Hello cherry,
Thanks for your question.
Frankly, I'm amazed that you enjoyed eight years spam free. It is a
bane on our computing experience. Personally, I have had my email
address since 1986 and I receive about 200 emails a day. At least half
of those are spam.
Once you start to appear on spammers lists, it is impossible to be
removed short of changing email addresses. Spammers can pick up your
address in many different ways including email viruses, Usenet
postings, accounts on the Internet such as job site registrations and
even from Instant Messenger program registrations. Some folks are
careful to always use a doctored return email address such as
"somebody@nospamyahoo.com" as opposed to somebody@yahoo.com" for
example and note to their friends to remove the "no spam" if it is not
obvious to them. This helps. But your cat is out of the bag.
The first place to look for a spam solution is your ISP and email
provider. Some, and more everyday, are installing spam filters on
their email servers and it is helpful. Check to see if they have this
service or will consider installing one. My ISP is using SpamAssassin,
and it works well. BUT, here are some of the pitfalls with this, as
well as any other spam filtering program.
The way these programs work is by checking for keywords, phrases and
styles of text in your eamils. They assign a value to some of the
attributes they find, such as "to be removed" might have a score of
+2. You, and/or your ISP decides on a score that if exceeded will mark
the email as SPAM, or (SPAM) or whatever tag is added to the message.
In my case, I have my threshold set at +5. MOST of the messages that
do come through marked as SPAM are, but occasionally, one sneaks
through that isn't and is really a message I desire. And, more and
more often, spammers have learned what triggers these programs and
have carefully crafted their email to pass below common thresholds.
Some of these programs also feature both a blacklist and a whitelist.
If there is a site that slips through with spam, add them to your
blacklist. If someone you wish to hear from, such as United Airlines
which is always tripped as spam for me, add them to your whitelist.
What I have done, is to create a separate email inbox called SPAM. Any
message that is tagged by my ISP's program is sent directly to that
mail box using a simple email filter (I use Outlook Express, by the
way, but most email programs have this facility). Then, once a day I
browse through the SPAM folder to see if there is anything there of
any value that might have been tagged incorrectly.
Its not an ideal solution, but it is better than none and does get
better consistently as spam definitons and thresholds are redefined.
Much the same way that you update your virus defintitons for your
Anti-Virus program.
All that being said, you can also install this type of program on your
own computer. The following are some of the most popular:
MailWasher
http://www.mailwasher.net/
MailWasher is a powerful email checker with effective spam
elimination. Discover the safe way to stop unwanted viruses and
e-mails before they get to your computer.
No gimmicks here, it is so easy to set up and use that you'll be
managing your email like a pro in seconds. It can even be used as an
effective privacy tool.
MailSheild Desktop
http://www.lyris.com/products/mailshield/desktop/
Lyris MailShield Desktop is a software tool that lets you identify and
delete spam instantly,before it gets to your inbox!
MailShield Desktop's unique, 'fuzzy logic' scanner is highly effective
at filtering spam without obstructing your legitimate mail. You can
add your own rules to block known spammers, or to let messages from
friends pass without delay.
Belive it or not, there are 257 SPAM programs listed at CNET at
http://download.com.com/3120-2001-0-1-3.html?qt=spam&ca=2001 . Here
are a few of the most popular:
ValiMail
http://download.com.com/3000-2368-10152016.html?tag=lst-3-1
"ValiMail is the best solution for Microsoft Outlook that completely
eliminates unwanted e-mail from your inbox. Unlike other anti-spam
solutions that rely on filtering, collaborative reporting, or
blacklisting of e-mail relay servers, ValiMail applies to e-mail the
'buddy list' concept often found in instant messaging systems. If an
e-mail sender is not already in your ValiMail approved list, she will
be required to request your permission to send e-mail messages to you.
You may then accept or decline all future e-mails from the sender.
ValiMail also includes mechanisms to prevent spammers from automating
permission requests, and therefore completely protects you from spam."
Spam Inspector Outlook 2000/2002
http://download.com.com/3000-2369-10150351.html?tag=lst-3-2
"There is a lot of anti-spam software available on the market today,
but not all are created equally. Checking email for the word 'SEX', or
an IP address, or huge lists of exact spam matches is the standard.
These simplistic approaches to spam filtering cannot even compare to
the heuristic multilevel approach of the SPAM INSPECTOR. The Spam
Inspector leverages advanced approximate pattern matching, rule based
filtering, and known spammer lists to protect your inbox from incoming
fraudulent, inappropriate, and offensive emails flooding the Internet
today. Your email is personal and the email you get is very unique to
YOU, and The key to our powerful and accurate spam filtering is based
on our software’s ability to learn who the legitimate senders of your
emails, and weigh known 'spam' and 'not spam' indicators using our
proprietary statistical algorithms against your mailbox. Each incoming
email is analyzed for semantic identifiers of words and phrases based
on the entire message & headers. The software can then make an
educated judgment, quickly quarantining all junk email to folders
outside of your inbox, Letting you focus your attention on only the
email you want! No other spam filtering software is as effective or
easy to use!"
SuperGoogie Spam Filter
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10155795.html?tag=lst-3-3
"SuperGoogie is an AOL-Yahoo-Hotmail-MSN-to-POP3 proxy. It makes it
impossible for spammers to get to your Inbox. SuperGoogie is an anti
spam software. SuperGoogie does not need any AOL or MSN software to
work with their e-mail systems."
So, you can see there is a large variety of these programs available
and you will need to audition a few to see what is to your liking. You
will find most are free to try and range from free to $50 to purchase.
I hope this has provided helpful information for you. If anything
iabove is unclear, please do ask for clarification.'
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
