Cloudmark SpamNet
If spam is getting the best of your inbox, you might want to give
SpamNet a trial run. I don't
know about you, but I get thousands of pieces of email spam every
day. I had been filtering them by subject lines, but just as you
get the latest disgusting subjects filtered, the next batch comes
rolling in. Spending 15 minutes each morning to add the new words
to my filters was not my idea of fun. Not only that, a good amount
of real mail was getting filtered out also. I'm not sure how many
subscriber questions I may have missed, nor how many business inquiries
were lost because of this.
Last week I read some great reviews of CloudMark's SpamNet program
and
figured I'd give it a whirl. It was an easy install that integrates
into your Outlook email program. (I'm not positive, but it may only
work with Outlook and not other email programs.) I have to say that
I
am mighty impressed! It uses the power of the community of SpamNet
users to determine what is spam and what isn't. When you get a piece
of spam that didn't get caught by the existing filters, you simply
click the SpamNet delete button which then alerts the central database
to that particular spam. If enough users delete the same stuff,
it
then starts getting filtered for everyone who uses the program.
You
still get all your email, but the junk goes straight to your spam
(or
delete) folder.
It's been very accurate for me so far. I've not had to pull out
any
of my newsletters or real email from subscribers out of my delete
folder like I was previously doing. I keep browsing through it just
to be sure, but I'm just about ready to start deleting it all without
even looking at it. It's been that accurate. The time I save not
picking through the crap will be more than worth the subscription
price of $4.99 per month (after the free trial).
The program doesn't catch everything, and I do still get lots of
spam
in my inbox. But I can at least take pleasure in the fact that I'm
helping others get less spam with every one that I delete, and not
worry that I'm missing any good stuff!
Here's where you can learn more about SpamNet.
(I have no affiliation with it.)
Update, August 10, 2003 - I've been using the paid version of SpamNet now for some months and am still very happy with it. It's definitely worth the monthly fee as I only have to give a cursory glance at my delete folder these days. SpamNet definitely doesn't catch everything, but it certainly helps me to spend a whole lot less time managing my email than I used to. - Jill
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