Archive for the ‘Spam Filter’ Category

How to protect your business from Spam

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

Even accepting as accurate as accessible with my email address, I still acclimated to accept added than 100 email letters a day, which is no exaggeration. Alone about 10% of those emails were from humans that I knew and the blow of the letters were exceptionable email…”spam”. And I’m abiding you can chronicle to my frustration. It is estimated that over seventy-six billion exceptionable email letters were delivered in 2003, costing companies added than $10 billion anniversary year.

So How Do They Get Our Email Addresses?

In authoritative online purchases, you should consistently apprehend that your email abode could be accustomed or sold, behindhand of what the merchant’s aloofness action may state. Even bushing out an online analysis or registering your email abode to become a affiliate of a web website is accountable to accepting your email abode accustomed away. Also, there are spider programs that spammers use that seek the web and “harvest” email addresses, abundant like seek engine spiders do if they access web website information.

Tips To Avoid Accepting Spam

1. Don’t Click “Unsubscribe”: On the basal of some spam emails you will acquisition an “Unsubscribe” link. Some of these are accepted links, while others are accoutrement to announce that your email abode is valid. Unsubscribing could in fact aftereffect in accepting added exceptionable email.

2. Spam Filtering: Some ISPs or area casework backpack spam clarification options, and there are filters and rules you can use in some email programs (i.e. Microsoft Outlook, Eudora and Apple’s Mail OSX). While no spam clarification affairs can annihilate spam completely, it can abundantly abate the bulk of spam you receive. But you accept to be accurate in application any array of spam clarification mechanism, as you may ultimately clarify out some of your capital email.

3. Get Two Email Addresses: Use your primary email abode for business or claimed use, and the added for authoritative online purchases and for bushing out web website allotment information.

4. Update Your Web Site: The best all-embracing band-aid is to accept humans acquaintance you through a anatomy on your web site, as your email abode is not so calmly revealed. If you accept to accept absolute links to your email abode on your site, accede accepting a hotlink that artlessly reads “email” or “contact” instead of spelling it out on a web page.

There are abounding simple methods that you can use to advice abate the bulk of spam advancing through to your business. By application these tips, you will not alone save yourself time and money, but you will ultimately forward a able bulletin to the humans forward exceptionable email.

How to choose a Best Spam Filter

Monday, May 25th, 2009

With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week it’s getting tougher for consumers to make informed choices in their purchases.

There are 3 basic types of spam filters:

  1. Integrated
  2. Standalone
  3. Online

We’ll look at each type of spam filter and at the end you should be able to decide what spam filter is right for you.

Integrated spam filters

This type of spam filtering software is the most common. Once installed it sits “on top” of your existing email software and installs a new set of buttons into your email software. In future when you collect email you’ll see options for marking email as Spam, marking the email as Not Spam, Bounce the email back to sender, etc. The description and position of these buttons varies from one product to the next but their purpose remains the same.

Most integrated spam filters automatically place suspected junk email into a separate folder on your PC for you to review or delete later on.

The newer integrated spam filters are also “intelligent”. They can basically learn the difference between what is spam and what is not and delete the junk email you don’t want.

The most popular integrated spam filters are:

  • iHate Spam
  • Spambully
  • Spam Inspector

Integrated spam filters are most popular amongst people who want a one click solution to collecting their personal email and filtering junk email at the same time.

Advantages:

One click solution.

Disadvantages:

Software specific. Some work with Outlook and Outlook Express only.

Standalone spam filters

These are less common than their integarted counterparts but that doesn’t make them any less useful. A standalone spam filter is basically a separate piece of software installed on your PC that you use to check your email for spam.

Standalone filters have the big advantage of being able to preview your email on the mail server before it’s downloaded to your PC. This one single feature has the huge benefit of allowing you to just download the email that you want as opposed to downloading all of your email, including the spam, and then sorting through it.

Using a standalone spam filter is a little more work simply because it’s a separate piece of software that you have to run before you open up your email software. Most standalone filters do allow you to configure them so that your standard email application is opened once you’ve chosen what spam to filter. This suits some people and not others.

The most popular standalone spam filter is:

Mailwasher Pro

Advantages:

Doesn’t rely on specific email applications to work properly.

Disadvantages:

Two step process. Load standalone filter and then your email application.

Online spam filters

There are really two types of online spam filters. One is for business use and one is for home use. A typical example of a business type product is iHate Spam server edition where the software deletes junk email directly from the mail server before the end user even sees it. Large companies employ this type of technology.

Home users will be using Spam Arrest or similar. Spam Arrest offers an inventive solution to spam whereby any email sent to the users account has a challenge request sent back to it which the sender must authenticate. The automatic junk email software used by spammers can’t currently deal with this type of response. Any failure to authenticate the challenge email results in the junk email being left to die in cyberspace. A user is authenticated with Spam Arrest only once for security just to make sure the software doesn’t become a nuisance.

The most popular online spam filter is:

Spam Arrest

Advantages:

Users are guaranteed to only receive the email that they want or requested.

Disadvantages:

Any technical problems with the Spam Arrest server and you have no defense against spam.

source: ezine article