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Controlling and fighting SPAM

Controlling and Fighting Spam

Spam is a massively growing problem and unless governments and ISP start to take a proactive approach to this very serious problem then it will bring the internet to it's knees at some point.

ATNET receive over 1,000 emails every 24 hours and it's getting worse. Because all our email addresses are POP3 based we use a service called ClearMyMail which we would highly recommend. AT£18 per year per POP3 box it's the best money we have ever spent. It's a service that sits between your POP3 box and your PC or mobile device. We use our phones to keep in touch with our email while we are on the move and without ClearMyMail this would not be possible.

Alternatively if you need to deal with the spam after it's downloaded Outlook rules will get rid of a great deal. Prior to ClearMyMail we used Inboxer which like Outlook rules deals with the spam on your PC and is incredibly good at about £30 for a one time license. Inbox and Outlook rules may increase your download/processing time when you collect your emails.

If you have time I would recommend logging on and joining Spamcop and spending a couple of minutes a day forwarding them some of you spam.

Here are some possible solutions to reducing your spam volumes

CATCHALL ADDRESS

  • It's likely that one of your email accounts is set up as a catchall address. This means that any email sent to an address at your company that's not recognised is collected by this "catchall" address. PLEASE NOT ATNET CUSTOMERS DO NOT HAVE CATCHALL ACCOUNTS
  • Spammers often find an active URL e.g. atnet.co.uk and just bombard it with email addresses in the hope of finding addresses that are valid.
  • The solution is to remove your "catchall" address.
  • ADVANTAGES - This will ensure that any emails not addressed to a real person in your company are returned to the sender as undeliverable.
  • DISADVANTAGES - You will only receive email addressed to the email addresses you have specifically set up. If someone mis-types your email address the email will be lost forever.

ANTI SPAM SOFTWARE

Everyone should have anti spam software installed. Our recommendations can be found here.

RULES IN YOUR EMAIL CLIENT

This is a simple but very effective way of getting rid of big volumes of spam.
More information here >>>

OUTLOOK 2003 & 2007

Outlook 2003 has a junk mail addon available from the Microsoft site if it's not already installed. Go to www.microsoft.com and find the search box (usually top right). Insert "junk email" and you'll get information and a download link for this addon.

 

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Food for thought

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