We provide an email account for all our users. If you decide you don't want one, we will be glad to set it up so mail is forwarded to another account. Your email address is
username@shadlen.org
where username is the username you use to log in to our Linux workstations. There are several ways available for checking your mail. We have a secure web email client, squirrelmail. Pine is also available. To access pine, log into any of the linux machines and type pine at the command line. You can also use any of the standard email clients, such as Thunderbird (Mozilla Mail), Mac Mail, and Outlook Express. This web page describes how to configure Thunderbird to access our email server, but the instructions are essentially the same for configuring the other clients, you just have to figure out where the settings are located.
Here is a table with the important settings for all email clients, and below we describe how to set up Thunderbird as an example.
| Configuring Mail Clients | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incoming Server | IMAP server | imap.shadlen.org | port 993 | SSL |
| Outgoing Server | SMTP server | smtp.shadlen.org | port 587* | TLS |
First we will configure Thunderbird to get its mail from our server. Run Thunderbird and select "Mail & Newsgroups" from the Window menu. If you have NO accounts currently defined, Thunderbird may automatically bring up the "add account" wizard, but, if not, click on an existing account then under the tools menu, click on "Account Settings...". If you have no accounts already set up, you'll use the "wizard" to start setting up your account, but it does NOT give you access to all the options you'll need to setup your UW email account.
If you get the wizard, check Email account and Continue, if you get an Account Settings window, see the next paragraph. In the Idenity window, type your name and email address (username@shadlen.org), and Continue. Next window is Server Information, check IMAP, Incoming Server is imap.shadlen.org and Outgoing Server is smtp.shadlen.org, click Continue. User Names for incoming and outgoing are your username given when you joined the lab (same as in username@shadlen.org), Continue. Local "Account Name" is whatever you want to use to identify your email account in the Thunderbird Mail window. Continue to the last page, and click Done, although you aren't actually done yet... Now you need to go to the tools menu, and click on "Account Settings...", and continue to the next paragraph.
If you have started to set up your shadlen account, click on your shadlen account, "Server Settings", and add any settings described below that are not there already. If you haven't started to set up your shadlen account yet, in the window that opens, click on "Add Account...".
Server Name is imap.shadlen.org, and the port to use is 993. In the Security Settings box, make sure SSL is clicked, but use secure authentication should not be. Under Server Settings is a button marked "Advanced...", click on it, and a new window will open. Under IMAP server directory, type mail. Make sure "Show only subscribed folders" is not checked, and that "Server supports folders that contain sub-folders and messages" is checked. At the bottom of the box, check "Allow server to override these namespaces", and click OK. You should now be able to check your mail.
To set up sending mail, click on Outgoing Server (SMTP) (back in the "Account Settings..." window). Click "Add...", and in the new Settings window, put the following in the Server Name box: smtp.shadlen.org. The port should be set to 587. Check the box "Use name and password", and check TLS, and finally OK.
One more OK, and you should be good to go, although you might want to tweak a few more settings to get your mail client to behave how you want.
You can also access your email on the web from a browser by going to our squirrel mail site. This is also where you go to configure the spam filter and set up vacation mail, other mail filters and forwarding.
We run a spam filter, which has been working pretty well lately. You need to configure the spam filter using squirrel mail, but it will affect all of your mail no matter how you access mail, once it is configured. To configure the spam filter, open your account in squirrel mail. I recommend creating a folder to put spam in, so you can check it occasionally to make sure real mail is not ending up in your spam folder. You should do this fairly frequently when you first set up the filter. Once you have created your folder, click on filters at the top of the squirrel mail page. On the new page, click on Add a New Rule. Leave the Header menu as is, and go to the "To: or CC:" drop down menu. Select "X-Spam-Flag". Leave the contains drop down menu as is, and type YES into the blank on the end. Under Action, fill in "Move to Folder-", and you will be able to navigate to your newly created spam folder. Your screen should look something like this:
Now click "Add New Rule" at the bottom, and your filter should start putting spam in your spam folder! You should periodically empty your spam folder, or it will get very large, and may cause you slowdowns when you are using mail.
If you find that the spam filter is not working well for you, you can help me to teach it to work better. If the filter is not catching a lot of your spam, set up a new spam folder with a different name (more_spam or something). Move spam that you find in your inbox into this folder, and let me know that you have started doing this. I will tell the spam filter to look in this folder every night, so it can "learn" what your spam looks like. Every once in a while, delete the contents. If you are having problems with good mail ending up in your spam folder, you can set up a new folder called ham (actually you can call it whatever you want). Put good mail in there that you have found in your spam folder. It also helps to put other random mail in there that is not spam. Again, let me know about it, and I will have the spam filter learn what your good mail looks like, and again remember to periodically delete the contents.
* It is possible to use port 25, however, email sent on this port will be processed by the spam filter, which is clearly unnecessary for outgoing mail, and can cause problems if you are using a questionable ip (especially airports).