Anti Spam Filters / Programs for Outlook Express

[Jeff]

Does anyone use Postal Inspector for Outlook Express (http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2144-10131697.html) - I've been thinking of installing something similar to this, but I always hate to tinker with either Internet Explorer or Outlook Express since they are so tightly tied to the OS and I also don't want to disrupt my mail or bounce false positives. I would be interested if anyone uses this or a similar program to cut down on spam locally.

Thanks in advance.

[VI]

I didn't really like it. It didn't interact with my NIS 2001 (of course, why would McAffee make something that would interface well with a Symantec product?), so I had to take the account I was experimenting on off of my NAV list. Well, I didn't like the fact that to use SpamKiller and have an anti-virus checker I'd essentially have to buy another McAffee product. I tried it out anyway, but it was extremely slow in downloading the messages (ADSL connection), and the default view when the program opens is right into the kill box with a preview message window open!

Since I'm trying to get rid of the porn spam especially, this was not a satisfactory solution, I have uninstalled and asked for a refund. Joined SpamCop today for my 8 year old ISP address that is the worst problem. I think I'll learn more about filters on one of my domain POP's that is getting spammed, I guess.

[zeazik]

I tried Postal Inspector and I don't like how it works. I read an articol on NBC Newschannel 6 about Spam Bully and of couple of month I don't have problems with spam. It have many features and I used bounce that help me.
You can make a search on google.com for expression "bayesian spam filter for outlook express" or "bayesian spam filter for outlook" to find more spam filters based on Bayesian spma filters.
Of all the spam filtering techniques, Bayesian spam filters promise to be the most efficient and auto-adaptive while eliminating false positives almost completely. Find out how Bayesian spam filtering works, and how it can help you.
You can read more about Bayesian filter from there: paulgraham.com/spamfaq.html

[elleirdad]

Bayesian filters are really getting a lot of press these days. (Not bad for a methodology created by a dead English minister from several hundred years ago.)

Probably the biggest effort is via the open source community known as SpamBayes (http://www.spambayes.org). The software is free -- so this isn't a commerical mention. And, there is a lot of information on Bayes and spam stuff.

I know that there is at least one company that has released a commercial version of the product named InBoxer (http://www.inboxer.com) and they have a FAQ on the web site related to Bayes technology that is a little easier to understand.

[author]

Hi, everyone,

I can't seem to make Outlook Express 6.0 filter an HTML message. I am getting hundreds of spams where the words are broken up by < and >,

i.e. Ca<blah>ble T<blah>V

Even when I include the < as part of the filter instructions, the filter doesn't touch them, nor any other words included in an HTML message. How do one filter HTML messages? Is there something I'm missing?

All best,
Michele

[frankc]

Originally posted by author:
I can't seem to make Outlook Express 6.0 filter an HTML message.OE cannot filter based on anything except raw "in the clear" text.

I've been using POPFile (http://popfile.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl) for a number of months now. For OE, you set POPFile to add a tag to the subject line and then create a rule in OE to act based on that modified subject line.

After nearly 51,000 messages, it's correctly classifying incoming emails (24 accounts) 98.84% of the time. It takes about 500 or so when you first get started to get the gist of what's spam vs good for you. Using POPFile, you reclassify any mistakes it makes; and that info is used to more correctly classify new incoming emails. I get from 200-1000/day, and the dang thing is eerily good.

POPFile is free and open-source and still under development (but VERY stable), so stay on top of updates to the program as it continues to be improved.

[author]

Thank you so much, Frank! I will give POPFile a try!

All best,
Michele

[Syneryder]

If only someone would make a Eudora Plugin version of POPFile. I really really want to use it, but there's no way I'm messing with proxy settings and external programs, that seems too much like duct tape. I'd gladly pay for a commercial plugin that works like POPFile.

[Sizzle]

I've been using a product by MailFrontier that plugs into Outlook and Outlook Express to filter spam. I found it also to very effective.

It uses a bunch of stuff to identify spam like Beysian filters, collaborative community sharing thumbprints, dynamic white lists, optional email challenges.
The latest version 4.1 is very stable and has some new ways of catching fraud.

MailFrontier Web Site (http://www.mailfrontier.com/)
It's a 30 day free trial but you can continue to use if forever.


sizzle@gmail.com

[Bolt]

I downloaded 4 months ago SpamBully from http://www.spambully.com
This product is very easy to install. It provides a getting started screen that will guide you through the installation process. With the use of Bayesian filtering, and Language Semantics, 99% or greater accuracy is obtainable. SpamBully is an excellent Spam filtering product and one of the most feature-rich. The user interface is very simple and easy to understand and allows you to create and manage custom messaging filter rules.

[frankc]

Originally posted by Syneryder:
If only someone would make a Eudora Plugin version of POPFile.Unless I've missed something, POPFile is a proxy that sits between your email program and the server. It should work with any POP3 email client.

They're working on adding IMAP to the next version.

[frankc]

[Whoops...edited.]

When I installed POPFile, I seem to remember that it updated the server info in OE automatically. Regardless, manually, it's a minor tweak to the usual pop.yourdomainname.com (to 127.0.0.1) and the username entries.

For Eudora/OE/Outlook/Pegasus, see http://popfile.sourceforge.net/manual/email.html

[Randall]

I downloaded 4 months ago SpamBully This recommendation would have a lot more credibility if it weren't ripped word for word from a review of a competing product (http://www.spamfilterreview.com/spamcop-review.html).

:confused: I don't get it.

Randall

[mromero]

Have you tried Spam Bayes http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/

I used it for about a year and it's quite good and free. I am now using Bloomba in place of Outlook and I kind of like it even though I have the latest copy of Microsoft Office with the new Outlook sitting on a shelf.

Bloomba has a built-in version of Spam Assasin.

After tweaking my filters at the server level I am hardly getting any SPAM where before I would get dozens every day. Something FQuest should do is to try and implement some of the other SA options. On another host that I use I can for e.g. specifiy only English so I do not receive those horrid Chinese spams which I cannot even read anyway.

[frankc]

Originally posted by Randall:
This recommendation would have a lot more credibility if it weren't ripped word for word....Ooo! Someone's got their Inspector Clousseau hat on today! :P Good'n, Randall...

http://frankrobert.net/images/randallclousseau.bmp

[Randall]

http://frankrobert.net/images/randallclousseau.bmp Careful, there. Don't scrunch the ears. :P

Interesting that Mozilla can display BMP images -- I never would have expected that.

Randall