eMail Guard FAQ's

1. Can I customize my own list of e-mail addresses and/or domains from which I never want to receive e-mail?
Yes. You can block any e-mail address except for certain e-mail addresses that GCI uses to communicate specific account and service related messages.
View steps to block people or domains.

2. What is the difference between eMail Guard and Message Center?
eMail Guard is the name of the feature added to your e-mail address. The Message Center is an area created to store your quarantined e-mail messages. All setting changes to eMail Guard are completed through the Message Center. Your Message Center is only accessible by you, and GCI technical support. Other users do not have access to your e-mail or your Message Center.

3. When I click on the link to the Message Center provided by the e-mail notification messages, I see the WebMail login and not the Message Center. Why?
Access to the Message Center is password controlled. If you have entered your WebMail e-mail address and clicked on the "Remember Me" option at sign in, then you will go straight to the Message Center. If you do not choose the "Remember Me" option, you will see the WebMail login screen. To go directly to the Message Center, log into WebMail and select the "Remember Me" box, continue log in.

4. Can I prevent specific e-mail addresses and /or domains from being quarantined?
Yes, add the domain or e-mail address to your approved senders list. View steps to approve people or domains

5. How often am I notified of messages in Message Center?
You will receive a weekly reminder that you have e-mail, which has been filtered. When your e-mail address receives a virus, you will be notified for each instance of the virus you receive.

6. How long are messages held in the Message Center?
Messages will be held in your Message Center for 14 days. Any messages older than 14 days will be deleted automatically.

7. What happens if the eMail Guard service quarantines a message that I wanted because it had a virus attached to it?
First you will be notified that you have received a message with a suspected virus. Then you can view that message in your Message Center. In the Message Center you can read it, print it, or you can delete it. View steps on seeing steps on quarantined virus.

8. What happens to quarantine messages if I don't review them?
Your messages are quarantined in your Message Center for 14 days and then deleted.

9. Can I use only the e-mail filtering or virus service or do I have to use both of them to get either?
The service is both items in a single product. If you do not desire to use one or the other you can turn that function off in the menu area of your Message Center. View steps to turn features on or off.

10. Do I have to use GCI's WebMail if I subscribe to the eMail Guard service?
All of your e-mails already go through WebMail. If you currently download your e-mail into another application, that will continue to work. However, to change eMail Guard settings or to view your quarantined mail, you must log into WebMail.

11. What virus protection technology does GCI's eMail Guard use?
eMail Guard uses McAfee Virus protection services.

12. If I already have an anti-virus program installed on my computer, can I still use GCI's eMail Guard service?
Yes, in fact GCI recommends you keep your current virus protection, as eMail Guard will only protect against threats which come form your protected GCI email address. Any files you download from the Internet, FTP, or a non-protected email addres will NOT be checked by eMail Guard.

13. Can my computer still get a virus if I have the GCI eMail Guard service?
Yes. There are several ways your system can get a virus. First while the virus protection service is continually updated, an e-mail virus may be sent out and received by you prior to all virus protection services being able to catch it. Secondly, any time you download files or visit web sites you are at risk of being infected. The eMail Guard service is not able to provide any protection against infection by those means. For that reason GCI Internet Services strongly recommends that you have virus protection software on your personal computer as well as using eMail Guard.

14. Can I use GCI's eMail Guards service on multiple e-mail address?
If you have multiple e-mail addresses, each e-mail address can have the service. You must sign up each e-mail address and pay the annual subscription price for each e-mail address.

15. Can I use GCI's eMail Guard service on e-mail addresses that I have with other service providers like hotmail.com, netscape.com or yahoo.com?
No, GCI only offers this service for GCI e-mail addresses.

16. Can I have multiple email addresses filtered through one eMail Guard service?
No, each GCI email address must maintain it's own eMail Guard subscription.

17. I am going on vacation for a couple of weeks and will not be able to check my mail while I am out. Can I turn off the junk-mail feature during the time I am gone so messages won't be deleted before I get a chance to review them?
Because this system is located on GCI's Internet server, you could access both your mail and the eMail Guard program from anywhere you have Internet access. Yes, you can also turn off the junk mail filter to have all your mail go into your normal e-mail Inbox. Keep in mind that WebMail has a size limitation. If you exceed your alloted space, your incoming mail will be returned to the sender.

18. How will I know that messages have been quarantined and not lost before I am able to review them?
All e-mail messages are delivered to your regular e-mail Inbox or to your Message Center. Regularly checking your eMail Guard Message Center ensures you have the opportunity to view all your messages. E-mail messages are held in your Message Center for 14 days before being automatically deleted. You will receive an e-mail reminder every 7 days that there are quarantined e-mail messages in your Message Center. If you do not want to view your quarantined messages, they will automatically be deleted after 14 days. View steps on how to see quarantined e-mail messages.

19. What if I want to receive certain types of unsolicited e-mails?
Turn the filter for that type of message off (do not checked the specific category in the filter category menu area) or lower the filter sensitivity. View steps for changing filter categories.

20. Does eMail Guard catch all the Spam mail I receive?
No. However, depending on your filter settings, eMail Guard should catch a large percent of Spam e-mail. The different Filter Sensitivity categories with all filters enables are estimated as: View steps to change filter sensitivity.

21. I have junk mail that came through my filters. What should I do?
You have several steps you can take: Ensure your filer is checked for that type of e-mail. Increase your filter sensitivity. Add the e-mail address or domain to the blocked senders list. You can also forward the e-mail to spam@gci.net, where it will be evaluated to see if our filters need to be changed. Click on one of the items above for detailed instructions.

22. If I turn off the junk mail feature will I loose all my custom settings?
No. Once you turn the junk mail feature back on, your settings will be as you last set them.

23. Can I import my address book into the approved sender list?
No, this feature is not available.

24. How do I unsubscribe to the service?
Call Internet Customer Service at 265-5400 in Anchorage or 1-800-800-4800, Statewide.