I used to have a spam mail problem. Everybody receives spam mail these days; but because my e-mail address is plastered all over the Web, I get more spam mail than most people. The "spam harvesters" that scour the web looking for e-mail addresses always find mine. About 400 to 800 spam messages per day bombard me, many more than the number of legitimate e-mail messages I receive.
In the past few years, I have experimented with almost every spam filter system that I have ever heard of. Some worked rather well while others were not very effective. However, almost all of them would occasionally delete legitimate e-mail messages. That is, a newsletter reader might send me a message that contains a "spam-like" word or phrase. Many spam filters will delete that message under the assumption that it is spam, even though it is a false assumption.
Deleting a legitimate message is referred to as a "false positive." Sadly, false positives are rather common occurrences. I can excuse an occasional piece of spam that slips through the filter, but I absolutely cannot have legitimate e-mail messages being deleted before I see them!
To be sure, I could always go look in the "spam folder" or whatever it is called in the various anti-spam programs. However, the reason that I use a spam filter is so that I don't have to go looking at that junk!
I have known some people to become so frustrated with spam mail that they actually go out and obtain new e-mail addresses, thinking that a new address will be better. That strikes me as being only a temporary stop-gap solution; the problem will recur sooner or later. I want a permanent fix, and I also don't want to change my present e-mail address.
A few months ago I found an easy solution. It works on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. It deletes about 99.9% of the junk mail, and more importantly, it never deletes a legitimate message. I went from 400 to 800 or more spam mails per day in my in-box to less than five. Best of all is the price: free.
The remainder of this article is for Plus Edition subscribers only.
If you have a Plus Edition user ID and password, you can read the article right now at no additional charge in this web site's Plus Edition at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=29. This article will remain online for several weeks.
If you do not remember your Plus Edition user ID or password, you can retrieve them at the same place: http://plus.eogn.com.
If you decide to subscribe to the Plus Edition right now, you will be able to immediately read this article online.
For more information about subscribing to the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, visit http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/plusedition.html.
Recent Comments