Do you dare using anti-spam programs?

[drbbanner]

I hate spam as much as the next guy, but isn't there a certain risk that those anti-spam programs when installed accidentely delete important mail?

I'm not sure if I dare to use them.

 

[Mark R]

Then don't get one that deletes e-mail.

I use K9 - which doesn't delete mail, but will 'tag' e-mail as spam, and optionally with a percentage probability of being spam.

So, I've set up my outlook express to move spam e-mail to another folder, then colour code the e-mails depending on how 'spammy' they are. Never had a single one lost that way. Even if a message does get mis-classified because it is a learning filter, you can have it learn what is good and what is not.

 

[Spacehead]

Another vote for K9
Just set it up to move spam to another folder besides your inbox & you can check & delete them yourself.


If i recall, you can set it up so it does automatically delete flagged emails, if you choose to do so.

 

[Maxwell5]

A very effective tool that I use is Spam Interceptor. Spam Interceptor

What I like about it is that it is completely server based so there is no software resident on your PC taking up resources. I find tools like Norton Antispam resource hogs. It acts as an intermediary between your email pop server and your inbox. You sign up on their website (it is free), and then set your account up so that it points to your email pop server. You then set up your email client to point to Spam Interceptor. So whatever you retrieve into your email client has already been filtered by SI. The spam never even touches your PC.

SI uses a number of different filtering technologies including trusted lists (you can create these manually or import your address book from Outlook, or whatever client you use that has the ability to export to CSV), BlackLists, Spam Ratings, and Authentification. You have control over how much emphasis to place on one vs another. For 10 bucks a year, you can upgrade to a full account and have even more control over other settings like Spam ratings (what rating determines an email to be spam, what is grey, what is not spam) and the mail check interval.

I find that 99% of my spam is being blocked and I have never had any false positives. Even still, you can go to the SI website, log into your account a perodically check your trash folder to make sure that no real email has been deleted.

Another note: Since your email will be on SI's server for a period of time, it requires the same trust you have for your ISP when your email is on their server. Just like your ISP, they receive millions of emails a day and have no interest in reading your mail.

I was flooded with 100+ spams a day, and this tool has eliminated my problem.

Maxwell

 

[corkyg]

My ISP does it with a contract with Postini for their SpamDam. It really works - and nothing is deleted or lost without my OK. I also use MailWasher Pro 3.1, and that is excellent from FireTrust. Without them, my Spam load is about 100 notes a day! Postini

An article in today's paper quotes Bill Gates as saying that in 2 years, there will be no more Spam - they are
working on technology to eliminate it. The article is quoted in part: >>><SPAN>CAIRO : Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Sunday that unsollicited emails will no longer be a serious problem for computer users by around mid-2005. "We proposed some solutions to stop receiving unwanted messages. In the next 18 months, spam will no longer be a serious problem," Gates told a forum of Arab government representatives in the Egyptian capital.

Spam accounted for nearly two-thirds of all email traffic in December, a record high, US-British filter firm MessageLabs said earlier this month.<<<</SPAN>

 

[SearchMaster]

I use SpamPal (Linky). It also just changes the subject to include the word "** SPAM **", then you can set up an Outlook rule to move it into another folder for further inspection. I've never had it tag any legitimate emails, but my wife has had a couple. It's easy enough to put them on the whitelist so it won't do it again. My wife used to get 100+ spams per day, and is now down to a handful. It's not perfect but works well enough for me.

 

[erikistired]

trying out K9 right now. looks promising. i had earthlink's spamblocker going but it blocked my wife from emailing me after she fwd'd something it didn't like to my account. it didn't notify me it was blocking her (i only found out when she started asking about emails she'd sent me) even though it was set to let me know when an address was blocked.

 

[dbarton]

You might also like Mailwasher Pro.

Whole different approach..

 

[ClueLis]

I use Thunderbird's Bayesian filtering, which is basically a system you train to catch everything. since the first couple days, I haven't had a false positive of anything slip through at all. It also doesn't delete the email, but lets you just keep it out of view instead.

 

[elkinm]

I also use MailWasher to fileter my mail simply because of the bounce-mail feature which sends a baunce message to the sender. The program is quite good and is an easy way of quickly finding and removing my 100+ spam messages each day.

The problem is that is sends the bounce to the stated "from" email address. Unfortunately with spam, that address is rarely the real source. What would be nice if some program or server sould controlebly send real bounce messeges to the actual source based on the header like. The only way I can think of to stop spam is to generate true bounce messages as anti-spam laws are to slow and opt-out lists only increased my spam.

 

[dr150]

Originally posted by: Spacehead
Another vote for K9
Just set it up to move spam to another folder besides your inbox & you can check & delete them yourself.


If i recall, you can set it up so it does automatically delete flagged emails, if you choose to do so.

How do you get K9 to automatically move spam or what it tags as spam to the Deleted Folder of Outlook Express?

In the "Configuration" or "Advanced" Tabs, I don't see anywhere where this is possible.....

 

[Fiveohhh]

I use a program called spambayes works awesome never deleted a real email and catches 99% of my spam

edit: ohh yeah its free too

 

[PCHPlayer]

I use Norton Anti-spam (got it FAR with TurboTax). It moves spam into a folder called "Norton Anti-Spam". You can view it or delete it. Seems pretty accurate so far.

 

[NicColt]

> I use Norton Anti-spam

Norton AS is useless, I had it for a while so I turned it on... and the first email that came in which was legit went into the spam. why have an AS when you have to review all AS emails. Useless.

I prefer using the rules wizard to delete spam coz then I know what's being deleted without even looking at it.

 

[onelin]

I use Mozilla Mail's bayesian filtering... trained by 3000+ spams, it catches most everything. In addition, Trend Micro Internet Security 2004 flags almost all spam with "spam: " as a prefix, which makes it even easier for the filters to catch them...

Still, I wish I didn't have to see my "new email" all the time. I've thought of spam interceptor, except I have to check my POP account before sending email, so checking it through them won't work right :/

 

[EeyoreX]

Norton AS is useless, I had it for a while so I turned it on... and the first email that came in which was legit went into the spam. why have an AS when you have to review all AS emails. Useless.

I don't find it useless. I check it from time to time (as you should do with every anti-spam tool until it is trained) and have never once found it had flagged a legit email as spam. It also has missed, I think, one or two spams. That doesn't sound "useless" to me. Like I said, all anti-spam tools need to be monitored until they are properly configured to your liking. I don't think daily checks are needed, but perhaps once a week. I don't find rules based anti-spam efforts foolproof either.

\Dan

 

[1ManArmY]

Nice alternatives to saproxy, works ok but for I now I have been filtering the email from my server. I think its time to try spam interceptor