Suggestions on Spam Solutions

August 31, 2003

From Kevin Connell

We use Message Labs, www.messagelabs.com/home/default.asp. In the 12 months June 2002 to May 2003 we stopped over 325,000 spam messages and are now stopping on average 9,000 spam messages per week. It has made a huge difference to our business – I thoroughly recommend it.

Kevin Connell, Director of Information & Technology, Masons

From John Halton

Not a lightning insight, really, but having started to receive spam after almost two years of near spam-free existence, the simplest approach to hopefully stemming the flow seems to be to switch off the “preview pane” in Outlook and use Autopreview instead. Then any spam can be permanently deleted using shift+delete, without having to open the email and thus trigger any web-bugs showing the spammer my account is active.

I’m a bit sceptical about spam filters as ISTM spammers will just find ways to disguise their offerings as “legitimate” email. Most spam I get is not detected as such by Outlook’s built in filters. And any spam filter will inevitably pick up genuine emails as well as spam. The firm’s firewall probably stops quite a bit of it anyway.

Overall, the amount of spam I currently get is quite low so the hassle of dealing with it is far outweighed by the convenience of email. Having multiple accounts to avoid spam would be more trouble than dealing with the spam itself.

John Halton, Solicitor, Cripps Harries Hall

Email: jsh@crippslaw.com