You Want To Block Spam.... Don't You?

It's unlikely that there's even one person out there who just loves getting spam...? Right? Most of you are sick and tired of being flooded with ads and sales pitches for viagra, lottery prizes, sex toys, dream holidays, and fabulous fortunes from Nigeria that can be deposited into your bank account.... just as soon as they get your bank account number and sort code. If only life were that simple.

But the honest truth is that you're sick of spam right? Who could blame you? E-mail was created to provide a cheap (almost free) method of chatting with your friends and family all over the world. Then of course some jerks saw the profit potential here and decided to begin flooding the Internet with billions of spam messages every single day.

So what can you do? How can you reduce or eliminate the flood of spam you get each day?

One of the quickest ways to do this is using some form of spam filter. Which type you use is going to depend on your own particular needs and whether or not it's for business or personal use. That being said you'll still find a spam filtering solution that will suit you one way or the other.

So what options do you have?

Web Based Spam Filters
If you're on the move a lot and need your spam filter to travel with you then you're in luck. A company called SpamArrest offers a web based challenge response spam filter that can gather e-mail from up to 5 different mail accounts and let you filter out all the junk through one easy-to-use web based interface. It does 99% of this filtering work for you and when you finally get back to your office or laptop you can launch your e-mail application and just browse through your 100% spam free inbox. Try out SpamArrest today.

Desktop Integrated Spam Filters
If you're wanting to check your e-mail from your laptop or desktop computer regularly then a desktop based spam filter will suit you down to the ground. There are two categories of desktop based spam filter - those that integrate with your e-mail program and those that don't.

For now we'll look at the type that do integrate fully with your e-mail program. The two most popular of these are Qurb and Spambully. These programs basically install additional features into your version of Outlook or Outlook Express that prevents unwanted spam from appearing in your inbox. The spam can be either automatically deleted or quarantined for inspection later. Two of these most popular integrated spam filters are Spambully and Qurb (CA Antispam Plus)

Desktop Standalone Spam Filters
If you don't want to have another piece of software integrated with your e-mail application but still want excellent spam filtering capabilities then you're in luck! There's an excellent piece of software available called Mailwasher Pro which does just that. Mailwasher, once installed, can be figured to check multiple e-mail accounts at once. The really sweet part of this is that it checks the mail server itself and let's you delete or bounce mails directly back without ever downloading even one piece of nasty spam. It also comes with a list of built-in blacklists which allow it to automatically filter well over 90% of incoming spam.

Try Mailwasher Pro today

Server Based Spam Filters
If your concerns are more to do with blocking junk e-mail and spam on a server level then you have multiple choices here. Two of the most popular products are Spam Assassin and Surf Control. Spam Assassin is now offered by the vast majority of web hosting companies and provides a reliable method of deleting the vast majority of spam from a web server. SpamAssasin can take some minor tweaking to stop it being so harsh in it's filtering but overall you should see a 75% plus reduction in spam while using SpamAssassin - this has been my experience.

Surf Control is another server based spam filtering solution. It's made up of several modules that allow automatic filtering of suspected or verified junk e-mail. It also has an administrative console that you can download and install locally. This is neat because it allows you to monitor your companies inbox in realtime and release any e-mails that have been blocked by accident.