Junk mail confusion - is this spam?

I have long been confused by certain behaviour of Mac Mail.
When Mail identifies spam (on my Mac, at least), it marks it by changing the text colour in the preview pane brown and moves it to the Junk folder, as per my preferences.
However, I get some mail which does not qualify as Junk Mail or Spam as, according to the rules, it is from a previous recipient but Mail leaves it in the Inbox (or moves it, depending on my custom rules) and marks it by making the background of the preview pane brown but the text is still black.
If I click on this mail and mark it as spam, it then moves to the Junk folder. If I then click on it and mark it as not spam, it changes to the normal black text on white background in the preview pane - so there is something which makes me think that this is related to Junk/Spam. I have messed around with flags but they do not seem to have anything to do with this.
I really don't have a clue why this happens and have searched for years to find out without any success.
Any ideas?

In addition to Corky's suggestion on the right hand side of your profile page is this box:
Click Manage email notifications. This manages any current email notifications you are receiving.

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As a new user I received an answer to my question but how do I stop the barrage of incoming mail - local advisor suggested Junk mail, but is this the answer?

As a new user I received an answer to my questions, but now my mailbox is flooding with the Support Communitees Aperture updates.
How can I stop this? My local advisor suggested Junk mail, but is this the answer?
Thanks

In addition to Corky's suggestion on the right hand side of your profile page is this box:
Click Manage email notifications. This manages any current email notifications you are receiving.

Spam/Junk mail--am I "sending" spam?

I have been receiving a large amount of junk mail lately--50+ messages a day. I also have been receiving a large amount of "rejection" messages from accounts that I don't even know from places all over the world.
From reading some threads here, it seems that an infected Windows machine somewhere that has my email address may be sending these rogue messages....
This morning I got a message from my mail provider stating that I have exceeded my "daily limit" on outgoing messages...I'm not sure if this was an issue with their server (an hour later it worked fine) or if my Mac is actually sending some rogue messages or if an infected machine is actually using my mail server/account to send messages.
Thanks!

Infected or not, no machine can actually send spam through your email account unless it has that account's password. The fact that you are receiving both lots of spam & lots of rejection notices indicates that your email address (but not your password) is probably on one or more spammer's "known good" address lists. These lists provide not just target addresses for spam but also forged sender ones to make spam look more legitimate to others.
Your provider probably imposes limits on the number of messages you can send, the size of each message, the number of recipients per message or per day, or some combination of these. If you are sure you know the limits for your account & have not exceeded any of them, you should contact the provider to find out why the notice was sent, since this may mean that someone does have your account password.

Client doesn't activate junk mail handling

Hi All
This started in the GWIA forum, but there we found out that this was not the GWIA not doing things correctly.
I have a spam filter set up in front of the GWIA (ScrollOut F1).
That together with GWIA tags mails as spam, but when it arrives in the client the properties shows
Junk Mail Handling Evaluation Results
Message is eligible for Junk Mail handling
x-spam-flag was set for this message
So it seems that the GWIA does it correctly, and marks the mail.
Then below I see this:
Junk Mail settings when this message was delivered
Junk Mail handling disabled by User
Junk List is not enabled
Junk Mail using personal address books is not enabled
Junk iCal Mail using personal address books is not enabled
Block List is not enabled
If I look in the Administration Console Client Options I see this:
Enable Junk Mail Handling (X)
Enable Junk Mail using Junk Mail Lists ( )
Enable Junk Mail using Personal Address Book ( )
Enable Junk Calendaring using Personal Address Book ( )
Auto-Delete after: (31) days (X)
Enable Blocked Mail using Block Mail Lists ( )
The client is version 14.0.1 13-11-2014. PO GroupWise Agent Build Version 14.0.1 -118418, GroupWise Agent Build Date 11-12-14, GroupWise Resource Build Date 04-07-14.
I've also tried locking the settings on domain and on user in client settings, but that didn't help.

Hi,
Are you in a position to open a Service Request with Novell Technical Support?
I have picked up that this "bug" has been reported previously to Novell, but I can't see the details of it. I'm going to ask around in the backrooms to see if I can get this tested for you. I'll let you know if I get any information back from the kind folk that I'm asking.
In the interim, test with "Enable Junk Mail using Junk Mail Lists" and see if it makes any difference. I know that in the GWIA thread I asked you to turn this off, but I was just testing something.
Keep us up to date with your testing progress.
Cheers,

Urgent help needed with un-removable junk mail that froze Mail!!

Urgent help needed with un-removable junk mail that froze Mail?
I had 7 junk mails come in this morning, 5 went straight to junk and 2 more I junked.
When I clicked on the Junk folder to empty it, it froze Mail and I can't click on anything, I had to force quit Mail and re-open it. When it re-opens the Junk folder is selected and it is froze, I can't do anything.
I repaired permissions, it did nothing.
I re-booted my computer, on opening Mail the In folder was selected, when I selected Junk, again, it locks up Mail and I can't select them to delete them?
Anyone know how I can delete these Junk mails from my Junk folder without having to open Mail to do it as it would appear this will be the only solution to the problem.

Hi Nigel
If you hold the Shift key when opening the mail app, it will start up without any folders selected & no emails showing. Hopefully this will enable you to start Mail ok.
Then from the Mail menus - choose Mailbox-Erase Junk Mail . The problem mail should now be in the trash. If there's nothing you want to retain from the Trash, you should now choose Mailbox- Erase Deleted Messages....
If you need to double-check the Trash for anything you might want to retain, then view the Trash folder first, before using Erase Junk Mail & move anything you wish to keep to another folder.
The shift key starts Mail in a sort of Safe mode.

Junk mail issues

i have at least three email addresses that always end up in as junk mail, even after adding the addresses to my contacts list, my VIP list, and modifying junk mail settings. WTH?!!? Any suggestions?

Hello ,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.l
You can train Mail to stop thinking those messages are junk mail.
Filtering Junk Mail: Mail automatically detects junk mail messages (also called "spam") and visually identifies them by displaying them in brown text in your inbox. If Mail mistakenly marks something as "junk", you can click the Not Junk button to help train Mail. If a message isn't marked as "junk" but should be, click the Junk button to help train Mail to better identify junk messages.
Mac Basics: Mail (Mac OS X v10.6 and earlier)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2500
Take care,
Alex H.

Is junk mail the same as bulk mail?

I'm a bit concerned that I'm missing e-mails as sometimes it said it is downloading 6 messages for example and only 3 seem to appear. I don't have a junk e-mail folder to check. I have bulk e-mail which are kind of junk, but do any go anywhere else? Someone said on another discussion go to mail - preferences - enable junk mail filtering. This says that I have junk mail filtering. But when I tried to tick it to move to a junk mail folder it said 'Depending on how you have set your Mailbox Behaviors preferences in the Accounts pane of Mail Preferences, messages in the Junk mailbox might be deleted automatically.' When I look at this option the 'store junk mail on the server' option is unchecked. Does this mean that some messages are being deleted and not stored. I do get some messages which mail tells me it has designated as junk and asks me to confirm.
I just don't want to be losing important things. What is the best way to have this all set up?
Thank you, Rachel

I now seem to have a Junk folder so I guess my problem is solved, even though I have no idea how.

Junk Mail Filtering wont launch - displays Unknown

As of yesterday junk mail filtering will not launch when the mail service is running. On the Overview window it displays:
Mail Service : Running
Outgoing SMTP : Running
etc
Junk Mail Filtering : Unknown
This is Leopard Server 10.5.7 running on an Xserve G5 with 2.5GB.
The other strange thing is that when viewing the logs, all the logs are visible and displayed except for the Junk Mail/Virus Scanning, which displays Not Available at the top of the window and 'The selected log file does not exist' across the middle of the window.
I have tried in the Maintenance section to Reconstruct all the mailbox accounts and also Repair under the Database tab to no avail. Have also confirmed that the /var/virusmails/ directory is empty.
Would appreciate any help on this, but am a novice so would be very grateful for quite specific instructions.
Thanks a lot,
Stephen

David, Thanks a lot for your help, but unfortunately this didn't seem to do anything. Here is the results of what you suggested:
xserve1:~ admin$ sudo chown -R amavisd:amavisd /var/amavis
xserve1:~ admin$ ls -l /var/amavis
total 16
-rw-r----- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 0 5 Aug 14:11 amavisd.lock
srwxr-x--- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 0 5 Aug 13:51 amavisd.sock
-rwxr-xr-x 1 _amavisd _amavisd 484 19 Jan 2009 amavisd_cleanup
drwxr-xr-x 9 _amavisd _amavisd 306 5 Aug 13:51 db
drwxr-xr-x 126 _amavisd _amavisd 4284 5 Aug 14:11 tmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 3 27 Sep 2007 whitelist_sender
xserve1:~ admin$ amavisd
WARN: running under user '501' (UID=501), the config file specifies $daemonuser='amavisd' (UID=83)
Failed to open log file /var/log/amavis.log: Permission denied at /usr/bin/amavisd line 1590.
xserve1:~ admin$
Thanks,
Stephen

I have enabled junk mail filtering to move designated junk mail to junk mailbox when it arrives. But it no longer does so. Why not? I am using an iMac with version 10.10.1

I have enabled junk mail filtering to move designated junk mail to junk mailbox when it arrives. But it no longer does so. Why not? I am using an iMac with version 10.10.1

Try resetting the Junk Mail filter. This will start it on a new learning curve. Mail/Preferences/Junk Mail.

Thunderbird has totally blocked junk mail, how do I unblock it?

Thunderbird won't receive any junk mail whatsoever, from time to time some emails labeled junk aren't as such. This is quite annoying as it forces me to use other email programs, how do I get Thunderbird receiving junk mail?

Is this a POP account? Where is the junk mail located in the Hot mail folders? Thunderbird only connects to the Inbox of POP accounts. If the messages are not in the Inbox of a POP account it cannot download them. Fix the Hotmail filtering so it stops placing wanted messages in a junk folder.

I use yahoo business mail, but I am getting hundreds of spam message on my Mac Air. I don't get them on my iPhone. Ive run a Malware app. Does anyone know how I can stop getting all this junk mail. Thanks

How do i stop getting spam coming to my mailbox using Yahoo Business mail? I use Yahoo Biz Mail, but am now getting a huge amount of spam. I don't get any using the same address on my iPhone. I ran a Malware app - didn't help. Any ideas??

Hello SkeeterOz,
It sounds like you’re seeing spam emails in the Mail application on your MacBook Air, but you aren’t seeing those spam emails on your iPhone. The article linked below will walk you through enabling Junk Mail filtering in Mail and specifying what you want to do with the emails that are filtered.
Mail (Mavericks): Change the junk mail filter
I hope this helps.
-Jason

I have received email saying my Apple ID has been used to purchase a Camera from AppStore,purchaser was from Poland.I have not purchased such item, am being asked to verify my details/password etc.Is this Junk mail or spam?

Have received email saying my Apple ID has been used to purchase a Camera, the purchase was from Poland. It is asking me to verify me details and change password etc.
This email went into my Junk Mail.
Question is...do I just ignore it or what?

Scam, as in phishing email.
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/security/index.html

I have several imap accounts and want to click one button to empty all junk mail at once. How can I do this?

I currently run Apple Mail on Lion with several IMAP acocunts... I know that there is a right-click option to remove "all deleted" messages but what If I wanted to do the same for all messages marked at junk in all accounts. It's really a pain to have to click on each account, select all the junk in the junk folder, press delete over and over.. and then right-click and select "Erase Deleted Items" Why the heck can't they just have "Erase All Spam Items" also... ?? Or how about "Erase all SPAM and DELETED ITEMS from ALL accounts" ????

I found the solution and here's how to correct things:
Apple Mail
Mail has a feature, accessible from the Mailbox Behaviors (or Special Mailboxes) tab of the Accounts preferences, that can automatically delete old spam messages from the Junk mailbox. You can use this feature if you tell SpamSieve to put spam messages in the Junk mailbox instead of the Spam mailbox.
(Note: If you do this, be careful not to use the Junk and Not Junk buttons that will appear in Mail when the Junk mailbox is active; you should always use the SpamSieve - Train as Good and SpamSieve - Train as Spam commands instead. You can use the Customize Toolbar… command in Mail’s View menu to remove the Junk button from the toolbar. Also, if you select a message that SpamSieve has classified as spam, Mail will show a banner saying that you marked it as junk. Ignore this.)
Make sure that Mail knows which mailbox is your Junk mailbox by selecting it and choosing Mailbox ‣ Use This Mailbox For ‣ Junk.
To tell SpamSieve to use the Junk mailbox, open Mail’s Preferences window and click on Junk Mail. Make sure that Enable junk mail filtering is checked. Select Move it to the Junk mailbox. If Mail asks whether you want to move all the messages to the Junk mailbox, say No. Next, select Perform custom actions. Then click theAdvanced… button and edit the rule such that the conditions don’t match any messages. For example, use these two conditions:
Message is addressed to my Full Name
Message is not addressed to my Full Name
and set it to If all of the following conditions are met. Click OK to close the sheet. Do not make any further changes to the Junk Mail preferences.
Go to the Rules section of Mail’s preferences and change the SpamSieve rule to move the messages to the Junk mailbox instead of the Spam mailbox. Finally, chooseSpamSieve - Change Settings from Mail’s Message menu and, when prompted, say that the name of your spam mailbox is Junk.

Junk Mail Sreening dosn't flag spam

Hello,
I'm trying to get "Junk Mail Sreening" (as they call it in the manual) to work but having little or no success.
We're running on a 10.4.6 Server and configuration chnages have been made with "Server Admin".
First thing I did was enabling virus scanning which worked right out of the box, wih one single exception:
Infected mails won't get deleted as configered in SA but rather will be quarantined in /var/virusmails.
However what doesn't seen to work is junk mail screening.
Here are the relevant settings from within Server Admin in SA's plist format:
<key>required_hits</key>
<integer>5</integer>
<key>spam_action</key>
<string>deliver</string>
<key>spam_enabled</key>
<true/>
<key>spamloglevel</key>
<string>warn</string>
<key>spamnotifyadmin</key>
<false/>
<key>spamnotify_adminemail</key>
<string>[email protected]</string>
<key>spamoklanguages</key>
<string>en fr de</string>
<key>spamoklocales</key>
<string>en</string>
<key>spam_quarantine</key>
<string>[email protected]</string>
<key>spamrewritesubject</key>
<true/>
<key>spamscanenabled</key>
<true/>
<key>spamsubjecttag</key>
<string>* JUNK MAIL *</string>
which result in the folling settings within /etc/amavisd.conf
$satag_leveldeflt = -999;
$satag2_leveldeflt = 5.0;
$sakill_leveldeflt = 22.0;
$saspam_subjecttag = '* JUNK MAIL *';
$saspam_modifiessubj = 1;
I then sent myself ([email protected] in the following log) a GTUBE junk mail (see http://spamassassin.apache.org/gtube/) from a mail account in a different domain (here: mail.sender.org) which should trigger the recognition of that particular mail being spam and to take the appropriate action as defined in SA.
Here's what's in /var/log/amavisd.log:
Jun 16 12:10:58 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) ESMTP::10024 /var/amavis/amavis-20060616T121058-21817: <[email protected]> -> <[email protected]> Received: SIZE=1660 from mail.receiver.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail.receiver.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 21817-01 for <[email protected]>; Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:10:58 +0200 (CEST)
Jun 16 12:10:58 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) Checking: [IP_of_sender] <[email protected]> -> <[email protected]>
Jun 16 12:10:59 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) p001 1 Content-Type: text/plain, size: 504 B, name:
Jun 16 12:10:59 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) WARN: all primary virus scanners failed, considering backups
Jun 16 12:11:02 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) local delivery: <[email protected]> -> <spam-quarantine>, mbx=/var/virusmails/spam-a2740fd1baff60a1aa0bfb88a79036d6-20060616-121058-21817 -01.gz
Jun 16 12:11:02 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) SPAM, <[email protected]> -> <[email protected]>, Yes, hits=1000.124 tag=-999 tag2=5 kill=22 tests=GTUBE, NOREALNAME, quarantine spam-a2740fd1baff60a1aa0bfb88a79036d6-20060616-121058-21817-01 (spam-quarantine)
Jun 16 12:11:02 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) FWD via SMTP: [127.0.0.1]:10025 <[email protected]> -> <[email protected]>
Jun 16 12:11:02 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) Passed, <[email protected]> -> <[email protected]>, quarantine spam-a2740fd1baff60a1aa0bfb88a79036d6-20060616-121058-21817-01, Message-ID: <20060616101057.8DB8556A84@web2>, Hits: 1000.124
Jun 16 12:11:02 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) Passed SPAM, <[email protected]> -> <[email protected]>, Hits: 1000.124, tag=-999, tag2=5, kill=22, 0/Y/Y/Y
Jun 16 12:11:02 mail.receiver.com /usr/bin/amavisd[21817]: (21817-01) TIMING [total 3276 ms] - SMTP EHLO: 15 (0%), SMTP pre-MAIL: 2 (0%), mkdir tempdir: 1 (0%), create email.txt: 1 (0%), SMTP pre-DATA-flush: 6 (0%), SMTP DATA: 1 (0%), body_hash: 2 (0%), mkdir parts: 2 (0%), mime_decode: 23 (1%), get-file-type1: 20 (1%), decompose_part: 2 (0%), parts_decode: 0 (0%), AV-scan-1: 2830 (86%), spam-wb-list: 4 (0%), SA msg read: 1 (0%), SA parse: 5 (0%), SA check: 211 (6%), update_cache: 1 (0%), write-header: 23 (1%), save-to-local-mailbox: 76 (2%), post-do_spam: 3 (0%), fwd-connect: 16 (0%), fwd-mail-from: 2 (0%), fwd-rcpt-to: 3 (0%), write-header: 5 (0%), fwd-data: 0 (0%), fwd-data-end: 3 (0%), fwd-rundown: 2 (0%), mainlogentry: 13 (0%), update_snmp: 0 (0%), unlink-1-files: 2 (0%), rundown: 1 (0%)
As ar as I see, SpamAssassin gets called and rates the mail as spam with a hit-rate of 1000.124 using its buil-in rule GTUBE (see line 6 of the log)
Since the hit rate is far above $sakill_leveldeflt, I would expect both addition of X-Spam-Deteced headers and modification of the mail's subject line, but not even spam-info-headers are added to the mail. The only header that gets added (and the only proof that makes me believe the mail really has gone through amavisd screening) is
X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at mail.receiver.com
Curently this looks like a major problem in amavisd but I have no clue what to do now.
horst

Does it help if you have this?
dfwserver1:~ root# postconf -n
always_bcc =
command_directory = /usr/sbin
config_directory = /etc/postfix
content_filter = smtp-amavis:[127.0.0.1]:10024
daemon_directory = /usr/libexec/postfix
debugpeerlevel = 2
enableserveroptions = yes
html_directory = no
inet_interfaces = all
localrecipientmaps =
luser_relay = keith
mail_owner = postfix
mailboxsizelimit = 0
mailbox_transport = cyrus
mailq_path = /usr/bin/mailq
manpage_directory = /usr/share/man
mapsrbldomains =
messagesizelimit = 12582912
mydestination = $myhostname,localhost.$mydomain,localhost,mail.dfwdesignsource.com,dfwdesignsou rce.com
mydomain = dfwdesignsource.com
mydomain_fallback = localhost
myhostname = mail.dfwdesignsource.com
mynetworks = 127.0.0.1/32,71.154.29.157/32,192.168.31.8/32,mail.allarycorp.com,allarycorp.co m,12.226.175.43,66.106.197.244,67.155.157.2,66.106.197.242,dfwdesignsource.com,m ail.dfwdesignsource.com,67.155.157.3,66.106.197.245
mynetworks_style = host
newaliases_path = /usr/bin/newaliases
queue_directory = /private/var/spool/postfix
readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix
sample_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix/examples
sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail
setgid_group = postdrop
smtpdclientrestrictions = permit_mynetworks rejectrblclient sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org rejectrblclient relays.ordb.org permit
smtpdpw_server_securityoptions = login,plain,cram-md5
smtpdrecipientrestrictions = permitsasl_authenticated,permit_mynetworks,reject_unauthdestination,permit
smtpdsasl_authenable = yes
smtpdtls_keyfile =
smtpduse_pwserver = yes
unknownlocal_recipient_rejectcode = 550
virtualmailboxdomains = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual_domains
virtual_transport = lmtp:unix:/var/imap/socket/lmtp

Is there a comprehensive list of what X-Spam headers Apple Mail will look at when determining junk mail status?

Apple Mail has a preference to 'Trust junk mail headers in messages' but I can not find a list of what those headers are. By trial and error I've learned the "X-Spam-Flag: YES" will work (exactly that, no extra info), but I'd like to know what other options there are... particularly if I can send a score/rating back and have it look at that.
But I can't find a list of supported headers. The Internet is full of "common spam headers" and yet none of them actually seem to work -- and lots of people who can't get it working with spamassassin which is incredibly common...
So... is there such a list?

I'm in the process of trying to get this information for a client. Even with a paid AppleCare agreement, the only answer I'm getting is "look in the forums" and "look on the developer site" (although I have to give credit to the Tier-1 rep who's trying to help me.) The impression I'm getting is that they consider an exact list of header names to be proprietary information for some reason, and are going to great pains to try not to give out the information, but also to not create ill will amongst their customers by explicitly saying "that's proprietary".

Junk mail confusion - is this spam?

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