Common Issues - Clarahost Email

Clarahost Frequently Asked Questions - Email

• How can I check my email?
• How big is my email inbox?
• How can I redirect my email to another account?
• How do I create an automatic reply to emails while I am on holiday?
• Do you provide any spam filters?
• I seem to be receiving email that is not addressed to me, why is this?
• Why have I suddenly started to receive lots of "message delivery failed" emails?
• How can I view the full headers of an email?
• Will my email account close if I do not use it?
• I am having difficulty sending email - why is this?

How can I check my email?

You can check your email account either using a mail client, such as Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, MS Outlook, or for occasional use through our Webmail service site. If you would like to use a mail client, we have provided guides on setting up your mail using the most popular software in our Email support section.

How big is my email inbox?

We limit the size of your mailbox in two ways:

Size in MB
Volume of messages stored

For example on our Clarahost Light package 300mb / 5000 messages is the limit imposed currently per mailbox. If you use your POP box as intended there are very few instances where this limit is not adequate, after all - POP boxes are not meant to be used as a permanent online storage facility. That said some of our other packages do offer larger quotas. We will automatically warn you when you reach 90% of your quota, by contacting you via your email address.

How can I redirect my email to another account?

You can do this in one of two ways that we offer via means of online managment. Either via your Domain Management Suite (DMS) under the Email section, or via our Message Filtering options within the Webmail service. However, email accounts will be suspended if they are not accessed for 120 days. If you choose to redirect your mail to another address, please be sure to login to your account occasionally in order to keep it active.

How do I create an automatic reply to emails while I am on holiday?

Using the Message filtering options located within Webmail service, you can create an automatic reply to emails while you are away, using the "Vacation message" function. Please be advised the start time needs to be specified in GMT (+00), and only one vacation message is sent to each unique sender. Also Clara email accounts will be temporarily suspended if they are not accessed for 120 days. If you choose to set a vacation message, please be sure to login to your account occasionally in order to keep it active.

Do you provide any spam filters?

Claranet provides you with the capability of creating basic filters which scan your email for spam messages before it is retrieved by your email client. Please visit our Webmail service, and navigate to the "Message Filtering" link. You can choose to either immediately delete spam, or have it redirected to a different email address.

An example filter you can set-up.

Header:- X-Sender-Verification-Failed
Predicate:- matches wildcard
Pattern:- *
Action:- Throw Away

We can also offer extensive anti-spam services including Claranet Unified Email Protect, and Border Scout. For further information on this type of service, please contact our sales team on 0845 355 2000.

I seem to be receiving email that is not addressed to me, why is this?

When you receive an email, you can see who it is from, the date it was sent and the address it was sent to. However, the "to" and "from" fields that you see are just for display purposes. An email is actually made up of a dozen or so different parts (you may see this referred to as the "full headers" of an email), and the genuine "to" and "from" fields are included within this. This is why, if ever an email is BCC'd (Blind Carbon Copied) to you, or if you are a member of a mailing list, you will see that the "to" email address is different from your own.

Unfortunately, spammers use this functionality to trick people into believing that their account is broken, or has been hi-jacked. If you ever see an email in your inbox that appears to have been sent to someone else, there is nothing to worry about. It is possible to set up a mail filter to delete any email that is not addressed to you, but this will also stop mail being BCC'd to you, and will delete many emails from mailing lists.

Why have I suddenly started to receive lots of "message delivery failed" emails?

These types of message are called bouncebacks, and they occur when an email is sent to an address that either does not exist, or is unreachable. If you are unexpectedly receiving an influx of these messages, there are two plausible explanations. One possibility is that your email address is being spoofed by a spammer, in the manner mentioned above. If this is the case, sadly there is little you can do to stop this, though you may be able to find the source of the email from the full headers of the message.

The second, and more likely reason is that you have a worm or virus on your machine that is using your computer to send out multiple unsolicited emails. Please be sure that you are running up-to-date firewall and anti-virus software.

How can I view the full headers of an email?

This varies between email clients, please see your help file within your chosen email program for details of how to view the message headers.

Will my email account close if I do not use it?

Claranet email addresses will be temporarily suspended if they are not accessed within a period of 120 days. This process is instigated to prevent spam from accumulating on our servers. An email address can be re-activated by logging into our webmail facility. When an account is suspended, email sent to that address will not be accepted.

I am having difficulty sending email - why is this?

If you're connected with Claranet, you are welcome to use our outgoing mail server (also known as an SMTP server), relay.clara.net to send email. If you are not, you will need to also set your mail client to authenticate on our outgoing mail server, using your full e-mail address and password.