30 June 2005
The new version of Spam Blocker
One of the major problems in the Internet is nothing more nor less than unwanted advertising letters, also known as "spam" - wasted incoming megabytes of information. The mail server filters block only a fraction of proposals to "increase" or "relax". The mighty "authorization" protection is, first of all, expensive ( let's not forget the monthly fee ), and second of all, it is not very convenient for the people on your contact list ( they will have to go through a long and humdrum "access" process ). If you want to rid your mail box of "spam", you need a comprehensive anti-ad "shield" that will save the money you spend on traffic by downloading bulky mail, as well as the time you spend on viewing and deleting useless emails. The new version of Spam Blocker 2.1 delivered by the SoftInform company provides maximum efficient protection for user computer ( user mailbox in particular ) from torrents of "spam". This is due to the fact that all correspondence is analyzed before it is downloaded from the mail server. The application checks the mail and retrieves the headings of all letters pending in the user mailbox ( email addresses, sender names, letter subjects, etc. ). The new release of "remote" ad blocker features a substantially tuned up interface. The added nice-to-haves include automatic and manual mail check buttons and a visualized process of receiving mail ( an animated icon in the system tray and a tool tip with the total number of letters and the number of letters blocked by the application ). The main alterations, however, concerned the "technical" facet of the application. Spam Blocker 2.1 is sported as a self-learning application. The new version of the spam-filter automatically registers sender names and servers ( domain addresses ) in the black ( with letters marked as spam ) and white ( correct ) lists.By using various settings of Spam Blocker 2.1 you can fine-adjust the application to suit your needs. Various modes for checking messages ( automatic and manual ), support of an unlimited number of accounts, checking the mail box at set intervals ( e.g., every five minutes ) or at user's will, updating system lists, flexible rule settings and lists editing ability make Spam Blocker 2.1 a convenient and irreplaceable tool for blocking "spam". Sick and tired of endless "spam"? Registering new ( "clean" ) mail boxes over and over again? Every day dozens of letters for you and thousands for your company burning up megabytes of traffic that is by no means free? All it takes is to install Spam Blocker 2.1. And watch annoying and useless e-mail advertising disappear.
A Practical Approach to Eliminate Spam
Spam isunderstatement of the year. Like any other annoying fact of life, you let it drive you crazy or you deal with it.In the age of cyber communication, "Spam" has become the main way to get the message out to the masses. But if you think about it, I guess "spam" has always been with us. Before the Internet, when it came in our mailbox, we called it "junk mail". On TV, we call it an "infomercial". Over the telephone, it's "telemarketing.The determined marketer will always find an annoying way to try to get his message to the people, whether they want it or not. But to me those other methods always seemed more controllable."Junk mail", a quick look and chuck it in the trash. I guess it was a lesser volume of mail because the advertiser was paying for it? You know, postage and real paper.The TV "infomercial", just turn off the Telly or change the channel. This form of bombardment is costly to the advertiser also.Now "telemarketing" is a whole other animal. It doesn't seem to matter what the cost to the advertiser is, the return is greater. The deterrents, like the national "don't call me" doesn't really work. My solution. Caller ID and don't answer the phone if no name and/or phone number comes up. Oh yea! and an answering machine to catch the strays is helpful.As an Internet marketer, with a web site, I get upwards of 500 emails in my inbox daily. What used to take minutes to sift through them now takes me hours.When I am done and close my email client, a little window pops up and asks me if I am sure I want to delete the 450 emails in the trash? Over 450 of the approximately 500 emails I get daily are trash. That's ludicrous!You might say to yourself, why doesn't he use a spam filtering program to get rid of the spam? Well so far all the spam filter software I have tried seems to throw out the baby with the bath water. I would rather trust my own internal spam filter, called common sense; and the "delete" key to get the job done.None of the filters I have tried, no matter how fine tuned, doesn't throw out the good email with the bad. In fact they are so fine tuned, that in trying to out smart the spammer they include many legitimate words or phrases in their list of no-no's. So you still have to scan it.The spam filters are even contributing to the amount of emails we get. Many legitimate Internet marketers have resorted to sending out a second email in case a spam filter stopped their first email from reaching you.In fact, just mentioning the word "spam" in this article would probably keep it from being read by millions of people.So what can we do about it? If I had a definitive answer to that question, I probably would get the Nobel Prize for Solving an Annoying World Problem. Do they have a Nobel Prize for solving an annoying world problem?Anyway. Here is my humble offering in an attempt to rid the world of this cursed menace!The best way, of course, would be not to buy any product or service offered by a spammer. If they don't make any money as a result of their spamming, they eventually will get the message and stop. However, this solution would have to be undertaken on a global scale to be effective and there must be plenty of people who are reading and acting on the spammer's message to prevent this from happening. Although I can't for the life of me figure out why!Another solution that you and I, as individuals, can do is delete the email and more importantly not buy from the spammer. Like trashing "junk mail", turning off the "informercial" on TV or not answering the phone when it's a "telemarketer". You can take an individual stand.Like the great actor Peter Finch, in his Oscar winning performance in Network (1976), tell the world your "mad as hell and your not going to take it anymore!" out of control! I guess that would be the
Why Microsoft's spam ploy is no solution
Microsoft's ploy to drum up business for its spam-filtering technology will probably be successful!
That said, from my experience, the number of people depending upon e-mail forwarding must be considerable — from an e-mail volume standpoint, perhaps staggering!
Being an alumnus of two universities, having a primary e-mail address at work, a wireless e-mail address, and an e-mail address required by my broadband provider — all of which forward to the same Exchange inbox, I expect that Microsoft's actions will result in a dramatic drop in the reliability of the existing spam detection technology — especially for the mobile professional who also subscribes to a large number of listservs which might also be impacted.
It took months for my employer's spam filters (which send me a quarantined list of two-dozen every day — for my review) to mature to the point that the number of false positives are down to about three per week! If successful, Microsoft's plan will likely introduce large numbers of false positives to the workplace e-mail environment without significantly improving the spam problem for hundreds of millions of casual users of e-mail.
Spam really represents two distinct problems. One is the "legitimate" mass market operation who used to send you "junk mail" until they discovered that sending e-mail was cheaper than bulk-rate postage. These folks, while a considerable annoyance, do at least have a legitimate reason for contacting you. They want to tell you why their product is better than the next guy's product. The other is the unscrupulous e-mailer who wants to steal your identity, sell you porn, or get you to buy some fake product (be it a pharmaceutical or a sexual aid).
There are laws to protect you from both of these types of unwanted e-mail. The problem is that we don't know who the sender really is — or what jurisdiction governs their activities. One more anti-spam tool which generates false positives will not solve this problem!
The solution can only be an underlying redesign of Internet e-mail, developed under the auspices of a sanctioning body (such as IEEE), which guarantees that sender are who they say they are and that the jurisdictions of senders can be determined with certainty.
That said, from my experience, the number of people depending upon e-mail forwarding must be considerable — from an e-mail volume standpoint, perhaps staggering!
Being an alumnus of two universities, having a primary e-mail address at work, a wireless e-mail address, and an e-mail address required by my broadband provider — all of which forward to the same Exchange inbox, I expect that Microsoft's actions will result in a dramatic drop in the reliability of the existing spam detection technology — especially for the mobile professional who also subscribes to a large number of listservs which might also be impacted.
It took months for my employer's spam filters (which send me a quarantined list of two-dozen every day — for my review) to mature to the point that the number of false positives are down to about three per week! If successful, Microsoft's plan will likely introduce large numbers of false positives to the workplace e-mail environment without significantly improving the spam problem for hundreds of millions of casual users of e-mail.
Spam really represents two distinct problems. One is the "legitimate" mass market operation who used to send you "junk mail" until they discovered that sending e-mail was cheaper than bulk-rate postage. These folks, while a considerable annoyance, do at least have a legitimate reason for contacting you. They want to tell you why their product is better than the next guy's product. The other is the unscrupulous e-mailer who wants to steal your identity, sell you porn, or get you to buy some fake product (be it a pharmaceutical or a sexual aid).
There are laws to protect you from both of these types of unwanted e-mail. The problem is that we don't know who the sender really is — or what jurisdiction governs their activities. One more anti-spam tool which generates false positives will not solve this problem!
The solution can only be an underlying redesign of Internet e-mail, developed under the auspices of a sanctioning body (such as IEEE), which guarantees that sender are who they say they are and that the jurisdictions of senders can be determined with certainty.
