Anti-Spam software

[cotswoldcs]

Can anyone recommend me some anti-spam software. I am having increasing problems with junk mail and am finding it frustrating. I really don't want to increase the size of anything and would much rather not see this stuff in my inbox at all!

Any suggestions greatly appreciated...

[tintax]

If you're using Microsoft Outlook 2000 or higher, Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 or higher, or Windows Mail then I suggest having a look at 'CA Anti-Spam Plus 2008'. I've installed it on a few systems for people using Windows: it seems to work quite well and it (in common with most CA software) is pretty light in terms of using system resources.

N.B. If you did decide to buy it, I would consider buying CA's full 'Internet Security Suite Plus 2008'. It is only £10 more (£50 as opposed to £40) and you get their Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, Firewall, etc software as well. I'd also suggest looking at discount schemes such as ******* and buying from their US site as well. I bought a 3 user license a few months back and IIRC I don't think it ended up costing me more than £25.

[cotswoldcs]

Thanks - I'll give CA a try.

How do you rate SpamFighter? I've seen that several other people use it as the free version displays an ad in their emails.

[cotswoldcs]

Anyone else had any experience with CA Anti-Spam, SpamFighter or other anti-spam software

[tintax]

How do you rate SpamFighter? I've seen that several other people use it as the free version displays an ad in their emails.

I'm afraid I haven't tried it. I guess though if it works, it works. Unlike software such as anti-virus and firewalls which can be a little more difficult to evaluate.

[threepe]

Depending on your needs, have you looked into habits that will reduce the amount of spam you receive in the first place?

There are lots of things that you can do:-
1) Don't post your email address in forums that can be read buy bots
2) Use disposable email addresses to register at new sites. Once you know they are OK, then perhaps change your email address to your real one.
3) You can forward the emails from fake addresses to your real one. Should you get too much spam coming from a fake address, simple delete it and create a new one.

Not sure if any of that was a help, as it was slightly off topic. I don't personally have to use an junk filters due to doing the above.

[tintax]

2) Use disposable email addresses to register at new sites. Once you know they are OK, then perhaps change your email address to your real one.

That reminded me of a trick a colleague uses. He registered a domain name and set up a catch-all e-mail service such that any-address-not-specifically-set-up@hisdomain would be diverted a single account. Whenever he registers he provides an e-mail address specific to that site (e.g. playdotcom@hisdomain). If he starts getting spam through one of these addresses he adds it to the list of addresses for the e-mail service to automatically reject.

I myself keep three accounts: one that is only given out to trusted sources (never had spam), one for shopping (gets a little but not much), and a 'public facing' address used to register for forums, mailing lists, etc. (which gets a lot but I have very strict filtering at the server which catches 99% of it).

Perhaps not entirely on topic but it is a solution to the underlying problem - though not much help if you can't change addresses I admit.

[cotswoldcs]

I've purchased and installed CA Anti-Spam. It cost $58 USD (£30) for a 3 user licence which seemed OK. The software seems to be doing the job well (used on Outlook Express on XP home) but feels basic, with few options. Annoyingly I can't find a way to delete the contents of the CA Spam folder. I don't see the option anywhere. Surely it must be possible to do this? I can click on a message in the CA Spam folder and then Ctrl + A & Del but that means clicking on a viagra/ muscle enlargement email - which I want to avoid!

[tintax]

I'll ask one of the people I've installed it for, how they manage clearing the folder. I have a vague memory that right-clicking on the folder brought up some management commands such as empty: am I thinking of something else?

[cotswoldcs]

Thanks for your post tintax - let me know if you find anything.

I would have thought that a right click on the CA folder would do something but it doesn't. It does with Norton Anti-Spam but I've avoided Norton products recently. CA was recommended so it can't be bad - just annoying that I can't seem to actually delete the spam easily!

[tintax]

I'm afraid that they find themselves deleting spam by selecting it in groups and hitting delete but they all say they wouldn't delete it all in one go because they want a chance to review it first.

Sorry, I'm not being much help here ...

N.B. Most of the people I've installed it for run small businesses so they are perhaps more cautious about accidentally deleting ham than they would be if it was a personal inbox. Also, they check (and clear out) the spam folder a few days each day normally so it isn't an onerous task.