By Niall Roche
With the number of spam filtering solutions
increasing each week it's getting tougher for consumers
to make informed choices in their purchases.
There are 3 basic types of spam filters:
1. Integrated
2. Standalone
3. Online
We'll look at each type of spam filter
and at the end you should be able to decide what spam
filter is right for you.
Integrated spam filters
This type of spam filtering software is the most common.
Once installed it sits "on top" of your existing email
software and installs a new set of buttons into your
email software. In future when you collect email you'll
see options for marking email as Spam, marking the
email as Not Spam, Bounce the email back to sender,
etc. The description and position of these buttons
varies from one product to the next but their purpose
remains the same.
Most integrated spam filters automatically
place suspected junk email into a separate folder
on your PC for you to review or delete later on. The
newer integrated spam filters are also "intelligent".
They can basically learn the difference between what
is spam and what is not and delete the junk email
you don't want.
he most popular integrated spam filters
are:
iHate Spam
Spambully
Spam Inspector
Integrated spam filters are most popular
amongst people who want a one click solution to collecting
their personal email and filtering junk email at the
same time.
Advantages: One click solution.
Disadvantages: Software specific. Some work with Outlook
and Outlook Express only.
Standalone spam filters
These are less common than their integarted counterparts
but that doesn't make them any less useful. A standalone
spam filter is basically a separate piece of software
installed on your PC that you use to check your email
for spam. Standalone filters have the big advantage
of being able to preview your email on the mail server
before it's downloaded to your PC. This one single
feature has the huge benefit of allowing you to just
download the email that you want as opposed to downloading
all of your email, including the spam, and then sorting
through it. Using a standalone spam filter is a little
more work simply because it's a separate piece of
software that you have to run before you open up your
email software. Most standalone filters do allow you
to configure them so that your standard email application
is opened once you've chosen what spam to filter.
This suits some people and not others.
The most popular standalone spam filter
is:
Mailwasher Pro
Advantages: Doesn't rely on specific
email applications to work properly. Disadvantages:
Two step process. Load standalone filter and then
your email application.
Online spam filters
There are really two types of online spam filters.
One is for business use and one is for home use. A
typical example of a business type product is iHate
Spam server edition where the software deletes junk
email directly from the mail server before the end
user even sees it. Large companies employ this type
of technology.
Home users will be using Spam Arrest
or similar. Spam Arrest offers an inventive solution
to spam whereby any email sent to the users account
has a challenge request sent back to it which the
sender must authenticate. The automatic junk email
software used by spammers can't currently deal with
this type of response. Any failure to authenticate
the challenge email results in the junk email being
left to die in cyberspace. A user is authenticated
with Spam Arrest only once for security just to make
sure the software doesn't become a nuisance.
The most popular online spam filter
is: Spam Arrest
Advantages: Users are guaranteed to
only receive the email that they want or requested.
Disadvantages: Any techncial problems with the Spam
Arrest server and you have no defense against spam.
Now you've seen what spam filtering
options are available to you just ask yourself which
one suits you most. If you're still not sure drop
by http://www.spam-site.com
and check out our product reviews - we have something
for everyone.
About the Author
Niall Roche is the content author and owner of http://www.spam-site.com
