The first thing to know is that CU-Boulder uses a system called "mailhome" to route users' mail to various machines on campus. Once your mailhome is set to a given machine, all mail sent to you at CU-Boulder (@colorado.edu) or even to any host at CU-Boulder (@host.colorado.edu) will be routed to your mailhome.

For example, if your mailhome is set to webmail, and someone sends you e-mail to you@eces.colorado.edu, the mail will still get routed to you@webmail.colorado.edu

The use of the mailhome system also allows you to use an alias as your e-mail address. For example yourfirstname.yourlastname@colorado.edu will also be routed to your mailhome.

Students can use the PLUS system to set their mailhome to ECES.
For step-by-step directions on doing this, go here:

Using PLUS to Change Your Mailhome to ECES

Non-students who want ECES to be their CU-Boulder mailhome should contact ecehelp@colorado.edu.

Two pieces of software on ECES help filter unwanted and unsafe e-mail.

SpamAssassin

SpamAssassin uses a text analysis algorithm to determine the probability that an incoming e-mail is spam.
When SpamAssassin detects a probable spam, it will add the e-mail header "X-Spam-Status: Yes".
You can use filters in your e-mail client to filter based on this header.

Alternately, if you would like to automatically filter spam-labeled e-mail into your mail/SPAM directory on eces, you can login to ECES with SSH and run spamassassin-on.

To configure SpamAssassin by setting a custom spam threshold and/or adding a custom "whitelist" or "blacklist" address, login to eces.colorado.edu/webmail, choose Options, and then choose Spam Filter Configuration.

Clamassassin

All e-mail delivered to ECES is routed through Clamassassin. Clamassassin uses ClamAV to check the e-mail and any attachments for viruses. If any virus is found, the e-mail will not be delivered to the recipient but instead dropped into a secure location and saved for three days.

ClamAV is available for Windows and Linux for free.

If you do set your mailhome to be ECES, you can access your e-mail in a number of ways:

With a web browser

This is the recommended method.
You can go to:

eces.colorado.edu/webmail

To access ECES e-mail with a web browser.

ECES uses a piece of software called SquirrelMail to let users access their e-mail with a web browser.

The SquirrelMail Users Manual can be found here: www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/en_US/UserManual

In the Unix Shell with Pine

If you login to ECES with SSH and run "pine" on the command line, you will get a menu-driven, text-based e-mail program which will let you access your e-mail on ECES.

From an E-mail Client with IMAPS or POPS

You can use an IMAP or POP mail client to access your e-mail on ECES.
You must setup your client to require SSL for checking maill.
You can go here for information on how to do this:

Encrypt Your E-mail

For sending mail (outgoing or SMTP server) from on campus only you can use no authentication and no SSL/TLS. From on or off campus, you can use TLS and authentication.

E-mail client settings for ECES are as follows:

Account	username@eces.colorado.edu
POP/IMAP Server	eces.colorado.edu
POP/IMAP encryption	SSL
IMAP root directory	mail/
SMTP Server	eces.colorado.edu
SMTP on-campus only, no encryption	No SSL/TLS, No Authentication
SMTP off-campus or on-campus encryption	TLS and Authentication

In some cases you may need to know which ports on eces support these services. For the most part, these are standard, but here they are just in case:

Service	Port
IMAPS (SSL)	993
POPS (SSL)	995
IMAP (no SSL)	Not Available
POP (no SSL)	Not Available
SMTP (No encryption, No Auth)	25
SMTP (TLS, Authentication)	25