Managing Spam 
By: Scott Hendison   ·   Published: November 2003

Boy, do I hate Spam. I used to love e-mail, but e-mail had become another aggravation that I dreaded each day. Ages ago, I started looking for some solutions, and finally found a good one.

 Without getting into a lot of specifics, you have to understand that preventing all spam is impossible. That said, there are several ways you can minimize what you do get, and that’s what I can help you with today.

Although you can’t tell, there are “server level" anti-spam forces working for you on your ISP every day, whether you know it or not.  From America Online to the tiniest Oregon Coast Internet Service Provider, everybody is actually trying to minimize the spam you get. Imagine how bad it would be without them!

The spam you do get in your mailbox is what gets through those forces anyway with “tricks” for lack of a better word.  That’s why you see so many strangely formatted subject lines and supposed “Sender addresses”. The tricks used by the spammers and the software to stop those spammers changes almost daily.

*Please note that if you use AOL or MSN, you can only use the tools they give you. Someday when you finally move to a regular ISP, you can try other options.

I started at my desktop using the filters in E-mail software like Outlook and Outlook Express to colorize, sort and even auto-delete messages as soon as I received them. It was pretty easy to set up, but it didn’t catch everything. It was also prone to mistakes in the beginning, and by automatically deleting stuff instead of colorizing or moving it to a new folder, stuff got lost. When I stopped, I found myself colorizing it all right in my in-box, making it easier to delete.

More details on this are in my article from May of 2000 called “Managing your E-mail II” here http://pdxtc.com/200005-managingemail2.htm

Then I tried a couple of third party applications (software packages). Come to think of it, more like “a few”. Most were irritating and prone to mistakes in the beginning, but were ultimately useful to reduce the volume and time spent dealing with it.  The one I liked the most, and actually settled on for nearly a year was Mailwasher. (http://www.mailwasher.net) Still, even with Mailwasher, I basically had to check my mail twice.

First I would check with my web-browser, and determine which ones were properly categorized as friends or spam. Then I’d have to see which new addresses to add to my “friends” list, and which new ones to add to my “black list” etc. etc. Then, once I “processed mail” with Mailwasher, I could open Outlook and check normally, getting only the messages that were left.

Mailwasher was still somewhat time consuming, and I couldn’t just check my mail quickly like I wanted to, but after a while, it was correct for 19 out of 20 messages or better. They even had a great feature that let you read the message online before you downloaded it to your e-mail program.

Finally, last week a friend recommended a site called Knowspam.net. It’s free to try it, then it will be $20 a year. Wow. Lemme tell ya’, that will be $20 well spent!  Sorry Mailwasher.

In about 90 seconds, I was able to export my entire address book and customer e-mail list to their website. Immediately, all e-mails from them get right through to me. Everything else gets held for me to deal with on my own time.  Wham!  That fast, my Spam problem was nearly half solved.

The other half has been a painless process, with plenty of options for nearly every need, and I’m still learning after three days. For a home user though, you just can just sign up, and all new senders will get a “verification” email, asking them “Are you human?”

If they are really human, then they take the instructed action, and you’ll get their mail, as well as all future mail. Then, all your spam is automatically deleted in 7 days. It’s a thing of beauty.

Over the next month, I’m going to spend time customizing it and playing with it, and I’ll write more about it as I learn. In the meantime, if you try it, send me an e-mail and tell me how you like it!

Update Summer 2005 -

Sorry, but Knowspam is out of business. However, even better is SpamArrest, which protects up to 5 email addresses, even an AOL account! Try a free 30 day trial here

Scott Hendison

[email protected]

*************** 

Please help keep these articles coming, by visiting my websites, shopping online,

and sharing this site with your friends, families, and business associates.

Free tech-support available as always, at [email protected]

***************

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE FOR AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE OR CALL 503-761-7952

Copyright 2003, All Rights Reserved