[JA] Spam Article #9
- From: George H Lunt <glunt@xxxxxxxx>
- To: juno_accmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2002 14:53:29 -0700
Hi All,
Read below about "Reverse Spam Filtering"... filtering out the "good"
mail and sending the remainder to the spam folder. This is how I use
Juno's Mail Assistants in v5.0.33 and it's very effective. In addition
to Reverse Spam Filtering I've set up an "Incoming" folder and use it in
place of the Inbox. This is because the Inbox insists on opening that
first "unread" new mail with each download, but other folders do NOT.
And as we've found out in the past, e-mail can contain scripts that run
when the mail is opened and may infect your computer before you even know
what's going on. So I just don't use the Inbox at all... don't miss it a
bit.
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Fighting Spam - Part IX (by Dan Butler)
Last issue we looked at MailWasher. Many of you use MailWasher
and are satisfied with the results. That's great! This issue I
promised to tell you how I personally deal with spam, and why I
don't recommend it for most of you. Then you'll learn what I do
recommend. If you missed previous articles in this series you can
find them here:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/517/tr.cgi?dan1
First consider two different ways of filtering spam. You can
either identify the spam or identify the legitimate email.
MailWasher attempts to do both. Long term you'll have less upkeep
and more success if you focus on identifying legitimate email.
With that in mind let's look at two examples of filtering email.
My personal spam-handling technique involves my home network. One
of the machines, a Pentium 233, runs Linux. Nothing fancy - works
great. Fetchmail downloads my email at set intervals, runs it
through procmail where SpamBouncer takes over and files it. Then
I use Pegasus mail to download the mail from Linux to my Windows
2000 box. Sounds complex but it's really very transparent. All of
the software used in the system is free, except Windows.
Spambouncer is a set of procmail recipes. You configure four to
six files depending on your setup. After that it just filters the
mail. In my case it catches 800-1000 spams per week, deletes all
the viruses, and files all of the bounces and miscellaneous
messages that come through.
Is this system effective? Total spams that slipped through last
week: 1. I've haven't had a single virus pass through since I've
started using it. False positives on the email are about 2-4 per
week. The key is that it is entirely hands-off at this point and
consumes a total of about three minutes a week to maintain. It
took me a few weeks to get all the filters in place and now it's
hands off. Read more about SpamBouncer here:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/517/tr.cgi?dan2
I realize that most of you won't be interested in setting up a
Linux machine just to filter your email. That isn't all I use
that for; I spend a large portion of my time with Linux.
So where does that leave the rest of you? Here is a simple
solution that will filter your mail about like SpamBouncer does.
The process is called "Reverse Spam Filtering." All you'll need
is your email client's filters or rules. The specific rules
you'll use will move messages to folders. Check your help file
for the specifics of your client.
In your client you want to create several types of rules. The
first checks to see if a message is from any mailing lists you
belong to--TheNakedPC.com for example--and deals with it
appropriately. I filter mailing lists into folders but you may
prefer to keep them in your inbox.
Second - check to see if the email is from a friend of yours. If
it is, exit the filter and the message ends up in your inbox.
Call this your "green" list.
Third - check to see if the To: or Cc: field of the email is
addressed to you. If so consider this email "yellow." Either
leave these in your inbox or put them in a separate folder for
later perusal.
Finally all other email is considered "red" and put in a
potential spam folder. Check that folder periodically for
legitimate email, adjust your mail filters, then delete the rest.
In my case I use my email client to change all my "green" email
to a different color depending on who it's from. Makes it easy to
keep the business and personal mail apart. Not all clients
support this feature. Pegasus and Eudora do.
If this sort of approach interests you check out Nancy McGough's
"Reverse Spam Filtering" page at Infinity Ink. At times things
will sound technical but they just aren't that difficult. It is a
"work in process" but has lots of links and information on this
topic:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/517/tr.cgi?dan3
As you set up your filters keep in mind how much time you are
spending. Make sure you aren't adding time to your day. Start
small and be diligent. Soon your email client will sift and sort
your email and you'll wonder how you ever got along any other
way.
You can reach Dan Butler at:
mailto:danbutler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe or unsubscribe, surf on over to:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/subscribe.html
Copyright (c) 2002, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler.
All Rights Reserved. The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME
Consulting Group, Inc.
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George Lunt ..... so. cal.
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