Blocking Email Spam [Jj4]

Blocking Email Spam

Hello. I'm new to the forum and not sure if I'm posting in the right spot. I saw the reference to "kill bits" and wondered if it applied to my problem / question.

I have an email account with my isp and I get about a half dozen spam type mails each day. Mostly from pharmacys advertising their medicines.

My question is, In each of these emails there are giberish sentences that mean nothing. Some even have full paragraphs.

Does anyone know what purpose the serve for the spammer? Can I stop these kinds of email with "kill bits" ?

thanks,
jj

 

Blocking Email Spam

Hi Jj4, and welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately SpywareBlaster does not block spam.
Please see this KB FAQ: Does SpywareBlaster block spam?

I've moved your post to a more suitable part of the forum where it will get better attention for this problem.

Regards,

snap

 

Hi. Thanks for the replys. I am using Outlook Express. This program opens up with three divided windows. The left side it the heirarchy tree of Inbox, Sent, Deleted and so on.

On the right side, it is divided to a top and bottom. On the top it shows all new email. On the bottom it shows the individual text from the listed mail above. I do not open any attachments, and AVG anti virus scans each email for viruses.

The problem is, in order to delete ANY mail, I first have to highlight the top right address in the list. The mere act of single highlighting the email to delete it results in showing the text content of it in the box below. Again it is all scanned incoming and I do not click on links or open attachments, naturally.
But that is not my concern or question. I am trying to understand something actually in the text.

More specifically I would like to understand what the gibberish words and sentences mean. I would like to know how they are used by spammers.

thanks
jj

 

Thanks for the reply. I am uncomfortable with the way Outlook Express is working. Like I said, If I select an email to delete, merely highlighting it will open the letter in the window below my Inbox.

I am going to see if Outlook has options that disable that action.

The gibberish is IN the message, not the email address, so I don't know if that is put in to defeat an email spam program. Oh well, I thought there was some deeper use for those words. Perhaps tracking future cookies or maybe cookies installed that search for those word segments.

I dont' know ...

thanks for the replies again,
jj

 

Dear JJ, Use an anti spam programme that sits between your PC and your server which will automatically delete spam before it gets to your inbox.
Frontgate MX is a good example.
Gordon

 

Spam prevention is the better option - get a SpamGourmet account and use an address from it for any businesses or websites that ask for your email. If you receive spam on any SG addresses, not only can you shut that address down without affecting others, you can also identify who leaked your address (assuming you take the precaution of supplying a separate address to each site you deal with).

As for dealing with your existing spam load, consider the advice supplied in the Turning the Tables on Spammers thread.

 

Thanks all for the info. Ya know, maybe this program already exists, but if not it should.

Email spam blocker programs are fine, but you still have to take the time and look in the spam folder to be sure it didn't capture a legitimate email. Is there a program that can intercept incoming emails, and ...... before they are allowed to be delivered, sent an email back to the sender with some minor message like, "thanks for the email". Now..... if it is returned as unsendable, then .... the program deletes the email. If it is found that the email address is legit, then the program goes on to decide if it should go to a spam folder anyway.

I know that at least for me, each and every spam I get, has a bogus email address. This would seem like a great way to rid ourselves of the major amount of spam. I'm no programmer, but it doesn't seem like a tough thing to do.

thanks,
jj

 

I use Mailwasher Pro, and delete any spam that my ISP filter misses before it gets to my computer.
I also use OE, and don't like to open the mail when I want to delete it.
Try Mailwasher free and see if it suits your needs.
I tried K9 for awhile, but did not like it as well as Mailwasher. I don't remember why.

Here is a PC World download link with other spam filters also.
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,20000,00.asp

Let us know if you try it, and if it suits your needs.

Best,
Jerry

 

Dear JJ, AS Jerry m says Mailwasher is what you want. But remember if you set it to 'bounce' the e-mails you dont want, this increases unnecessary mail on the net, and as YOU say the addresses are false anyway and wont go back to where you want them to. Just set Mailwasher to Auto delete that which you dont want. It has a white list to preserve addresses you want to recieve e-mail from.
Good luck
Gordon

 

Thanks for all the replys! I am aware of these type email blocker programs, but what I had in mind was one that specifically intercepts ALL email... then sends out an email back to the sender of every single one,(this is KEY) It could say something like, "thanks for the email" or whatever. Then it waits for a period to see if it is undeliverable.

Solely based on returned information of "undeliverable" would the program auto delete the email before allowing it to be posted to you.

There is no practical way to "set up" particular email addresses to block, because there are tons of them that change constantly.

The only common denominator to all these spams is the fact that their return addresses are bogus. To me it seems, there in lies the spammers weakness. After a program like this became popular, all spammers would be stuck supplying a real return address. Then .... LOL ... we can really email em back and tell em where to go!

It just seems to be a foolproof way to avoid bogus mail, and the legitimate ones would only have to receive 1 return reply saying "hello" or something. Once it is confirmed as a legitimate email address, the program would automatically add it to its database for future allowed mail.

I'm probably not explaining myself correctly, but in a nutshell if your address to me is fake, you are blackballed.

 

Except that spammers can (and are in some cases) using valid email addresses belonging to other people in their From: fields - acquired either through searching websites/usenet or via email-address-harvesting worms. So this tactic would make things worse by increasing the number of unsolicited emails people have to deal with.

There is software that does this - it's called challenge-response. It may work in some cases but it has significant problems - see John Levine: Challenge-response systems are as harmful as spam for some details. Worst case, you may be accused of spamming yourself if innocent bystanders receive your challenge emails out of the blue.

 

I agree 100% about spam prevention. SpamGourmet is so incredibly easy - sign up and forget it. All email addresses are creted on-the-fly for giving to websites - or whoever. I use it all the time for almost everything.

 

Thanks 4 that info Paranoid. That was very informative. I guess theres a good reason then why that type program is not mainstream. And here I thought I reinvented the wheel. <smile>

I am now using spamgourmet. As I re-evaluate my feelings on this, I suppose my problem goes deeper than blocking spam. I guess I'm like the gentle giant physically, and the Incredable Hulk mentally, who is content just being content. But, if I am personally targeted, I really do develop a problem. I wanna find these people and personally grab em by the neck, and pop their adams apple. (If you know what I mean). I'll admit, to say I have a mean streak is probably an understatement. My wife tells me its my Italian blood, and I tell her thats just in the movies, although to be honest, as I type this, I am getting an increasing urge to crush my keyboard. Guess I need meds.

Who the hell is in charge of the internet anyway? God forbid we make this illegal and put the SOBs in jail. That would make too much sense. I mean if this is a nuisance to society in general, why in the world do we continue to allow it?

I've got it. Why not invent a website called 200,000volts.com and whenever a spammer sends us an email, we reroute it to 200,000volts.com where a huge voltage surge is sent back though the internet and into their keyboards? Now I know that hasn't been tried yet.

jj

 

Hopefully not the v1a#0gra ones! I can sympathize here since I tend to feel the same way, but the only "active" measures you can take are covered in the "Turning the tables..." thread link above. At the very least, consider using SpamCop for making complaints.

Only 200,000? As an aside you may find the following articles highly amusing:

Spam king lives large off others' e-mail troubles
and especially the followup:
Internet spammer can't take what he dishes out

 

It's all crazy. The wild, wild west! Your question "Who owns the Internet?" made me laugh. A lot of people don't realize the U.S. Department of Defense (the actual "founders" of the Internet as The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) tried to sell it off to AT&T back in the seventies. AT&T didn't give it much thought as they thought it absurd as ----- get this ----- there was no future in it!

 

If you want a very good anti-spam get a look to www.outclock.org
Freeware, no install and with both versions english & french

good job !

 

Yet another article bashing CR (challenge-response) system
http://www.jgc.org/antispam/02282005-60dfea1d4f36a4071c21d1ba86f5e988.pdf