Preventing SPAM on your hosting account

cPanel Default Address

Do you think someone is using your domain email to send out spam messages?

Do you receive undeliverable messages with a bogus email address using your domain name?

The spam messages that you are receiving are being delivered to your "catch-all" account which is the default account on your package. This means that anything@yourdomain.com will be delivered to this address. It is highly recommended that you set the default address to :fail: no such address here so that these bogus emails are not received. (Perform steps 1 and 2 below).

If you are using your main account email address please re-create this as a new address under your Mail Account Maintenance section in cPanel (control panel). You will also need to change the username for this address within your mail client (e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express etc.) to the full email address for it to function under this newly created account. (Perform steps 1 to 4 below).

Step 1

Log in to cPanel (Example: http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel)

Step 2

Go to Mail > Default Address > click on [Set Default Address] and type :fail: no such address here in the box after your domain name and click "Change". You should now see "All unrouted email will be sent to: yourdomain.com :fail: no such address here".

Step 3

Go to Mail > Add/Remove/Manage Accounts > [Add Account] (at the bottom of the page) and set up the required mailbox.

Step 4

Ensure to change your email account username in your mail client (e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express etc.) to be the full email address to function correctly.

You may also wish to enable SpamAssassin for your hosting account to help reduce the volume of spam into your email accounts. This can be setup under Mail in cPanel. (SpamAssassin is the fourth item from the bottom of the list under Mail Manager Main Menu). Read more about enabling SpamAssassin.

Need assistance?

We're here to help you

Email our Support department with your name, website name and name of your email client (for example Outlook 2003 or Outlook Express etc.) and we will assist you with your default address and catch-all account.