Mail filtering systems are judged by two important criteria:

• Rejection rate: The percentage of unwanted emails that are correctly detected and rejected. Naturally the higher the better.
• False-positive rate: The percentage of genuine emails that are incorrectly detected as unwanted. The lower the better. This is where many simple spam filters let you down - often they reject or quarantine genuine emails, often with serious consequences.

MailWasha uses state of the art methods to ensure a very high detection rate coupled with one of the lowest false positive rates available.

• Emails are passed through two independent virus scanners to minimise the chance of a new virus going undetected
• Pattern files are updated every hour to provide the best possible protection.
• 'Zero hour' detection identifies most new viruses even before a pattern update is available.
• Spam is detected by subjecting every inbound email to a scoring system comprising over a dozen independent tests. Failing one test alone is not enough to cause a message to be rejected. This results in a very low false positive rate without compromising detection of real spam.
• No quarantine! MailWasha's normal strategy is to not quarantine suspect emails. Quarantine folders are a nuisance - they need to be regularly checked by users and are a place where important emails can get hidden. Our approach is to apply more rigorous testing so that we can be as sure as possible of whether a message is spam or not. Then if it's OK we let it through. If it's not, we bounce it. There is no 'maybe' category. A sender will know immediately if his email didn't get through.
• Automatic white-listing. Mailwasha automatically white-lists everyone you send email to, further reducing false-positives.
• Fully customisable - every aspect of the system can be tailored by individual users or system administrators. This includes quarantine folders, detection levels, white-lists and black-lists as well as choosing to enable or disable specific tests. Our default settings are just right for most organisations, but you have complete freedom to make your own changes.