Bigbuck's Mum & Spam

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by bigbuck, Mar 28, 2005.

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  1. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Hey all,
    Mum's nearly 70 and not real au fait with computers, but she plugs away with a little surfing and emailing on her old 98se box. Now she has just started getting a bit of spam....only 3 or 4 a day....no attachments....just pharmaceutical stuff at present. She has a pop3 email a/c and uses OE.
    Can anyone suggest a simple (and I mean really simple) spam filter app that she might be able to get and configure herself? (I'm 700km away!).
    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
    Thanks,
    Brad.
     
  2. nadirah

    nadirah Registered Member

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    Hey bucky, give your mum Mailwasher PRO from : http://www.mailwasher.net/

    • Works with POP3, IMAP, AOL and Hotmail/MSN
    • Windows 95, 98, NT 4, ME, 2000 or XP
    I haven't used Mailwasher pro myself, give it a try and see what you think.


    Those spammers are really sickening.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2005
  3. dog

    dog Guest

  4. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks mate....I've been looking through old threads, and there's heaps of apps, but she will need something super simple to run....and I won't be much help at walking her through it, because I'm on XP (and I don't get spam!...er....touch wood!) I'll have a look now, thanks.
    Brad.
     
  5. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

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    Or you could take a look at K9.
    It's a really effective Bayesian filter and learns really quick, besides it's free too. ;)
     
  6. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks Eric, I'll take a look.
     
  7. Blackspear

    Blackspear Global Moderator

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    Even easier is to set up a Hotmail account and then have it set to exclusive, so that only addresses in her contact list get through, everything else goes to junk (many options available there as well).

    If she wants this can then be brought in through Outlook Express.

    Hope this helps...

    Cheers :D
     
  8. claire

    claire Guest

  9. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks very much BS and Claire!
    Cheers,
    Brad.
     
  10. no13

    no13 Retired Major Resident Nutcase

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    Wouldn't YOU like to know?
    buck.

    bayesian filters are 98% accurate.... are dynamic and learn what's spam for you.... work with basic Maths [101 courses :D]
    Edit ::: I mean that "Bayes' theorem" is the wroking priciple of these bayesian Filters
    ya just can't go wrong with them.

    I'd have more examples... but I use gmail... if your mum needs an invite... I have a couple still with me :)
    Edit ::: gmail has THE best spam filters around and is terrifyingly fast. that's why i mention it.

    regards.
    you know who ;)
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2005
  11. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks, I've got a heap of gmail invites too, but she would probably not want to change. You can't teach an old Mum new tricks! :D
    I'll have a look at a few of the suggested filters....just need something real simple for her!
    Cheers.
     
  12. no13

    no13 Retired Major Resident Nutcase

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    Wouldn't YOU like to know?
    Bayesian filtering then.
    fast. easy. no user intervention [unless I'm mistaken]
    see edits above too!
     
  13. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

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    Easy yes, but you still have to learn it what's good and what's Spam. After a while there's almost no user intervention needed, only when Spam is accepted as good. :)
    It's the learning process which needs user intervention. ;)
     
  14. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks guys!
     
  15. Atomas31

    Atomas31 Registered Member

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    Hi Bigbuck,

    You could also try Edovia anti-spam at http://www.edovia.com

    It is very easy to use and it integrates itself directly in Outlook Express.



    Atomas31
     
  16. Alec

    Alec Registered Member

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    I've heard good things about Cloudmark. And it has received several recent awards. But I don't personally use it, so I can't really vouch for it.
     
  17. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks mate! :D
     
  18. Atomas31

    Atomas31 Registered Member

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    You quiet welcome buddy :)
     
  19. hollywoodpc

    hollywoodpc Registered Member

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    I second what Blackie said . One time setup and done . Good luck
     
  20. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Thanks Alec and Hollywood! ;)
     
  21. Alec

    Alec Registered Member

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    Np, bigbuck. :)

    There might be one small problem with the Blackspear / Hotmail solution, though. I think that I heard that Hotmail stopped supporting POP3/SMTP on the free accounts. I think you have to upgrade to one of the paid Hotmail accounts to access it through OE, but I'm not completely sure. Of course, that Cloudmark product I have heard about also requires a fee as well... so you may want to go with one of the free alternatives. :doubt:
     
  22. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    Cheers!
     
  23. Blackspear

    Blackspear Global Moderator

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    Not correct, I'm using it currently at home...

    It is a very simple and effect solution, Hotmail splits your mail into Inbox and Junk.

    Cheers :D
     
  24. Peaches4U

    Peaches4U Registered Member

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    Hi Brad - I do not use special software and only use mail rules in Outlook Express to control spam. The following are some tips that may prove helpful.

    TWO SNEAKY MESSAGE-RULE TRICKS.

    * CREATE A SPAM FILTER: When a spammer sends junk email, he usually puts
    your address on the "bcc" [blind carbon copy] line, to prevent you from
    seeing who else received the message. This characteristic makes it easy to
    screen out such mail, and create a message rule that looks for messages
    where the "To" or "CC" line contains your address - and files them into the
    Inbox as usual.

    But then create another message rule for "For All Messages" that puts
    messages into a folder that you have created - called for example, "possible
    spam". Because the 2nd rule does not kick in until after the first one has
    done its duty, the second rule only affects messages in which your name
    appeared on the "bcc" line [which is almost always spam]. Once a week, it
    is wise to look through the possible spam folder in case a legitimate
    message found it's way there.

    SETTING UP MESSAGE RULES:

    1. Choose TOOLS then MESSAGE RULES, then MAIL.

    2. Use the top options to specify how OE should select messages to process.
    Example, if you would like OE to watch out for messages from a particular
    person, you would choose "Where the From line contains people".

    To flag messages containing specific words and so on, choose, "Where the
    subject line contains specific words".

    If you turn on more than one checkbox, you can set up another condition for
    your message rule. Example, you can set up the first criterion to find
    messages from your uncle, and a second one that watches for subject lines
    that contain "humor". Now, only jokes sent by your uncle will get placed in
    say, "deleted items".

    If you have set up more than one criterion, you will see the underlined word
    and at the bottom of the dialog box. It indicates that the message rule
    should apply only to all of if conditions are true. Click the and to
    produce a little dialog box, where you have the opt8ion to apply the rule if
    any of the conditions are met.

    3. Using the second set of checkboxes, specify what you want to happen to
    messages that match the criteria. If in step 2 you told your rule to watch
    for junk mail containing $$$ in the subject line, here is where you can tell
    OE to delete or move the message into say a "spam folder".

    With a little imagination, you will see how these checkboxes can perform
    absolutely amazing functions with your incoming mail. OE can delete, move
    or print messages, forward or redirect them to somebody automatically reply
    to certain messages, and even avoid downloading files bigger than a certain
    number of kilobytes [ideal for laptop lovers on slow hotel room
    connections].

    4. Specify which words or people you want the message rule to watch out
    for. In the bottom of the dialog box, you can click any of the underlined
    phrases to specify which people, which specific words, which file size you
    want OE to watch out for - person's name, or XXX in the previous examples.

    If you click contains people for example, a dialog box appears in which you
    can access your address book to select certain individuals whose messages
    you want handled by this rule.

    If you click contains specific words you can type in the words you want a
    certain rule to watch out for [in the subject line, for example] and so on.

    5. In the very bottom text box, name your mail rule. Click OK.

    Now the message rules dialog box appears. Here you can manage the rules you have created, choose a sequence for them [those at the top get applied
    first], and apply them to existing messages by clicking APPLY NOW.

    TIP: OE applies rules as they appear - from top to bottom in the message
    rules window. If a rule does not seem to be working properly, it may be
    that an earlier rule is intercepting and processing the message before the
    "broken" rule even sees it. To fix this, try moving the rule up or down in
    the list by selecting it and then clicking the MOVE UP or MOVE DOWN buttons.
     
  25. se7engreen

    se7engreen Registered Member

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    I think M$ now charges for POP3 support with new hotmail users, existing users are "grandfathered in" in a sense.
     
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