Spam question

[so.cal.fan]

I use Windows XP, have good virus protection software.
I am on cable and I get all this spam for Viagra, enlarge your penis, etc.........most of it is half written in foreign languages.
I was using my block sender tool for a while, but it didn't seem to stop any of it. I guess there are thousands of these scammers/spammers.
What do you guys do? I am currently just deleting anything I get.
Is it advisable to block these senders?
I have complained to my ISP, but to no avail......<sigh>
It's really no big deal, because I have never read any of these ads, I just delete them....but I am amazed at the number of these "companies" out there sending this stuff.:confused:

[schweitz]

Originally posted by so.cal.fan
I use Windows XP, have good virus protection software.
I am on cable and I get all this spam for Viagra, enlarge your penis, etc.........most of it is half written in foreign languages.
I was using my block sender tool for a while, but it didn't seem to stop any of it. I guess there are thousands of these scammers/spammers.
What do you guys do? I am currently just deleting anything I get.
Is it advisable to block these senders?
I have complained to my ISP, but to no avail......<sigh>
It's really no big deal, because I have never read any of these ads, I just delete them....but I am amazed at the number of these "companies" out there sending this stuff.:confused:

I just delete a couple of hundred every day---I'm getting pretty good at it---doesn't take long.

[Tom]

I get these all the time. I just delete anything I am not expecting.
Besides, none of that stuff works anyhow!:rolleyes:

[Tom]

I heard today they decided against the "No Spam" list because the spammers would just it to spam every one on it! LOL

[JustRalph]

someone you are giving your email address to is selling or even giving away your address. But there is spyware out there that can gather the info also.

So.cal......... download "Spybot" and use it.

also.........don't give out your email.........unless you have to.

[Tom]

Socalfan...I got $5 for your email address. Thank you. :eek:

[so.cal.fan]

That's okay, Tom......as long as you put the five bucks on a good horse! Or at least put it into the Hollywood Park pool where I have a shot to win it back from you!

JR.....
I have ad-aware, isn't that good enough?
I get several emails with the wrong name on them, but similar to my name.....I think they get these lists from the cable co.
A weird thing happened the other day, however, I got back three notices from my ISP that they refused to deliver mail, all from one of these drug dealer type websites or maybe it was one of the enlarge your penis or Viagra ads.......that seems to be all I ever get. Once in a while a mortgage ad or one of those "black box" digital devices. At least 70% of them are from Europe.
P I A's to say the least.
The shocker is that people must respond to these ads?????

[Dave Schwartz]

I have been using SpamBully, a Bayesian spam filtering product, since February. It was a little rocky getting it trained for about a month, and it did not really get great until late April.

But now it is fantastic! It catches 99% of all spam I get with only about 3-4 false positives (i.e blocked good emails) per month.

I just looked at the stats thus far for June.

I have received:

total emails: 18,949
good emails: 222
spam: 18,545

False negatives: 3
False Positives: 179

Accuracy: 99.03%

That is 1,150 spams per day and I only see about 14. And, btw, it never blocks a good sender twice!

This is the best $29 I ever spent for software.

(www.spambully.com)


Dave

[Dick Schmidt]

Another approach is to switch to a ISP who filters spam. I use Earthlink and get, on average, 4 or 5 spam messages a day. I rarely see the same message twice. There is some very strong anti-spam available to use at the server level, and you should insist that your ISP use it.

So far on earthlink, the filter catches about 85-90% of all the spam (no one gets as much spam as Dave) and has never produced a false positive. If I want, I can turn up the level of protection, but I'd rather hit the delete key a few times than miss a message.

One thing you must never do is reply to any kind of spam message. Don't ask to be taken off their list, as then they know yours is a valid address and it will be sold all over the internet within hours. If we all stop buying, spam will go away.


Dick


"Bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

[Dave Schwartz]

Dick,

How do you know it never gets a false positive if it is blocked at the server level?


Dave

[kitts]

Here is a radical solution I use. Netscape 7.1<g> I have always used NS over MSIE but the NS spam blocker dumps many spams a day which is great. I might also add that when my ISP converted us all to cox.net, my spam increased from 3 per week to 10 per day!

[JustRalph]

"Bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

What the hell is that?

[JustRalph]

Originally posted by so.cal.fan
JR.....
I have ad-aware, isn't that good enough?

I like both products.........but the latest version of Spybot is pretty damn nice..........Just my opine...........you might want to try it after running adaware.........see if it finds anything after. Spybot also can block things on the fly, using the "browser helper"

[so.cal.fan]

"Bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...


That's Taoist stuff, Ralph!
I had to blink when I read it, I thought our pal show me the wire was back on board!

[doophus]

Originally posted by kitts
Here is a radical solution I use. Netscape 7.1<g> I have always used NS over MSIE but the NS spam blocker dumps many spams a day which is great. I might also add that when my ISP converted us all to cox.net, my spam increased from 3 per week to 10 per day! I'm using MSIE6.0 and Cox as ISP. Cox.net within the past 2-3 months gave the option of using their newly operational and free anti-SPAM identifier. Also, they gave us the option of have the word SPAM inserted in the email SubjectLine and dn-loading the email as usual or just deleting the email. At 1st I chose to ID and download the SPAM emails, but after returning from a few days R&R I discovered almost 800 SPAM identified emails. After deleting all of those suckers, I immediately changed to the "delete on sight" option.

Also, some several months ago I began using Spam Inspector. Purchased for $19.95 at the time. Now the ISP blocker and Spam Inspector perform simultaneous duty. If Cox doesn't stop it; Spam Inspector cleans it up.

Also, I'm running Ad-Aware to control the pop-ups.

[Dick Schmidt]

Dave,

I know I have never gotten a false positive the same way you know you have some. I look through the files that have been blocked once in a while. When I first started, I did it all the time. Since I now have a lot of faith in the program, I only check once in a while. If you have to look through all the blocked e-mails to find false positives, you really aren't saving that much time.

JR,

I collect quotes from all over and keep them in a jumble on my computer. I like to use them as tag lines when in the mood. I have no idea where the Pooh quote came from, but it struck me as funny sometime in the past, and again when I stuck it on a post. Sometimes I find something on point, sometimes not. Let's see now . . .


Dick


Disclaimer: The above are the opinions of God as recited by my telepathic goldfish. Those who oppose them with be struck by lightning. Such an event will be reflected on their electrical bill.