Spam Fighting Tools: Desktop or ISP Hosted?
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http://live.pirillo.com/ - The last topic the round table discussed is whether or not Spam fighting tools should be run server side, or via your desktop.
Four of my friends joined me for this discussion: Kat, SC_Thor, Wirelesspacket, and last but certainly not least… Datalore.
SC_Thor hosts many clients with his company, and uses SpamAssassin to block the Spam from getting through to his clients. SpamAssassin is open-source, and can be run server-side… or via desktop using one of the modified versions people have created. SpamAssassin uses a wide variety of local and network tests to identify spam signatures. This makes it harder for spammers to identify one aspect which they can craft their messages to work around. Anti-spam tests and configuration are stored in plain text, making it easy to configure and add new rules. SpamAssassin requires very little configuration; you do not need to continually update it with details of your mail accounts, mailing list memberships, etc. Once classified, site and user-specific policies can then be applied against spam. Policies can be applied on both mail servers and later using the user’s own mail user-agent application.
Whether you use something server-side, or locally installed on your desktop, make sure you choose a program that allows YOU to set your own customization. You shouldn’t tell the program to automatically delete the emails before you see them. Mark them, yes. Delete them? No… there can be false positives in any program. You don’t want to lose something important, simply because someone chose to use an odd subject line that got marked as Spam.
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3 Comments
John Neilson
October 9th, 2007
at 2:06am
Trouble with the ISP doing it is, I presume, that you don’t get to see the stuff they’ve eliminated. Try MAILWASHER from a couple of Kiwi nerds. It downloads all your emails as the 1st 20 lines as a text file [no executables]. Then you decide what you download normally. You can also “bounce” the rejects from a spurious address so that your address is not confirmed to the spammer. They also have an extra-cost worldwide database of identified spammers. Great program!
Jack Bremer - 3B Web Design, London UK
October 9th, 2007
at 3:46am
Personally, I opt for Google Apps for me and my clients - it’s essentially server-side, as you push all your email to them with appropriate MX records changes, and their spam filtering is excellent.
It works BIRLLIANTLY with a Blackberry because the spam never reaches your handheld device, and spam sits in the Spam folder for 30 days before auto-deletion.
I wish their spam rules were customisable, as there are a few strange false positives, and I’m not clear if adding a sender to your GMail contacts prevents them from being flagged as spam again.
Google inform us of the SPF records to set with our domain registrars, which also helps our domain form being flagged as a spam sender through these lowlifes spoofing our email accounts.
I have tried client-side solutions, including Norton Anti-Spam and Outlook Junk Mail Filter, the second of which is GREAT if you keep it up to date, but does allow all the nasties to reach your computer, which annoys me for reasons of bandwidth, exposure to potential threats, and the potential to clog things up if collecting on a mobile device such as phone or BlackBerry.
wikili
August 14th, 2008
at 7:03am
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