Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) & trusted contacts

orbbllp

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Dec 12, 2005, 12:46:02 PM12/12/05

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Hi, all.

We have Exchange 2003 SP1 running on Windows 2003 (non-SP1) with IMF v1 in
place and working well. However, we noticed a difference with regards to
users' contact entries and the handling of IMF-scored messages.

The vast majority of our users still use Outlook XP as their Exchange
client. Most of these mailboxes were migrated from Exchange 5.5 some time
ago. We noticed that Outlook (or Exchange, for that matter) leaves messages
with a high SCL in some users' Inboxes that would otherwise go into their
Junk E-mail folders. Apparently, this is because the given user has an
existing (pre-migration?) contact entry for the given sender's address,
making it trusted. However, if a given Outlook XP user creates a new contact
entry for some other address to automatically whitelist it, messages from the
sender still end up in the Junk E-mail folder. Now, if that same user goes in
and creates or updates this new contact through OWA 2003, then the trust
kicks in and messages remain in the Inbox even if they exceed the SCL
threshold. Does anybody know what the property might be that Outlook 2003 and
OWA 2003 appear to set on a given contact that Outlook XP apparently does
not? If so, is it scriptable?

Alexander Zammit

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Dec 12, 2005, 2:54:32 PM12/12/05

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Check these:
http://www.exchangeinbox.com/articles/006/spamcocktail.htm

http://www.exchangeinbox.com/articles/007/enablejunk.htm

http://www.exchangeinbox.com/articles/008/centraljunk.htm

regards,

Alexander Zammit
Software Development Consultant
ExchangeInbox.com MS Exchange resource site
http://www.exchangeinbox.com/

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orbbllp

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Dec 12, 2005, 4:05:54 PM12/12/05

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Thanks. I had seen those articles before, but I don't think they address the
issue we're seeing.

Because we primarily use Outlook XP as our Exchange client, we had gone in
and successfully turned on junk e-mail filtering through a script. All of
that is working fine. What we're wondering about is if there is a contact
property that Outlook 2003 or OWA 2003 set, that Outlook XP doesn't know
about. And if so, can it be scripted. Let me give you an example.

Let's say I'm an Outlook XP user. My mailbox is on an Exchange 2003 SP1
server. IMF is in place and working fine and is moving messages with an SCL
of greater than 8 into my Junk E-mail folder per the configured store
threshold.

I receive an e-mail from you. It receives an SCL of 9 and is correctly put
into my Junk E-mail folder.

Using Outlook XP I add you to my contacts.

The next time I get an e-mail from you with an SCL of 9 it is still going
into my Junk E-mail folder.

However, if I open my mailbox through OWA 2003 (only to save your contact
entry through the OWA client), then the next I get an e-mail from you with an
SCL of 9, it remains in my Inbox. Your contact is now trusted (all the while
I'm still using Outlook XP). At no point did I update any safe senders lists.
This is making me think there's got to be a (hopefully scriptable) contact
property that doesn't get set by Outlook XP.