Re: need spam filter for Outlook Express on XP64

"Scotter" <spam@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ujt20RucGHA.5048@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Currently using Cloudmark's Spam blocker plugin for Outlook Express (on XP 32 pro) which has no 64-bit version.

I want something that is highly effective :)

*Must integrate with Outlook Express*

Also would be nice if it (a) puts spam in a folder so I can check before
deleting; and (b) allows me to quickly/easily report a msg it didn't catch
as spam. One nice thing about Cloudmark is that it communicates with a
central server and shares what it learned amongst all users.


So why won't a 32-bit app work for you? I highly doubt that any extra speed would be afforded by a 64-bit app that has to interrogate the packets going to your e-mail client (which is probably also still a 32-bit app, especially since you mention Outlook Express). Since you are running Windows XP Pro, which is 32-bit, you can't run 64-bit software on it, anyway.

Please explain how any program can report a mail that it didn't catch was spam (i.e., a false negative). If the program didn't know it was spam, how would it then know it was spam to report that it missed it? If it knows it is spam, it would catch it and not have to report a miss to you.

Outlook Express doesn't support plug-ins as does Outlook. Of those programs that "integrate" with OE, they look to run as "wrappers". That is not an effective method of detecting spam and makes the spam filter a one-product solution which would have a severely restricted number of users for that product. I use SpamPal which runs as a local proxy which interrogates your e-mail traffic. It commits no action against the spam. All it does is tag the spam and then you create whatever rules in your e-mail program that you want for however you want to handle the spam. SpamPal's main method of detecting spam are DNSBLs (DNS blacklists = IPs of known spam sources). However, you can add the Bayesian plug-in to help guess which mails are spam that may not get detected by DNSBLs (and the SpamPal Bayesian filter can also learn from other spam detection methods to help update its database). So the Bayesian filter would find the spam that the DNSBLs missed. It also has a UserLogfile plug-in that keeps a plain-text version of spam-tagged mails so you can recover in case of a false positive (a good mail marked as spam).

For SpamPal, I have my rules first look for SpamPal tagging them using the Bayesian filter (which means the spam wasn't in the blacklists). Those I move (marked as read so the folder doesn't get bolded to show new mails are there) into the Junk folder which is configured with auto-archive enabled to permanently delete them after 2 days. Bayes is a guessing scheme and it will have false positives. The next rule checks if SpamPal's HTLM-Modify filter detected spam. It scores the HTML-formatted mails on their spamminess and if they use any tricks plus it can remove some HTML tricks. Those also go into the Junk folder, too. The 3rd rule just check if SpamPal tagged the mail as spam and, if so, permanently deletes it (and why I use the UserLogfile plug-in to keep a plain-text copy in case of false positives - which do occur). Be careful as to which blacklists you enable in SpamPal. Some are aggressive, and some are totally inappropriate for personal e-mails (they rank the spamminess of a domain and do NOT actually identify specific spam sources).

Have you checked using the webmail interface to your e-mail account if your e-mail provider includes a spam filtering option? If so, enable it. Even if they are "loose" (lots of spam leaks past), it is still better to have some server-side spam filtering than none at all. If their spam filtering is too tight (causes too many false positives) then you might consider disabling it so you can use a customizable client-side solution, like SpamPal. You can use server-side spam filtering and SpamPal (client-side) together, too.

I did use (now called just Desktop) SpamNet from Cloudmark when it was free, or so Cloudmark professed it was free. When Cloudmark had gained enough experience, enlarged their spam ID database, and tweaked their system enough, all of sudden all of the free accounts got reclassified as beta test accounts when Cloudmark pulled the rug out and went commercial with their service. They never divulged to the users of the "free" accounts that they were actually beta testers and that Cloudmark had its eye on generating revenue from the spam problem. I wasn't interested in paying Cloudmark and I didn't like the way they lied to their users about their intent for their service. I liked the concept of a voting scheme but, in practice, it turned out it wouldn't catch a lot of the spanking brand new spam (because not enough users got it yet to vote on it, so your voting was to help someone other than yourself).

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