How to stop the spam
By MIKE BERMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
March 05, 2003

I don't mean to pry, but how much email do you receive per day? Of that, what percentage is specifically intended for you, say from friends, contacts and business acquaintances?

Now, give me a second, while I go into a trance and I'll psychically answer those questions for you. It's coming to me ... your email inbox is flooded with hundreds of messages per day and only two percent are meant specifically for you.

Pretty good, huh?

Actually, psychic powers weren't needed to answer those questions. Welcome to the Age of Spam!

They come in shapes and sizes; some disguised as personal messages and others advertising everything from "exclusive" business opportunities to pornographic Web sites. But there is a way to cut down on this onslaught of trash.

In a quest to stop these jerks from invading my mailbox, I've tried several products but only two - iHateSpam ($19.95) from Sunbelt Software and McAfee SpamKiller ($38.95) from Network Associates - really worked as advertised.

iHateSpam works as a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, coordinating itself with addresses it finds in your contacts list and those you choose to accept mail from that have hit your inbox. SpamKiller actually intercepts and analyzes all mail destined for your inbox and uses keywords to separate the trash from the "good stuff." Truthfully, neither of these programs are 100 percent effective, but they do reduce the tidal wave of spam to a trickle.

Also, it's a good idea to check emails that have been "quarantined" to make sure nothing was trashed by mistake, which becomes a real possibility using either method of spam filtering.

Also, there's no guarantee that some spam won't get through as these email fiends continue to find ways to avoid being trashed and burned. That means these programs have to be continually tweaked and fiddled with to remain effective.

Features found in iHateSpam include:

• The ability to build a "friends" list by analyzing your contacts list and letting you choose friends from email sent to any of your inboxes.
• You can designate a send as an "enemy", relegating email from that person immediately to quarantine.
• You can build your own set of rules to recognize spam based on more than a dozen email properties.
• You can clean out old email by asking it to filter out offenders from any Outlook folder.
• You can adjust the level of the program, making it more or less aggressive.
• You can bounce emails back to spammers, although this rarely works because these malicious emailers usually hide behind fictitious addresses.
• It checks, behind the scenes, to see if new email filters are available and installs them.
• Right now it only works with Outlook and Outlook Express.

In contrast, SpamKiller features:

• The ability to work with any POP3, MSN/Hotmail or MAPI account.
• Blocks emails using lists and preset filters.
• Filters are updated automatically.
• Quarantines spam outside of your inbox. It actually loads when you start up Windows, so your email program doesn't have to be active for it to work.
• You can monitor and filter mail destined for multiple email accounts, identifying messages as either being from friend or enemies.
• "Friends" are automatically imported and you have the ability to add names to the friends list.

Whichever you choose, keep in mind that they both require constant monitoring, especially if email you're expecting violates one of their built-in rules. So, although you may still have to eventually wade through those mountains of email, only a small percentage will clog your inbox every day.

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