Spam, It's not lunch meat anymore (Continued)

but your e-mail address has a very good chance of being sold or traded. Use a second e-mail address for on-line ordering and newsletter subscriptions. Then, if you start getting to much spam you can delete the address and probably identify the culprit. Make sure to transfer anything you want to receive to your primary before canceling. If you can't get a second web site account, try a free account at hotmail. Hotmail is run by Microsoft and you can get a free account at www.hotmail.com. Don't opt out of spam e-mail. Often this is a trick to confirm your e-mail address is still active.

If all that sounds like work, you're correct. In our busy day, good intentions sometimes get pushed aside. That's why we have added e-mail filtering programs to our anti-spam arsenal.
There are two types of these programs. The first type is located on your web site server and called server based anti-spam client programs. The second is installed on your e-mail client program like Outlook or Outlook Express and works in concert with them.

Naturally, server based anti-spam programs function on your web site's or Internet Service Provider's (ISP) server and arbitrarily screens and deletes e-mails. These programs work through a filter system that matches key words in incoming e-mails with words often used by spammers. These filters also contain levels. The higher the level, the more e-mails get caught in the filter and sent to the spam folder. These programs also contain banned e-mail addresses or black lists. These lists can be compiled by the anti-spam program, but more importantly, are updated by your web master. These programs also contain white lists. These are e-mail addresses that will always pass through the filters no matter what words are in the message. Black lists are also called enemies lists. White lists can be called friends lists. While they can be set up individually, server based settings usually apply to every e-mail account attached to the web site or ISP. One of the most common server based programs is spam assassin. Spam assassin is an open source program and therefore the site is a little techy. If you are interested, the web site is
http://spamassassin.apache.org/index.html.

Client based anti-spam programs work on your PC or work station. They are attached to an e-mail client program like Outlook and screen incoming e-mail messages as they arrive in your inbox. Like their server based cousins, they also filter and use friends and enemies lists. However, there is one difference. The end user has more control over what key words are filtered. They also scan your address book and add the addressees to a friends list. These programs actually allow you to train them by starting with a minimal filter and letting you train the program. This is done by reviewing mail in your inbox and marking the bad guys as spam. In a few days, the amount of spam that actually appears in your e-mail inbox is almost nonexistent. The deleted e-mails are sent to a quarantined folder and later permanently deleted. It's a good idea to, every now and then, scan your quarantine folder to see if wanted e-mails got caught in the filters. If they did, you can simply add the address to your friends list.

I prefer this type of anti-spam program to the server based software. I simply have more control and can tune my e-mail to my individual choices rather than have someone else make those decisions for me. I also am afraid of missing an important e-mail. The PC based e-mail programs give me the flexibility I need to handle my e-mail easily and keep all the spam (and boy do I get a lot) away.

After several trials, we have selected and use the I Hate Spam program from Sunbelt Software.
You can check out the features and even download a free trial at their web site www.sunbeltsoftware.com.

Spam is extremely annoying and can certainly clutter up your work day. However, by using these tips and tools you can keep the stress level down to a bare minimum.

We hope you have found this article helpful. If you have any comments or ideas about spam, please contact us at feedback@jamisonwebworks.com.