What Is The Best Anti Spam Program? Part One Of Two
The following anti spam programs are effective, popular and (the best part) free!
eXpurgate
Expurgate is an effective, if unusual, anti spam program.
Here’s what that means:
You have to use at least two different email accounts to use eXpurgate. Your existing email address has to be set up to forward your incoming mail to eXpurgate where the messages get filtered. After that, the mail is sent to another account for distribution to you.
Beyond that, eXpurgate uses familiar anti spam techniques such as
Pros
* eXpurgate is easy to set up and maintain.
* Unlike a Bayesian filter, this anti spam program requires no training to reach optimum efficiency.
* Saves you download time and resources
Cons
* EXpurgate does not “get” your mail from a POP or IMAP account — you have to set up your email box to forward it.
* After filtering your mail, eXpurgate sends the mail to a second account of your choosing — and/but this address MUST NOT get into the hands of spammers…or else you are back where you started.
* EXpurgate’s spam filter rate isn’t as good as an anti spam program that uses a fully trained Bayesian filter
G-Lock SpamCombat
SpamCombat combines the personal approach of Bayesian filtering with the “two-heads-are-better-than-one” approach of DNS blacklists to capture spam very effecetively. It also uses content analysis to uncover bogus HTML that may be hiding real spam. All of these features eliminate a lot of spam at the server before you download it to your computer.
The downside to SpamCombat is that it only works for POP email accounts. Not only that: it cannot work as proxy, so you are required to check your email twice — first in SpamCombat, then in your email client.
SpamCombat makes the process of training the Bayesian filter a bit difficult by presenting you with an interface that is kind of cluttered-looking.
SpamCombat supports white- and blacklists through regular expressions — not exactly my favorite thing to do as it is kind of involved. Luckily, this isn’t a core function of SpamCombat and it works fine without it.
Pros
* Uses multiple blocking and filtering techniques for high success rate
* Uses Bayesian filtering
* DNS blacklists
* Can detect bogus HTML that hides spam messaging
Cons
* Supports POP accounts only,
* Cannot work as a proxy
* The interface is cluttered
* Message preview feature not the greatest not ideal
K9
K9 uses a Bayesian filter to find spam. As you know, you will have to tell K9 what you consider to be spam and what you consider to be good email. K9 will do the rest and put the spam in any folder you want. You can periodically check the folder to make sure K9 is not junking any real mail; if that is the case, you can correct K9’s filter easily so it won’t happen again.
K9 can also connect to a DNS blacklist for known spammers, although some users suggest that this won’t increase K9’s accuracy.
K9 works as a POP proxy so it works with just about any email software. The downside to this is that it only works with POP accounts.
Pros
* Works with any email client
Cons
* No remote administration
* No web interface
* Only supports POP accounts
MailWasher
Mailwasher deletes spam right at the server through a system of filters that use regular expressions (formulas that describe a series of words or phrases). It also uses black- and whitelists, relying on the information in the email header (sender, subject info, etc.). This makes MailWasher easy to use and maintain.
MailWasher lacks the kinds of scoring filters or Bayesian statistics that automatically adjust to spammers’ tactics. Another drawback is that it you can only use Mailwashwer on one POP account. Not only that: it doesn’t work with IMAP accounts. It also doesn’t work with Web-based email accounts.
Pros
* Mostly easy to maintain and use
* Uses black- and whitelists of senders
Cons
* Supports only one POP account
* Doesn’t use scoring filters or statistical analysis which requires you to perform some amount of maintenance
Ara Rubyan is experienced in training design and delivery and has been developing web based training for more than 10 years. His background in training coupled with his IT knowledge help him to ensure the seamless development of product user training.
Visit Spam Blocker Central for the complete version of this, and other, related articles, complete with periodic updates.
Leave a Reply