&%@@!!*#@!! SPAM!

MerpsMom

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Founding Member
Joined
Jul 30, 1997
Posts
4,248
Loc
Leawood, Kansas USA
:mad: I'm going to stay off the computer if I can't get a handle on this. Is there an easy way to block the extraneous stuff I get: upwards of fifty unwanteds a day? I have Outlook Express and am running Win98. I have Brightmail installed with message rules that filter out that not addressed specifically to me. I have a blocked sender list that would clog a forty-inch pipe. My name must have been sold to every hack in town.

I'd rather not change my e-mail address, and if I add just those to my address book from whom I'd receive willingly, how does that help me with the Grumble, as I'd have to add the entire board to the acceptable list. Isn't there a way, as someone suggested on another forum, to block the garbage more easily?

I'd really appreciate any advice you can give me. But, if I have to change my address, I will.
 
MerpsMom,

Filtering to allow only emails from those on your mailing list, as you say, excludes Grumblers who are contacting you for the first time. And a list of blocked senders does not work for the pro spammers, since they change small details of their email address with each mailing. You may block ertw2563@spam.net only to get the same junk from ertw2564@spam.net the next day.

There are utilities, some of them free downloads, that allow you to block messages containing certain key words or phrases in the subject line. I haven't investigated these thoroughly, since I use Hotmail, which has this utility built-in. I have 25 custom filters set up that block messages containing words like 'adult', 'mortgage', 'debt.' The bonus is that, if I get a message with a subject line like, "Why can't you act like an adult on The Grumble?" it will be blocked!

This strategy has been so effective that my spam has been reduced in a few weeks from several dozen each day to about one each day.

Today I received three messages that were not blocked but ended up in my junk folder for examination. Two contained viruses and the third contained an offer for a new virus checker. My Norton Antivirus is always on full alert and my virus definitions were only 3 days old, so it appears I'm okay. I ran a full virus scan and the system is clean.

BTW, Hotmail did not catch these viruses. They were picked up by Norton's in Outlook Express, which I often use even for my Hotmail account.

I'll do some checking on the filtering systems available and post my findings here.
 
Thanx for that, Ron. Of a lot of worries in my life, I didn't think one would include concerns about pro spammers. Good God. I'll think about choosing keywords for blockade: like Hot, Babe, TeenAge anything, free, all night, and like that. If it doesn't work, I may become HateCrud@att.net. Wuddaya think?

Add to that list Viagra, weight, and inkjet. :(

How can I set up my screened mail to go directly to my trash bin so I never have to even delete the screened messages?
 
Oh rats! Now I won't be able to email MM my question about a teenage customer's poster of Babe the Pig - whether I should put it in the hot press or just weight it down. Sorry, I couldn't find a way to work Viagra into that sentence.

Kit
 
Ah, Kit: you're on the exclusion list. Anything you send me is good to go.


Seriously, just a couple of more days and I'm changing my address. Who has time for this? And most curious of all: do those stupid messages ever sell anything to anyone? There must be something under this I'm missing. Is it just numbers they're after?

A bigger problem is coming up with a new name for the address change. :(
 
I have learned the hard way.
DO NOT SEND A REMOVE FROM LIST REQUEST.
They now know you have a valid e-mail address and now they can sell it to other "spam's" to use. Best method is just "DELETE".
 
Originally posted by MerpsMom:
How can I set up my screened mail to go directly to my trash bin so I never have to even delete the screened messages?
With Outlook Express you can set the message rule to say "If X, then DELETE FROM SERVER"

Then you never even know you got it.

Of course, if your rules is not explicit enough you may end up deleting valid messages and never know it.

BTW Ron, you can block entire domains in OE, you're not limited to a specific email address. So in your example, you could just block spam.net.

Cheers!
 
Thanx, David. I did learn that in Brightmail screener, you can send anything they consider to be junk directly to any folder you name, including the Delete It And Send It To H*LL folder. Works...
Is there actually a spam.net? That would truly be fun.
 
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