I Don't Have a Penis!

[Elenny]

Really. I don't have one. But somehow my email address got in somebody's "penis enlargement" list and I have been getting bombed with these type of Spam advertisements for about 3 days now.

And it's not a few emails per day. Just yesterday I got 137. It's the last thing I did before I went to bed. I counted my "deleted" folder.

I'm posting this in the Technology and Technicals Skills forum because I'm wondering if there really is a technical solution to Spam. Perhaps a software program that REALLY works?

Normally in the morning I would get maybe 5 Spam messages and a few more scattered throughout the day, but like I said, in the last few days I have been getting over 100 per day. And I don't mind hitting the delete button, but I know eventually I will delete a legitimate email by mistake.

I would Google this, but I know I will get a lot of "snake oil" in the results, so I prefer to ask the experts here. Thanks.

[Erock]

Originally Posted by Elenny

Really. I don't have one.

Some good intentions, visualization and a change of beliefs and in no time you will!

[Niki]

If they all are from the same sender/domain. Just block the sender or the domain (if it's a not common used domain like @hotmail or @gmail, you dont want to block those domains.).

If you use outlook, maybe there is somewhere an option that trashes mail with the words Penis, and Enlargement in.

You can notice your Internet service provider if you have an email acount there. Otherwise you can notice the email provider you have.

[OlderWiser]

You need a spam filtering system. There are lots of options. Some will let you delete on the mail server before it even hits your hard drive, some filter once downloaded (I don't like those as I feel it's a waste of time and bandwidth to download junk I'm not going to read). There are free and paid systems to filter mail for you.

Personally, I've had a paid Spamcop.net account for years, and I redirect all my mail through their filter and I report the volumes of spam I get every day (I normally get around 300 spam messages per day; with the effective filter at Spamcop, it takes me only a couple of minutes to report and delete it all).

For a start, I recommend MailWasher, which is free, but the full version (very reasonably priced) is well worth it:

Mailwasher Anti Spam Software: The Reliable Free Spam Blocker | MailWasher

That's one of the ones that lets you delete the spam right on the server.

If that doesn't suit you, do a Google search for "spam filter" and see what turns up.

Spammers are truly the scum of the internet.

[aussieNickuss]

Mozilla Thunderbird email client does a pretty good job at filtering out my spam.

Thunderbird - Reclaim your inbox.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

I am sorry I am technically challenged and don't have an answer for you, but I just wanted to say that when I deleted my MySpace account, I stopped getting spam. Perhaps some seemingly legit thing you signed up for on the web is causing this. Also, I don't know what email you are using, but my gmail has almost never missed spam. Maybe one out of thousands made it into my inbox.

[Mayo]

I don't know how it works but i heard many good words for bayes filters, it takes little time to sort right but after that it works like charm.

SpamBayes: Bayesian anti-spam classifier written in Python.

[da1prophet]

I use Gmail primarily, and occasionally Outlook. I have minimal problem with spam. Gmail can now aggregate your other email addresses and is a great way to manage all of your mail. Their spam filtering is pretty good and I've had very little problem with Outlook. I get hundreds of legit email messages a day and I may have a dozen or so make it through the filters.

If you're plagued by one kind of spam for whatever reason its easy enough to set up a keyword filter, but that's not a 100% solution (eg: all of the spammers who use graphic messages or intentionally misspell words).

There's plenty of good solutions for spam right now--I haven't made much of an effort to kill all of my spam and its almost a non-issue now

[Caveman Joe]

Use GMail to filter out your spam - it's free and has the best spam filtering system I've ever used. Then, punish the spammers to deter them from targeting you, using SpamVampire or something similar.

[Waker]

If your email host supports it I would suggest getting a gmail account and forwarding to that. I haven't had spam in my inbox in years and it takes one click to empty the spam folder.

[Sam988]

Originally Posted by Elenny

Really. I don't have one.

You want some ?







sorry i couldnt help myself

[The David]

Originally Posted by Sam988

You want some ?







sorry i couldnt help myself

Well, yes, technically you could have. But that's okay.

[mej023]

Do you have your mail reader setup to receive plain text files or html files or both?

If you receive html files, some spammers will put an invisible 1 pixel by 1 pixel picture into the body of the email that will allow them to access cookies on your machine.

They then have to match up the cookie with their database that has your email address in it. Once they do that, they know who you are and you will be bombarded with spam.

There is not too much you can do about it. Maybe clear all of your cookies and only accept email in text format.

I get a ton of spam and I just delete, delete, DELETE!! A LOT!!!

[Minsc]

Originally Posted by mej023

If you receive html files, some spammers will put an invisible 1 pixel by 1 pixel picture into the body of the email that will allow them to access cookies on your machine.

I'm pretty sure you can only access cookies that were made by your domain name.

And spammers can add their own cookies too.

I think IE has an option to block cookies from certain sites. (A compoment IE's based on is generally used to view HTML in, say, an email viewer)

[Elenny]

Lots of great info here. Thanks. I am currently traveling, but once I get back home I will put of of these suggestion to the test.

[Isis Kali]

Thread Title of the Month, hands down.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Erock

Some good intentions, visualization and a change of beliefs and in no time you will!

For sure! They're all the rage, you know. And just think, Elenny, when you get one, you'll have all those nice offers waiting for you in your inbox!

On another note, here's a sample of some spam from my inbox:

Originally Posted by Random Spammer guy in Bruce's email inbox

You have the gun, Floyd, I said. So pass me back that ancient planet was hip-deep in TV sets?

He then proceeded to offer me 15% off viagra. I tell you, you just can't beat deals like that these days.

[Erki]

Originally Posted by Isis Kali

Thread Title of the Month, hands down.

Did you really need to bring the hands into the game?!