Stop Fuming, Start Filtering Spam
Last week I talked about spamming trends. From the e-mail response, it's clear you wanted more -- especially ways to fight back.
I use Eudora, the e-mail program I love to hate, and no, I'm not willing to switch to Microsoft Outlook. (At least not yet. I'll have to see what the Open Source version of Eudora looks like.)
I know what you're thinking: "Dummy, Outlook has Cloudmark, the terrific spam grabber, or the just-as-good IHateSpam."
No argument. But wait, I hear you thinking again: "What about those miraculous programs that filter your mail before it gets to your e-mail program, such as MailWasher or MailboxFilter?"
But I'm a step ahed aheadf of you now... here are a few downloads from PCWorld.com. They're either free trials or just plain free; it can't hurt to give them a shot. The first is ChoiceMail Free, Mail Snoop Pro is the next, and SpamCatcher is the third.
Quick aside: Outlook has a decent spam grabber built in. Microsoft calls it a junk e-mail filter. But it's only worth using if you keep it upgraded. Read about it at Microsoft's Office Online site and download it from Microsoft:
More Help Stopping Spam
I dug around to find articles and downloads on PCWorld.com. Don't panic. Some of these articles may look ancient (2002 is eons ago), but they're timeless, especially for those of you using older software.
* Spam Slayer: Biggest Spam Hassles Solved
* Step-By-Step: Stop the Spam--How to Filter Out Junk E-Mail
* Internet Tips: Wage War on Spam With Old Tools and New Filters
Do you have a favorite way to stop -- or at least limit -- spam? Tell us all about it below in Comments.
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i use gmail, and i know people who "wash" their email through gmail (send to gmail, catch spam, forward washed email to another address).
gmail's spam filter gets more precise every time you mark a message as spam, AFAIK. same with thunderbird.
an effective filter has to be a learning filter, i think.
I just wish Bill Gates had come up with the cure for spam he promised a couple of years ago. Spam must be really slowing the internet (and people's lives) down. I've been using Mailwasher for years, and am very happy with it. But I would like to stop spam completely - I had 450 spams in Mailwasher to send to SpamCop this morning after only 32 hours away from the computer.
I was a user of the shortlived BlueFrog, which annoyed some powerful spammers so much that they completely shut down some large and popular blogging websites in the process of attacking it. My spam has increased by maybe 50% as a result of the imperfections of BlueFrog, but it was already very large. Something like Bluefrog is what I'd like to see, but with the resources of government (such as USA) and big businesses (such as Microsoft) behind it!
I can't understand why the USA produced such a stupid act as CAN-SPAM, and am very annoyed at all the USA-originated spam I get - very little UK-oriented spam at all.
I agree, allthough spamcatcher does work pretty well. I have decrease my spam by 50% using spamcatcher!!
kevin
I had been using CompuServe for about seven years but after AOL took it over it became an orphan and they wouldn't incorporate an upfront spam filter. In December 2004 I started using Google's Gmail and It has the best spam filter I have ever seen. In almost two years I've only had three messages get past the filter and never had a non-spam message in the spam folder. So far the only thing I really miss is being able to sync my Ipaq calendar like I did with Outlook.
Trying to cancel my CompuServe service is a whole different story.
Keep up the great newsletters.
Lynn
SW Michigan
I had been using CompuServe for about seven years but after AOL took it over it became an orphan and they wouldn't incorporate an upfront spam filter. In December 2004 I started using Google's Gmail and It has the best spam filter I have ever seen. In almost two years I've only had three messages get past the filter and never had a non-spam message in the spam folder. So far the only thing I really miss is being able to sync my Ipaq calendar like I did with Outlook.
Trying to cancel my CompuServe service is a whole different story.
Keep up the great newsletters.
Lynn
SW Michigan
I had been using CompuServe for about seven years but after AOL took it over it became an orphan and they wouldn't incorporate an upfront spam filter. In December 2004 I started using Google's Gmail and It has the best spam filter I have ever seen. In almost two years I've only had three messages get past the filter and never had a non-spam message in the spam folder. So far the only thing I really miss is being able to sync my Ipaq calendar like I did with Outlook.
Trying to cancel my CompuServe service is a whole different story.
Keep up the great newsletters.
Lynn
SW Michigan