Please note that we will need to see full message headers when you forward the
offending mail to Hotmail. Full message headers are required for us to take any
necessary action on the reported account. If you need help on how to view complete
header information, please consult the Help associated with your e-mail program.
IF YOU ARE A HOTMAIL CUSTOMER:
While you are awaiting response from a Support Representative, here is some additional
information about how you can help protect your account. We realize that this e-mail
message is lengthy, but please read the entire message below because the answer to
your question may be included.
Within this message is information on:
I. Limiting Junk E-mail ("spam")
II. Turning on the Junk Mail Filter
III. Reporting Unwanted, Abusive, or Fraudulent E-mail
We strictly enforce the MSN Website Terms of Use and Notices(TOU), which forbids
e-mail abuse. We ask for your support to help Hotmail prevent unwanted, abusive, or
fraudulent e-mail.
*************************
I. Limiting Junk E-mail ("spam")
Hotmail employs the following methods to help protect you against spam:
- We limit the number of individual recipients for each e-mail message.
- We don't allow numeric characters at the beginning of an e-mail address. Any
Hotmail sign-in name beginning with a numeric character is a forgery.
- We include "X-[Originating-IP]: [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]" in the header of each e-mail
message that Hotmail delivers. Any e-mail message without this entry in its full
header didn't come from Hotmail.
- We use industry standard security technologies to help block our relay hosts from
those who send spam.
- We take legal action against senders of unsolicited bulk e-mail who forge Hotmail
addresses.
List brokers and individuals who send spam use many tools and techniques to gather
e-mail addresses wherever they appear online. Here are some suggestions to help you
reduce the amount of spam that you receive.
Do:
- Remove yourself from any unprotected member directory.
- Open another e-mail account that you can use as an address for newsgroup and
listserve publications or for posting on bulletin boards.
- Use the "Block Sender" option in Hotmail to block the delivery of e-mail from a
specific sender.
- Use the Junk Mail Filter feature of Hotmail to filter spam into your Junk Mail
folder.
Don't:
- Use your primary account to post to an online service or any Internet bulletin
board.
- Use your primary account to post in a Usenet newsgroup or mailing list.
- Spend time in chat rooms or an online service that displays your address of your
primary account.
- Include yourself in an unprotected member directory of an online service (the
Hotmail Member Directory helps protect you from spam because we do not display member
addresses).
- Reply to unsolicited e-mail messages with a "remove" request because this only
validates to the sender that your address is current.
*************************
II. Turning on the Junk Mail Filter
The Junk Mail folder uses innovative technologies to help protect you from unsolicited
e-mail messages (also known as "spam"). Hotmail examines all incoming mail that you
have not blocked or filtered. If it determines that the message is junk mail, Hotmail
directs the message to the Junk Mail folder. You can specify how long messages remain
in this folder before they are automatically deleted.
>>> To set the Junk Mail Filter
1. Click "Options" to the right of the "Contacts" tab. The "Options" page appears.
2. Under "Mail Handling", click the "Junk Mail Filter" link. The "Junk Mail Filter"
page appears.
3. Select "Default", "Enhanced" or "Exclusive" to enable the filter. See below for
descriptions of what happens with each filter level.
4. Click "Save Changes" to save your settings or "Cancel" to return to the "Options"
page.
What is filtered at each level setting:
- Default vs. Enhanced. The Junk Mail Filter looks at a number of different clues in
e-mail and tries to determine whether the message you received is junk mail. Setting
the filter to "Enhanced" results in a stricter interpretation of what mail is valid
than setting it to "Default". An "Enhanced" filter can result in more valid mail being
filtered to the Junk Mail folder than you want, and you may need to check the folder
from time to time to ensure that nothing you want has been defined as "junk". If you
find valid mail in your Junk Mail folder, select the message and click the "This is
not Junk" button.
- Exclusive: An "Exclusive" filter means that messages reach your Inbox only if they
are from an address in your Contacts. This uses encryption to help protect against
junk mail. By setting your Junk Mail Filter to "Exclusive", you accept only e-mail
from your friends. This is e-mail equivalent of "don’t talk to strangers".
Hotmail helps you to maintain your Contacts by offering to add e-mail addresses to
your Contacts when you send out e-mail.
Note: If you want to accept mail from an address but don’t want that address in your
Contacts, you can add an address to your "Safe List" (You may want to use this for
newsletters, for example).
IMPORTANT: Remember to check your Junk Mail folder at regular intervals to ensure that
the filter catches only the messages that you want to delete. For example, mailing
list mail and mail forwarded from another e-mail address may be filtered to the Junk
Mail folder. To ensure that these e-mail messages go to your Inbox, create Hotmail
filters or add the sender's address to the Safe List.
>>> To add an address to your Safe List
1. Click "Options" to the right of the "Contacts" tab. The "Options" page appears.
2. Under "Mail Handling", click the "Safe List" link. The "Safe List" page appears.
3. In the box at the left of the page, type the address.
4. Click the "Add >>" button to add the address.
5. Click "OK" to save your settings or "Cancel" to return to the "Options" page.
>>> To change the status of a junk mail message
If you receive a message in the Junk Mail folder that you do not consider junk mail,
do one of the following:
- In the Junk Mail folder, select the check boxes next to the messages that you do
not consider junk mail and click the "This is not Junk" button. The selected messages
are moved to your Inbox, and messages from these senders are not sent to the Junk Mail
folder in the future.
- In the Junk Mail folder, select the check boxes next to messages and select a
folder from the "Move to" drop-down list above the message list. This method moves the
selected messages to that folder, but does not guarantee that messages from that
sender are not sent to the Junk Mail folder in the future. Follow the direction above
to ensure future mails from that sender arrive in your Inbox.
Note: Mailing list mail and mail forwarded from another e-mail address may be filtered
to the Junk Mail folder. To ensure that these e-mail messages go to your Inbox, create
Hotmail filters or add the senders of these messages to your Safe List.
*************************
III. Reporting Unwanted, Abusive, or Fraudulent E-mail
To report spam you will need to forward it with full headers.
>>> To report junk mail coming from an MSN Hotmail account
Not all junk mail you receive from an @hotmail.com address is from a legitimate
Hotmail account. For Hotmail to assist you, please identify the true origin of the
e-mail as follows:
1. On the "Options" page, click "Mail Display Settings" under "Additional Options".
2. Under "Message Headers", click "Full", and then click "OK".
3. Search for the following text in the message header: "X-originating-IP".
An example looks like this:
"Sat 02 June 2001 13:47:27 PST
X-Originating IP: [123.4.567.89] From: "Scarlett O' Hara"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
If you find an X-originating-IP line in the message header, forward a complete copy of
the message, including the full message headers to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
If you cannot locate this line in the message header, the message has been forged and
is not from a legitimate Hotmail account. Unfortunately, we are unable to take action
against this account because it does not implicate a Hotmail member.
>>> To report junk mail coming from an account other than MSN Hotmail
1. Follow steps 1-2 above to display full header information.
2. In the header, look at the last "received" notation to locate the domain it came
from (the e-mail service provider). It will look something like "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
3. Forward a complete copy of the message, including the full message header to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or, if the ISP does not have an abuse address, send your complaint
to Webmaster at the domain name.
>>> To view full headers in Microsoft Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook
1. On the unopened mail, place your cursor over the mail, right-click, and click
"Options".
2. Under "Internet headers", copy the contents of the full header.
3. Follow the steps outlined above in the section titled "Report junk mail coming
from an MSN Hotmail account".
>>> To view full headers in MSN Explorer or MSN 8
1. Open the message, and then click "More" in the upper right corner.
2. Click "Message Source". The message opens in a new window with all of the header
information visible.
3. Follow the steps outlined above in the section titled "Report junk mail coming
from an MSN Hotmail account".
You can keep up to date with the fight against spam at:
http://www.cauce.org/
Remember that MSN Hotmail also has comprehensive online help available--just click
"Help" in the upper right corner.
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