Junk Mail

[James1666]

I am receiving pornographic junk email in which the subject line contains the words 'SEXUALLY EXPLICIT'. However, these words are always mis-spelt, e.g. 'SeXxuully expplict'. This prevents me from putting in the words in a filter (and in any case, in some cases these words might well be innocent). It is a hotmail account, and I would like to keep it active because it has been in use for many years.

Since I imagine this is a well known brand of junk mail I was wondering if anyone knows the method for stopping it.

Thanks!

[Alan]

You do not say which client you use, but all of them have filters that can be set. Start by blocking the domain names. It is unfortunately a slow process but try ePrompter which you read about at this link.
It is not a spam control program, but a notifier that allows you to delete the junk mail from your server before you download it. That way the senders of the mail does not know if your email account is still active.

There are many spam control programs both free and subcription but one thing I would not recommend, is with programs such as SpamBully etc. never be tempted to press the Punish/Bounce button. All that you are doing is telling the spammers that your account is active!

[James1666]

Thanks for letting me know about this, looks like an interesting programme.

I have a hotmail account. So when I open these messages it sends some kind of receipt to the spammer? I thought they only knew your account was active if you responded, or clicked on a link, or opened an attachment. If they do send a receipt to the spammer, then it is worth getting this eprompter. Otherwise, it might not make much difference.

[Rob]

You might try and forward all mail out of hotmail into a less spam friendly account like Gmail. Gmail is very good at spam protection and also does not display images on email from senders that you have not previously asked it to. That way it does not give a report of an opened mail back to the spam originator.

Gmail is also very easy to mark things as spam so that gmail knows to filter in the future.

You might give this option a try.

[Rockrz]

You should consider using Mailwasher pro spam blocker | Firetrust Ltd as it allows you to "screen" any emails that have been sent to you while they are still on the server, before you download any of them.

Most spam will automatically be marked for deletion, and you can delete them directly from the server without downloading them.

Since you cannot stop spam from coming, this is the most effective way of dealing with spam is to not download it in the first place.

On with the spam wars

[Alan]

Pretty much what ePromper does! I can read and delete mail directly from the server with that.

[Rockrz]

Yep, I love being able to delete what I don't want while downloading what I do want. Mailwasher draws from the SpamCop database to automatically mark the majority of spam messages for deletion.

I've heard lots of folks get all kinds of upset at the government, their ISPs, etc for not being able to stop spam.

I've found that approach to be a complete waste of time because it's not possible to stop spam from all the countries out there that allow this sort of thing. Some even encourage it!

So, seems to me that the best thing to do is head it off at the pass