ibe98765 Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Got a note from Network solutions today about domain name stuff. One of the parts of it was this segment below. A concise, helpful summary:------------------------------------------------http://www.internetprivacyadvocate.org/PreventSpam.htmActions You Can Take to Stop SpamProtect Your E-mail AddressAvoid using your e-mail address as your login name at popular Web sites. Watch out for sweepstakes, rebates, and other offers that require your e-mail address to participate. When making online purchases, read the service agreement to find out if you are giving permission to use your personal information for marketing purposes. Ask friends and colleagues to think twice before entering your e-mail address into auto-forwarders for jokes, news, and other online items. Choose Your E-mail Address WiselyAddresses with generic names such as sales, info, and webmaster, as well as common first names, receive more spam than more specific names. Spammers often use dictionary attacks and send to a long list of common user names. E-mail addresses at the largest residential e-mail providers can be especially vulnerable because spammers can couple common user names with these common domain names and successfully find real e-mail addresses.Use Multiple E-mail AddressesMany people create a “private†address for daily use with friends, family, and business associates, and a “public†address for all other uses, such as online purchases or in a public database such as WHOIS. The public address is more likely to receive spam but is checked less often. While this strategy does not eliminate Spam, it allows you to sort through it in batches, on a less frequent basis. It also prevents your daily use e-mail address from becoming cluttered with spam. Create “Disposable†AddressesPerhaps the most effective way to protect your e-mail address is to use a new and unique address every time you need to provide one to a company or Web site. Network Solutions makes this easy with the Catch-All e-mail option which provides current e-mail customers the ability to create unlimited incoming e-mail addresses. Messages are delivered to your primary e-mailbox, but can be filtered based on the ‘to’ address. If a particular address starts receiving spam, you can direct all those messages to be deleted. Avoid Using Auto-RespondersAuto-response, out-of-the-office, and vacation messages are handy for letting people know when you will be away. Unfortunately they also help spammers — the automatic response confirms your e-mail address is valid. Knowing that your address is valid keeps you on the spammer’s list, which may be reproduced and shared with others.Filter SpamCreate rules and filters that search incoming e-mail for common characteristics. Spammers often will not include your address specifically on the “To†line; also spam sometimes contains excessive punctuation marks. Set up your e-mail program to automatically filter such messages (messages that exclude your name in the “To†or “CC†line, or contain more than five exclamation points in a row, for example) directly to a spam folder or the trash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnar Paulson Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 My feeling, and I am in the minority here, is then you let the spammers win. I will continue to tweak the filters, the content analysers, and other tools at my disposal to block their junk. But I won't hide behind anonymity on the web. I like it to be known that I believe what i post enough to put my name to it. BTW, it works the other way too .. a lot of my would-be posts have found their way to the waste basket before hitting the send key, because my name is there. The 'net was a kinder and gentler place before everyone started hiding behind anonymity and untraceable e-mails (such as is the SPAMMERS favorite tool). I won't join their ranks.Just my $.02Ragnar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryM Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 It just seems to be too much trouble to go to take all the precautions listed. I wish I could stop all the spam, but I am not willing to go to that extent. I just use a good filter. I have used Mailwasher, Frontgate, and not K9. I liked all of them, but Mailwasher free would only handle one account. Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Also, if you want to get involved in stopping SPAM, EFF has stuff on it every once and a while.I have another idea to add to the list:When spam comes in, check the bottom of a message for an unsubscribe link, and use it if it's there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibe98765 Posted October 1, 2003 Author Share Posted October 1, 2003 I have another idea to add to the list:When spam comes in, check the bottom of a message for an unsubscribe link, and use it if it's there.I'd reccomend that you only do this for "reputable" spam from mega companies that you know. I tried doing this for the garbage spam and while many did honor the request, I wound up getting MORE spam because some of them sold my address - we've got a live one here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibe98765 Posted October 1, 2003 Author Share Posted October 1, 2003 My feeling, and I am in the minority here, is then you let the spammers win. I will continue to tweak the filters, the content analysers, and other tools at my disposal to block their junk. But I won't hide behind anonymity on the web. I like it to be known that I believe what i post enough to put my name to it. BTW, it works the other way too .. a lot of my would-be posts have found their way to the waste basket before hitting the send key, because my name is there. The 'net was a kinder and gentler place before everyone started hiding behind anonymity and untraceable e-mails (such as is the SPAMMERS favorite tool). I won't join their ranks.Just my $.02RagnarI strongly disagree with removing anonymity. With the power of the web and the help of search engines like Google, it wouldn't be hard to put together a profile of a person who is not anonymous. At first glance, this might not seem like much of a problem. I'm confident that this is being done now by data mining companies and sold where possible. A good profile could be useful to insurance companies, your present or future company or boss, advertisers and who knows, perhaps the government. If you are a woman, a profile and personal data might help someone stalk you. If you run for political office, a good profile could turn up interests, problems or statements that might cause you to lose the election (I'm sure Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't thinking he would be running for office someday when he made some of the statements he did in the documentary movie "Pumping Iron" back in 1978). I don't want my political views or health problems/interests available on the web under my real name for the whole world to see. I fear how this information could be used now or in the future... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 I'd reccomend that you only do this for "reputable" spam from mega companies that you know. I tried doing this for the garbage spam and while many did honor the request, I wound up getting MORE spam because some of them sold my address - we've got a live one here...Yea, good advice. Saying that you don't want their SPAM also tells them that you are an active address. Thanks for pointing that out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raker Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 It would appear to me that one just cannot stop the spammer germs.I have found this method quite successful in-not stopping spam but redirecting it!I am running Windows 98se with Outlook Express (heaven forbid!!)I created a new folder called `Inbox (spam free) and branched it off the system `Inbox`All the newsletters & forums etc. that i suscribe to go into my `Address Book`I then make one (1) rule-only those in my address book go into the`spam free` folderAll the crap goes into the system `Inbox`folderOk it doesn`t stop spam,but at least i can read my normal mail in peace and then delete the spam at my leisure in one foul swoop!It works 100% for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibe98765 Posted October 3, 2003 Author Share Posted October 3, 2003 It would appear to me that one just cannot stop the spammer germs.I have found this method quite successful in-not stopping spam but redirecting it!I am running Windows 98se with Outlook Express (heaven forbid!!)I created a new folder called `Inbox (spam free) and branched it off the system `Inbox`All the newsletters & forums etc. that i suscribe to go into my `Address Book`I then make one (1) rule-only those in my address book go into the`spam free` folderAll the crap goes into the system `Inbox`folderOk it doesn`t stop spam,but at least i can read my normal mail in peace and then delete the spam at my leisure in one foul swoop!It works 100% for me You should consider using something like K9 (http://keir.net/k9.html) for controlling the spam that you do get. Why waste your time manually deleting spam when there are programs, like this one, that will do it automatically for you?Since July 4, 2003 I have received 10,949 emails of which 9,099 were spam. I am getting 99.4% accuracy in catching the spam and not having to mess with it. I've setup a couple of rules to in Outlook to work with this program that automatically deletes anything with a spam rating over 90%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryM Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 ibe98765,Isn't it true that K9 does not automatically delete spam? I am using it, and I am not aware of a method to delete spam except manually. If spam comes to my computer it still has to be examined and deleted manually, I think. I am using W98 and OE.While K9 helps identify spam I have not found that it always does it correctly. I have only been using it three weeks, and I do not claim that I know all about it. I realize that it learns.Since I want to delete the spam at my ISP and do not want to bring it to my computer, I am finding that Mailwasher does that easier than K9. I have used Frontgate also, but on balance I like Mailwasher better than anything else I have tried. For me the biggest disadvantage to Mailwasher is that the free version only accepts one account. I don' t know about the paid version, but if it will accept multiple accounts I may go to it.If I have not stated K9 capabilities correctly, please correct me.Thanks,Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibe98765 Posted October 3, 2003 Author Share Posted October 3, 2003 If you have a low bandwidth connection and want/have to take the time to delete spam at the ISP, then K9 will not do that for you. K9 will not automatically delete mail. It sends everything to the client. But you can write some rules (at least in Outlook) to act on the added header field "X-Text-Classification: K9spam" and the spam percentage. See the config screen. If you are only using K9 for 3 weeks, then it will take some more time to stabilize. After about 6 weeks, rebuild the databases and reset the statistics on the 2nd column. You will find then that you are getting a higher percentage catch. Are you using the whitelist and blacklist filters? If you can identify something that is considentent, you can help K9 along by tweaking these lists a bit. I'm confident enough in its results to auto delete anything (using Outllok rules) that has a spam percentage higher than 90, which is the vast majority of what I get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 Mailwasher Pro (paid version) will allow you to monitor multiple accounts... Works quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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