Sick of Spam!

N/A | 10/21/03 | Mark A Sity

[logic101.net]

I am sick of spam. I have tried blocking senders, they get new acounts daily. I have tried the "unsubscribe" links, some might work, but enough don't (or are ignored) that my e-mail address is sold again and again. I have tried creating mail rules, but they keep changing the spellings and punctuation, or use on and off caps to defeat this, or they advertise a different drug.

I have gotten some spam from spam blocking sites, and am wondering if this is cost effective. The latest one I got was for "Spam Remedy 2.3" Has anyone used any of these programs and do they work? How much do they cost? Are they worth my time and trouble?

Most of the spam I get is porn, one would think that these people could be charged with "contributing to the delinquency of minors" since they don't care who they send their stuff to. Next is for perscription drugs, also illegal to just dole out to anyone. Where is the FBI in this?

Also, I just don't get where these people make money other than selling mailing lists. Do enough people go for their stuff to make up for the time and trouble? I can't see where a spamer would ever get more than 1 hit out of 5000 e-mails. And don't they ever get the hint that the other 4,999 are a waste of their time?

Personally, I'd like to see the FBI find a way to find spamer's computers, and send a single use virus to burn the hard drives out. Since much of this stuff is overseas it seems like the only option. I never had too much trouble with telemarketers; only one can call at a time. Not only that, they can't be sending children porn over the phone (ok well not so easily anyway). These spamer's are almost as disgusting and evil as Hitlery and it's "husband"!

Any advice on limiting this trash would be appreciated.

Mark A Sity

[goldstategop]

Do you have up a personal home page with an email address? Expect lovely spam to show up in your in-box as long you're alive.

[Always Right]

Any advice on limiting this trash would be appreciated. Mark A Sity

Get a new e-mail account and don't give it out to any vendor or website.

[martin_fierro]

Mailwasher works pretty well for a free utility, especially with heuristics set to "strong" and a good list of DNS Blacklist servers.

[americafirst]

I use SpamNet with my Outlook and have been pleased with it. It isn't cheap but it's easy to use and it works - 3,900 spam emails deleted in two months.

http://www.cloudmark.com/myspamnet/

[FreedomPoster]

<*ding*>

That's what I was going to recommend.

I've found that after a few weeks of bouncing all the bad stuff, that the volume of spam has dropped considerably.

[logic101.net]

Thanks, but will it delete mail I want along with the trash?

Mark A Sity

[Kaslin]

Ask your ISP to change your name with what you get your e-mail. This is what I did and it works

[TomGuy]

I use Mailwasher to pre-screen all email. When I get on an undesired mailing list, I set the bounce filter more globally (using asterick). Setting the bounce filter can effectively remove all email from some sources.

Be careful though in setting the filter too globally. For example, if you block/filter all *@aol.com, you effectively block any mail coming from AOL senders.

I open the full header in undesired mail and look for a source. I noticed several coming from a site at xxx.xxx.xxx.br for offshore drugs, so I could block/filter *@*xxx.br .

[martin_fierro]

Thanks, but will it delete mail I want along with the trash?

One of the nice things about Mailwasher is that it's higly customizable.

So it can flag SPAM for deletion, while leaving the e-mail you want alone. Its filters can actually get better over time.

Check it out. What the heck, it's free.

[KellyAdmirer]

Use a free service like spamgourmet.com if you give out your e-mail on online forms, it allows you to prevent spammers from getting your real e-mail address. Yahoo! just introduced something like it but you have to pay $30 a year.

[Blue Screen of Death]

I've found that after a few weeks of bouncing all the bad stuff, that the volume of spam has dropped considerably.

The problem with the "bounce" feature in Mailwasher is that most spammers have a fake "Return Path" address. When it is bounced it goes nowhere, so bouncing has no effect at all.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Here is some more.



Low cal!!

[sr4402]

If your contacts are all known, see if your email service has a box to accept only calls from those addresses.

[Hang'emAll]

I use Mailwasher Pro3.2 It is very effective. When you get proficient at it add these filters developed by a user, they do the real work.

http://www.w5hq.com/MailWasher/MailWasherFilters.txt

My spam is down from 200 emails to the 20 a day I need.

[razorback-bert]

My spam is down from 200 emails to the 20 a day I need

Whay do you need 20 spam a day?

[Izzy Dunne]

In Mail.app, I just set the JUNK MAIL menu option to TRAINING, mark each piece of junk I get as junk, then set the JUNK MAIL option to AUTOMATIC.

Now all that crap goes into the JUNK folder. Once you get confidence in the training, you could have it automatically delete the junk, but I haven't done that yet.

[Hang'emAll]

Typo, I haven't had coffee yet (with my spam).;-)

I meant only about 10% of emails I get are useful.

[SpellingTroll]

I have tried the "unsubscribe" links, some might work, but enough don't (or are ignored) that my e-mail address is sold again and again.

This is the biggest mistake many people make. Spammers use this as a means to verify active e-mail addresses.

Depending on your ISP, you may be allowed 1 or more additional POP3 e-mail accounts at no cost. If this is the case, I suggest you create a new POP3 account, and abandon the old one.

Speaking from experience, I can tell you that there is virutally no way to stop 100% of the spam from reaching your inbox - and this leaves you vulnerable to not only offensive spam including porn, etc., but also unscrupulous individuals who send spam in an attempt to spread a virus, trojan, etc.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are asked/prompted for a valid e-mail address, never, ever provide the address to your POP3 account. Once the address of your POP3 account is out there, there's no getting it back - it's like trying to un-ring a bell.

Instead, create a free web-based email account (such as provided by Yahoo!), and use then when on the Net, etc. Keep your POP3 private, for close family, friends, etc., and make sure they understand that they are never to share it with anyone.