Interesting Article on How to Reduce Spam

[Gordon Moore]

Reducing Your Spam

I'll only add that for sending bounceback messages I highly recommend mailwasher.

The developer has gone the zonealarm route of freeware and pro version. Hook the freeware version up to your home pop server and you can start sending bounce backs...excellent :T
mailwasher free

[Bing Fung]

Gordon, can you still run preview pane with the free mail washer?

I have been using Cloudmark. It works very well and filters about 95-98% of spam that comes into my inbox. Of course I still have to empty the Spam folder, but at least it cleans my inbox and I can have preview pane left on.

I wish it could bounce mail though.




Bing

[Kevin P]

I still do things the old fashioned way. To prevent spam from downloading images that may be offensive and may also notify the spammer that I received and opened the message, I configured my Norton firewall to block Outlook Express from accessing the web. This makes previewing/viewing messages safe.

I did something similar at work, where we use Lotus Notes, by telling it to go through my Junkbuster proxy, which blocks most everything. Spam can no longer download offensive images or worse.

KJP




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[Gordon Moore]

Bing...I haven't used the latest release of mailwasher...but the earlier version lets you bounceback hotmail accounts as well. The latest release moved hotmail out into the paid version.

That said...mailwasher has a preview pane in the utility that will let you see the text but disables any HTML graphics, scripts and the like as a percautionary measure. It's pretty well thought out.

Mailwasher is a separate utility that is independant of your mail client which is why you may prefer Cloudmark... It's too bad that they couldn't integrate it into outlook/express but it's still another worthwhile tool in the fight against SPAM.

cheers!

[Gordon Moore]

Here's another in the fight against SPAM...Popfile

Open Source Mail Filtering...very powerful...

"POPFile is an automatic mail classification tool. Once properly set up and trained, it will work in the background of your computer, scanning mail as it arrives and filing it however you wish. You can give it a simple job, like separating out junk e-mail, or a complicated one - like filing mail into a dozen folders. Think of it as a personal assistant for your inbox."

[Bing Fung]

Gordon, I have installed the Mailwasher program on my notebook and I have to say it looks to be an interesting program.

I thought I would try something different and I have to say, I really like the abillity to bounce the mail back. There is some ironic justice in doing that. I now actually can't wait to get more spam just so I can bounce it back. I only hope it is forcing the spammers to do something on their end like dropping me from their list due to the bounces. Time will tell.....




Bing

[Gordon Moore]

Hell Ya Bing,

It's the closest thing to sticking it to them without being able to stick it to them Heck my wife is in on the act. She always opens with mailwasher first... It's just a new reality at my place that you have to filter out the crap before downloading the good stuff. Ah well, that's life for now. It's a pretty painless process that I find doesn't really intrude all that much.

These business that report hours lost to dealing with spam puzzles me. Why on earth do people want to open mail that says "Turn your member into a rocket" anyway. Just left-shift + highlight + delete and get on with your day. I shake my head if anyone actually wastes their time opening an email that has "Hey" as the subject and it's from xye2r@yahoo.com. I mean come on?!?

Turn off preview panes in Outlook and outlook express and make sure you can see the senders address and the subject line!

Installer mailwasher if your company is not very pro-active on the corporate mail server and go on with your day. If the company hasn't taken action then they are being irresponsible. The new worry these days is that the employee has grounds for a lawsuit because they are receiving offensive mail. So companies need to be pro-active in this area or it will cost them dearly.

Whew...I feel better.




"A RONSTER!"

[Bing Fung]

Yes, it feels good to give them a "Back at cha..."

I can see spam reducing productivity as it takes time to wade through the garbage, however as you say, if a company was really concerned about it, they would take a pro-active approch to it. I remember at my old place of employ I would get about 150 spam mails a day on Lotus notes. This took a lot of time to wade through as I also got about 50-70 legitimate mails a day. I asked if there was anything they could do about it, and was told with a terse "NO".

The one thing I like about Cloudmark is I just open my Outlook and don't have to wade through the spam as its automatically removed from my inbox. However it does not bounce the mail and does not block HTML scripts that determine if they have a "live" one or not. So while it frees a person from having to deal with spam, it does not reduce it in any way. I'm hoping by bouncing the mail back it will reduce the spam sent to me. I'll let you know as I currently get on average about 50 spams a day at home.




Bing