Webmail - You can use Visionary's webmail to log into your email from any computer connected to the Internet via a web browser. Webmail is similar to IMAP, with messages stored on our servers for 90 days. You can log into webmail by visiting http://www.vcn.com/login.php

IMAP - You can use IMAP to log into email from multiple computers and read/send your email stored on Visionary's servers. You need an IMAP-capable email client to create IMAP email accounts on your computer. Once created, your email client will check your email over your internet connection and allow you to manage email directly from our server. We keep emails on our servers for 90 days.

Email lists - You can set your Visionary email box to send a copy of the message to 5 additional users. You can set the email box to retain a copy of the message, or merely forward to all users listed on the box. This is often referred to as a distribution list. This is quite useful if you are a member of a group that emails each other often, or if you have a group of users that all need to receive copies of incoming email.

Message count - You can set the number of messages you want stored on our servers. If the number of messages exceeds the count you set, future messages will be discarded. This feature keeps you from having too many messages when downloading over a slower connection, or control your box in the event you have numerous emails sent to you. Default message count is 5,000 messages.

Mailbox size - You can set your own limit on the size of your email box. If you receive a large file over and over because of an email error, this can protect you from having to download the same file multiple times. We have found message count to be more effective for this, but mailbox size could be handy for those who transfer large files. There is no default mailbox size.

Maximum message size - You can set a limit on the size of any email. This keeps you from receiving messages that are too large to download over a slower connection. Default maximum message size is 20MB.

Auto-reply - You can use auto-reply to advise anyone sending you a message that you are out of the office or out of town. You merely add your message in our interface, and the next person that emails you will receive your auto-reply message stating you'll get back to them when you are able.

Virus filtering - All inbound and outbound messages are filtered for viruses, and these are automatically removed. This protects against email viruses, not viruses obtain through web browsing or other methods. We recommend you use some form of anti-virus software on your computer as well.

Whitelist - You can add any email to the whitelist and the filter will allow all messages from that send through to your box. Also, you can use wildcards, so you can whitelist an entire domain ( *@domain.com), meaning anyone from domain.com can send to you. Other wildcard options are mary@* or *mary*@domain.com, with the first letting any email from Mary through, and the second allowing anyone with mary in their email address through.

Auto-whitelist - Each email you send out is stored in your preferences, and automatically adds to the whitelist. In theory, if you are emailing someone, you will likely want them on your whitelists so they don't get quarantined. The auto-whitelist performs this function. The auto-whitelist default is seven (7) days, but you can change this in your preferences.

Blacklist - Blatant spam - We trim out all messages that are blatant spam, so they don't clutter your spam quarantine. Blatant spam results from very high scores on the spam scale, and currently accounts for more than 2/3 of all spam volume. We monitor blatant spam rules to ensure no valid emails are discarded.

On/off switch - You have the ability to entirely shut off spam filtering. We don't recommend this, as you will be surprised how much spam you will receive when this is off. It is better to slide the spam sensitivity bar down to a lower level so it keeps some spam from reaching your Inbox. If you are worried about missing something, use the custom label feature to tag a message as spam, but still receive in your Inbox.

Quarantine/custom tags - You have the ability of tagging any messages deemed spam with a custom tag in the subject line. For instance, you could tag each message with the word "JUNK", so you know which messages are likely spam, and then set up a rule in your email to put all JUNK messages in another folder. This keeps you from having to check your spam quarantine.

Webmail interface - If you use webmail as your primary email method, you can change the spam options right from webmail, without having to log into your quarantine. This saves an extra step when making changes to the spam filter.

Bayesian filtering - We use Bayesian filtering for all spam messages that aren't on the whitelist or blacklist. Bayesian filtering looks at every word or group of text, and adds them up to compare against other messages to determine if the message is spam. An email with a score of 18.1 would result in the email classed as spam, while a score of 2.0 would likely be delivered to your Inbox. You have control over the Bayesian filter through the slider bar in the user preferences. At any one time, there may be hundreds of thousands of words (an non-word) combinations in the Bayesian database.

Custom rules - These are rules we apply to catch as much spam as possible, and to control the flow of spam across our network. One rule may quarantine any message with a prescription drug reference, while another rule may limit the number of connections to the outbound server in any given minute. Rules are updated daily, and we share rule sets with other providers who have an interest in controlling spam. Rules are applied immediately upon release - if we set up a rule for a new spam message, it applies as soon as it is uploaded.

OCR - Optical Character Recognition is used to scan incoming images (JPEGs and GIFs) for common words that may be spam. If there is a prescription drug reference in an image attached to an email, the OCR system will apply the filter to the image as well, and quarantine the message if the filter rates the message as spam.

User training - If you have received a message that should have been caught, you can add it to the filter by forwarding it to spam@vcn.com. The filter looks at the user-submitted spam and adds to the Bayesian database to score future emails.

Quarantine - We discard all messages that have been in your quarantine for more than 14 days. Your quarantine also cannot grow over 2200 messages in size. If it does, it will be pruned back down to 2000 messages. This keeps your quarantine from becoming too large to load. Many users don't check their quarantine unless they know they've missed an email, and this feature keeps quarantine performance at its best.

Email notifications - This allows you to set up email notifications to you that tell you how many spam messages are in your quarantine. You can change the interval, or turn this off altogether.

Quarantine theme - You can change the colors of your quarantine if yellow is not your color...

Quarantine search - You can search the quarantine for messages with keywords in the headers of messages (from, to, subject, etc). This helps you quickly find a message that may have been quarantined.

Webmail - To login to webmail, go to http://www.vcn.com/login.php and use form provided under "Webmail".

Howie Filter - To login to your spam/virus filter, go to http://www.vcn.com/login.php and use the form provided under "Howie Filter".