America Online and Spam

[Dubbs900]

I don't use America Online. Thank God. But, my grandfather does, and he has a spam problem. I searched the forums but didn't really find anything relating to AOL, so I waswondering if anyone knew any SIMPLE programs that would both work with AOL's Mail program, and the limited computer knowledge of a Grandfather. Thanks for any help!

 

[corkyg]

AOL just announced a pop-up ad stopper. Also, it has a lot of Spam filters that can be invoked. But - the tightest solution is to use their mail option that only accepts mail from addresses the user specifies. All the rest is rejected. I have a backup mail account in AOL ($4.95 a month) that is useful for sending mailk when I travel. I elected to have ZERO mail accpeted. I get no mail - no spam at all. Then when I want to receive mail in AOL, I list the acceptable addresses. It's pretty simple.

BTW - being a grandfather does not limit one's computer knowledge. I will be 72 this year. I have three grandkids. Their father (my son) is a computer professional in Silicone Valley - I built his computer!

 

[Dubbs900]

Originally posted by: corky-g
AOL just announced a pop-up ad stopper. Also, it has a lot of Spam filters that can be invoked. But - the tightest solution is to use their mail option that only accepts mail from addresses the user specifies. All the rest is rejected. I have a backup mail account in AOL ($4.95 a month) that is useful for sending mailk when I travel. I elected to have ZERO mail accpeted. I get no mail - no spam at all. Then when I want to receive mail in AOL, I list the acceptable addresses. It's pretty simple.

BTW - being a grandfather does not limit one's computer knowledge. I will be 72 this year. I have three grandkids. Their father (my son) is a computer professional in Silicone Valley - I built his computer!

Haha, very good point, and good for you!

Those sound good for internal solutions, I'd still be interested in external programs as well, but I will certainly pass that along. Could you give me a quick run through about where to tell him to find these options, I don't have AOL, but maybe just a simple, File -> Mail Properties -> Filters, etc...

Thanks!

 

[corkyg]

OK - in AOL, go to MAIL, then MAIL CONTROLS. Only the primary subscriber can access this area. That gives you some ready made options, but the one I am referring to is the CUSTOMIZABLE one. With that option, you can list authorized senders - all else will be rejected. It is more than a Spam blocker - it is a privacy tool.

As for externals - I have tried several. My current favorite is the new 3.0 version of MailWasher.
Washer

I have tried others - and a good one that is also permissive, is ChoiceMail. It is highly automated - and a bit too much so for my liking.

My ISP offered SpamDam by Postini. Dam I used it for 30 days and said "No Thanks" because it did not implement a blacklist I developed for it. Also, it did not bounce rejected mail back to the sender. I like that!

 

[Dubbs900]

Thanks

Much appreciated, I'll pass all this along.