To set up filters:

1. Select Tools/Filters (Windows) or Special/Filters (Macintosh)
2. Click New.
3. Under Match, do this:
   • Select Incoming.
   • Select which header item you wish the filter to find. Fill it in like the example above.
   • If you wish to filter on a second header, select and, otherwise select ignore. Fill in the details of the second header item you wish to filter on.
4. Under Action, do this:
   • Choose what you want to do. If you choose Transfer To, you must then select an appropriate box to transfer the matching messages to.

When you’ve set up the filter, close the window. You’ll be asked to save the filter.

1. Open Outlook Express
2. Click on Tools, then Message Rules, then Mail
3. If “New Mail Rule” doesn’t appear, press the “New” button
4. Under “1. Select the Conditions for your rule:” select “Where the Subject line contains specific words”
5. Under “2. Select the Actions for your rule” select “Move it to the specified folder”
6. Under “3. Rule Description” click on the link “contains specific words”. Type in “[SPAM]” and click on “Add”. Click on “OK”
7. Under “3. Rule Description” click on the link “specified” folder. Select a folder or create a new folder. To create a new folder click on “Local Folders” first and then “New Folder”. In “Folder Name” type “SPAM” or a name of your choice. Click on “OK”. Press “OK” once you have the folder selected
8. Enter “SPAM” as the name for the rule in “4) Name of the rule” then click on “OK”. You can repeat steps 3-7 to add more filters/rules

For more information on Rules, press F1 to access help, then go to “Index” and Search for “Rules”

Using VCN Webmail or Squirrel Mail
To use the webmail program called ‘SquirrelMail’ log on to the address http://mail.vcn.bc.ca

SquirrelMail offers an interface to your mail inbox that has lots of features and options, including:

1. Go to mail.vcn.bc.ca and login
2. Click on “Folders”
3. Under “Create Folder” type in “SPAM” for the folder name. Leave “as a subfolder of” as “[None]” and ” Let this folder contain subfolders” unchecked. Click on “Create”
4. Click on “Options” then “Message Filters”
5. Click on “New”
6. In “Match:” select “Subject”
7. In “Contains:”, type “[SPAM]”
8. In “Move To:”, select the folder “SPAM” you just created
9. Click on “Submit”
10. You should now see “If Subject contains [SPAM] then move to SPAM”
11. Click on “Done” when you are finished

Please see our section below on how to View and Training the SPAM filter, and also the section on Reporting SPAM

The main problems that can give you the Failed Permanently error while sending emails are: the email address is misspelled or doesn’t exist, or ,after numerous attempts, the receiving email server is not accepting emails from VCN.

Often times, rechecking the spelling and resending is the quickest solution for this problem.

If you need more information or have questions about an email problem like this, please contact our Help Desk with the error message you received and the date and time the message was sent.

If you have sent an email from your VCN account, and the intended recipient did not receive the email, and you have not received an error/bounced message, it could mean that VCN’s email server is temporarily overloaded or the receiving server is experiencing temporary problems. VCN’s servers do try to resend emails for approximately one day. If the email is still not sent after a day, you will receive an error message. You can check our Announcements on our main page for any VCN server problems, or contact our Help Desk for more information.

There could be many reasons a message was not sent or received, it could be the sending and/or receiving email applications, the sending and/or receiving internet connections, the sending and/or receiving servers, spam filters and blacklists, or someone mistyped an email address.

For problems during sending, most times whoever sent the email will get an error message. If you are having problems sending from a VCN account, please get an exact day and time the message was sent so we can check our servers for error messages. Also, you can look at our help section onManaging the SPAM filter, at the bottom of this page, to see if the email was accidentally blocked as Spam.

This commonly occurs when you switch your internet service provider. You can receive VCN emails from any internet connection; however, you must send email through your service provider’s servers. If you are sending mail through VCN Dial up, your SMTP server is mail.vcn.bc.ca

Most commonly, this happens when received emails have one or more attachments that are too large to download with dial up, using Outlook/Thunderbird. The emails get “stuck” and when you try to get your messages again, the server starts sending you all the messages over again.

There are a couple quick fixes you can do, you can either login through our Webmail to delete/move the email from the inbox, or temporarily use a highspeed internet connection to quickly deal with the issue. If you do not have access to highspeed internet, we do have two public computers that are available at our office on 280 – 111 West Hastings St.

1. Open “Mozila Thunderbird” and select Email:
2. Enter the following:
   • Name (the name that will appear on e-mails sent)
   • E-mail address
   • Password
3. Press “Continue” button when finished:
4. Select POP3 (keep mail on your computer):
   
5. Click on the “Manual config” button:
   
6. Look at Incoming Server settings and check that these values have been configured automatically. Otherwise, type in the following:
   • Incoming: POP3
   • Server hostname: mail.vcn.bc.ca
   • Port: 110
   • SSL: STARTTLS
   • Authentication: Normal password
   • Username: Your VCN email address without the @vcn.bc.ca
7. Look at Outgoing Server settings (SMTP) and input the information below. (Using VCN’s outgoing server requires you to register in advance):
   • Server hostname: out.vcn.bc.ca
   • Port: 587
   • SSL: STARTTLS
   • Authentication: Normal password
   • Username: Your VCN email address without the @vcn.bc.ca
8. When you use VCN’s dial up connection:
   • Server hostname: mail.vcn.bc.ca
   • Port: 25
   • Select No Authentication
9. If you are using another ISP please use their guide.