Post your SPAM Prevention Tips Here Please!

DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
edited September 2004 in Science & Tech
A user PM'd me asking for tips in helping to stem the tide (well, tidal wave, really!) of SPAM he gets in his inbox.

Some people use SPAM blocker software, some use their ISP's SPAM blocking services, and some use filters on their e-mail application to filter out the trash.

Please share your anti-SPAM tips or software recommendations here for everyone's benefit.


Here's mine: do not use your Preivew Pane in Outlook Express or Outlook. It is known that SPAM can be embedded with scripts that execute when the e-mail is viewed, and send a confirmation back to the server that your address is indeed valid and that you have indeed read the SPAM mail. This confirmation results in you receiving more SPAM! Disabling the preview pane allows you to click on an e-mail to delete it, without it automatically opening in your preview pane. You have to actually double-click to open it. A bit of a pain, perhaps...but is it as painful as 50 SPAM messages per day?

To disable your preview pane in Outlook Express:

- click on the VIEW menu
- choose LAYOUT
- uncheck "Show Preview Pane"
- Click Apply, then OK.


In the full version of Outlook it is a little easier:

- click on the VIEW menu
- choose Preview Pane

This will toggle the Preview Pane on or off.

Ok Short-Medians, let's hear your tips or software recommendations!

Dexter...

Comments

  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    I use SpamBayes, a free Bayesian spam filter. You need to train it, but its ability to contain spam is excellent once it is trained.

    Another good product is MailWasher. It comes in a free and paid version. What it does is allow you to preview your email before it's downloaded. Any messages that come as HTML will be safely shown as text. You can delete messages based on keywords or block domains. You can also bounce back spam messages so your email address looks dead, and automatically report spammers to the various blacklists, like SORBS or SpamCop.

    One rule you absolutely must follow is NEVER reply to a spam email or go to their website to be removed. You're just letting the spammer know your email is live.
  • teflemingtefleming
    edited April 2004
    I used to use Spam Inspector Pro but it crapped the bed on my inbox. I've since upgraded to Outlook 2003 which has fairly decent anti-spam features built-in.

    Good call on the not using the Preview Pane. Outlook 2003 also blocks scripts and pictues, making it less-risky to open a suspect email.

    Of course my main technique is to have two email accounts; one for registering and such, the other primarily for correspondence.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    I've blocked keywords in outlook express, blocked common spam engines in OE also.

    Otherwise I carry 2 accounts. ISP account for personal, hotmail for everything else (Period).
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Seth, THANKS for the SpamBayes link. I installed it, and in true geek fashion, am having fun with it. Quite a nice program. Before I installed it I thought to myself, "Great, some mediocre plugin that will bog down Outlook". Not so, it's very fast. 'Training' it should be pretty fast, as about half of my email is spam.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Now that I've benifited from a tip, let me leave one:

    Do not check the block for free newsletters, e-vendor deal news, and especially to 'May we let our partners send you information that you may find useful...'. If it's a site/store with whom you have complete trust, go ahead and let them send mail if you are interested. Just be warned - even some supposedly reputable sites make it very difficult to unsubscribe from their free announcements or mailings. If a site doesn't state that they won't share your contact information, you must assume that they indeed will.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2004
    Don't fall for the chain letter e-mails with 100 e-mail addresses in them. When a friend sends you a FW: tell them to only send you the actual message not the whole list, or at least bcc it to you. This is a big problem with spam, once you get on a list, it is very hard to get off.

    Working for an isp myself, I get customers always asking how to stop the spam they get, but you open up their inbox and it has 30 FW:'s from thier good BINGO buddy sending them a joke.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited September 2004
    I wanted to bump this thread as a new post in this forum discussed some problems with using Outlook Express to crreate rules and block senders. I also started using Mailwasher and Spambayes on Kwitko's recommendation, and they are GREAT tools.

    Mailwasher is a bit more work as you have to manually pre-screen your e-mail, but doing it for a few weeks helps cut down how much spam you receive. Spambayes is fantastic, it is very "smart" at learning what is and is not spam. And it does not just delete stuff, it puts it into one of 2 folders: Junk Mail, and Junk Suspects. The suspects folder is for e-mail it is not sure about, which lets you then review it at your leisure, and rescue legitimate e-mails from legitimate senders. You then mark them as not being spam, and that sender's e-mail will be known as friendly. A great and easy to use tool for keeping your inbox clean.

    Dexter...
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited September 2004
    I use POPFile and then Courier can filter SPAM/Junk/Family/Friend/whatever emails accordingly.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2004
    Spambayes is fantastic, it is very "smart" at learning what is and is not spam
    Ditto. :thumbup
  • PressXPressX Working! New
    edited September 2004
    This is great - SPAMNET

    This is good for corporate environments (AV as well) - Message Labs

    my spamnet spam folder...
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited September 2004
    Great links A2J and PressX, thanks for contributing to this thread. :)

    Dexter...
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited September 2004
    Thrax wrote:
    I've blocked keywords in outlook express, blocked common spam engines in OE also.

    Otherwise I carry 2 accounts. ISP account for personal, hotmail for everything else (Period).
    Almost exactly the same method(s) I use. Only I have around 10 various email accounts, but my gmail one I only use for friends/family
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited September 2004
    We use Mailwasher Pro.
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