Spam, new record?

[ohitsmonday]

Just signed up to a new isp and set up new e-mail address. Didn’t send any e-mails or let anyone know of the new address. Approx 20 mins later performed send/receive in outlook for the first time , guess what (yes, you already know) 3 porn messages in the inbox. Is there any way of stopping this? I’ve tried mailwasher etc, but deleting the 100 or so spam messages on the old address every day became a bit tiresome. HELP…..please

[Mac the Knife]

My ISP has just installed SpamAssassin on their servers and my garbage has fallen from >50/day to about 5

Dramatic! And very welcome.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

ohitsmonday,

Get your own Domain Name and set up a small website with a Web Hosting Company that gives you a Mail Server.

Then you can control your email addresses and your Mail Server Settings. You should not get and spam due to the Web Hosting Company.

Just do not do Free Web Hosting, you get what you pay for.

Take Care,

Richard

[IFTB]

NAC,Inc

You're right I followed the advice given here some days ago on my questions "why a domain name" (see subject thread).
As with a friend who did the same a few months ago still no sight of Spam!
With my domain name I choose a spam killer option for a few Euros more. VERY happy and the name choosing plus redirection is so easy. Even with my limited knowledge of the finer details.

You turn out to be a valuable knowledge source!

ohitsmonday,

You can follow his advise. No need to get additional spam killer programmes, the host will do that for you and you pay a fraction of the cost.

I will create a new topic for a little question I have for NAC, Inc, concerning downloads.

Cheers!
IFTB

[PPRuNe Towers]

So, throughout many threads we see the PC users having to resort to third parties whether software, domains names of ISP based.

Question for the Mac users and I'd really appreciate brutally honest answers. My address and the admin one get everywhere due to the nature of the work running the site - thus we're plagued with spam.

I use no spam killing products at all and rely on the OSX mail client. On today's first mail pass I got 58 pieces of spam and all bar 2 were automatically binned. This is the consistent ratio throughout the last couple of years.

Do you get similar results?

If not be honest and let us know if you just run the mail client as it came or put it through a 'training period' first.

My opinion is that it is very good indeed but I get a huge amount of spam. Therefore I'd be interested in your views on how the standard software included in the machine works for you. The legislation in Europe and States has been lobbied into ineffectuality so it is important to discuss the subject.

Regards
rob

PS For the PC users. Did you know that the biggest producer of anti spam hardware and software in the world is also the most succesful producer of 'spam cannons' - the high end servers firing out the stuff in the first place. Sick world sometimes but what a business concept - akin to the the makers of 'Raid' building roach colonies and liberating them en masse....... What bloody hope is there when they're lobbying. Win -win or what. A self perptuating growth industry.:{ :{ :{ The more I delve into the world of spam the more cynical I become about the entire PC industry.

Forget the pretty designer cases. Why does my machine work without third party assistance??? Something stinks in the wintel world.

[Eddie_Crane]

I was using Eudora until a few weeks ago, however it doesn't seem to have an embedded "junk buster" so I tried, out of curiosity, M$ Entourage X (which comes with M$ Office X, that I found installed on the kit [iBook G3 :ugh: ]).
Entourage catches 100% of my spam every day and I am very happy with it.
I was thinking of migrating to Apple's Mail to use GPG for privacy-enhanced mail but I found a set of GPG Applescripts for Entourage so I'll stick to it.
Again, very effective junk busting so far :ok:

C

[Mac the Knife]

No matter what platform you're on, unless your ISP uses spam filters, the junk ends up in your mailbox.

Whether you're using a Mac or DOS or BEOS or Windows doesn't really matter. Most OS mail clients whether commercial, shareware or freeware, can be set up to toss stuff into the trashcan. As your rules learn or you refine your filters the more effective it gets. But you still have to sit for ages while the cr@p is downloaded (most of the world doesn't have broadband - surprise!)

Until the deluge is stemmed, the answer lies either with ISPs installing spam filters or a preview app. like Mailwasher which allows you to delete garbage directly off the server before downloading.

With respect to PPRuNe Towers and the Mac brigade (and no UNIX-based OS can be really bad) to imply that if the world ran on OSX we wouldn't have spam is specious to say the least.

Why don't I have a Mac? Well, the hardware is too dam#ed expensive and my choice of apps., excellent as they are, is too restricted. And compared to Windows/Linux, so is the freeware/shareware....

Maybe that's why I'm migrating to Linux (Suse 9.0, I love it)

Mac (Registered Linux User #302442)

[ohitsmonday]

Thanks for the replies..
But (maybe coincidence), I spoke to a friend about spam after posting the original message and asked how much do you get?
Answer: none. Now, admittedly this person is far more prudent about giving his e-mail address to people/signing up for newsletters etc, but his secret (perhaps) – he has a home network, acorn and pc, all email is dealt with via the acorn machine. This got me thinking, a while ago another friend (popular guy, me!) recommended opera iso ie to speed surfing up. Lo and behold it did. OK waffling now, to cut a boring story short tried opera mail, didn’t like it (although love the browser), so tried Eudora and am now getting a handful of spams a day instead of approx 100. Is this due to security holes in Outlook? Comments please from those more knowledgeable than me.

[goates]

I have had my main email address for more than a year now, and I haven't had any trouble with it yet. Before this I had one that I used for a few years, and it was only just before I had to switch (the ISP was bought out) that I received any spam at all. I only give it out to friends, or use when buying things from companies that I trust (well, as much as you can trust any company). For everything else I use my hotmail account, which does recieve about 10-30 spam emails a day.

Something that may have helped with this is that I don't store the email address anywhere on the computer that I don't have to. In Internet Explorer there is an option to store commonly used values for filling in forms, and I don't use it. I know there have been security problems with this before where a website could read this data thanks to various security problems. I seem to remember similar problems happening with Outlook. It sounds like a security flaw in Outlook allowed a hacker to steal the source code to the Half-Life 2 game.

Another point is that I used Macs for most of that time at home. They aren't as susceptible to the above problems, as most hackers don't seem to care about taking advantage of what few security problems there are on Macs. My dad still uses a Mac, and he gets all kinds of Windows email viruses and just deletes them. So maybe using a Mac or Linux would help a little, or at the very least something other than Outlook if possible.

goates

[Keef]

I'm sent several hundred spams a day. Of those, about one a week gets itself downloaded into my PC.

I have a $30 account with Spamcop, and all my "spammed" addresses either forward all mail there, or I've set Spamcop to connect to the POP server and "pull" the mail.

Spamcop then dumps the spam into a "holding" folder and forwards the rest to me at a different e-mail address known only to Spamcop and to me.

Once a day or so, I look at the holding folder, select any that's from genuine people (there's usually one a week or so) and "whitelist" that address, then I dump the rest.

Meanwhile, I have some addresses that the spammers haven't got hold of...yet.

[BOAC]

New legislation effective today in the UK (or should I say NOT very effective??:confused: ) renders UK spammers liable to a fine of £5000 if caught. Given that this will not really help much, some Q's for the Gurus:-

1) In the past, some of my private forum members' machines have unwittingly been set up by hackers to send out 'under-cover' spam. Is there any way a user can tell if this is happening eg internet/email logs anywhere on the machine or some registry entries?

2) Is there any guaranteed way to check that one's Virus Checker is functioning and not been hacked, other than visiting 'Housecall' at intervals or sending oneself a test virus?

[PPRuNe Towers]

Great to see the debate widening and the effectiveness of the junking within mail clients across all systems confirmed by users.

Mac the Knife's point regarding dial up users is well taken. Strip it out while on the server. However, you'll note that the tangent I take on just about all subjects on this, a specialised forum, is speaking on behalf of 'average Joe.'

I do this partly by inclination - I hate to see computer users becoming tech fashion victims - but mainly through my experience of running the site. My daily admin postbag is dominated by the problems of average PPRuNe Users. They often don't even know how to cut and paste let alone keep their system security updated along with virus definitions. They are utterly baffled by cookies and have never knowingly downloaded anything in their lives.

One of my jobs here is to keep the experts honest - to prevent this forum from straying for too long into boffin/extreme computing territory. The net is overwhelmed by specialist forums that go way up into the rarified tech-heads' stratosphere. This forum isn't for that and never has been.

I'm always stirring it just to find the simplest, cheapest and most straightforward route to achieving a succesful integrated system for PPRuNers. Hardware, software, printers, cameras, scanners. Pull up my posts on this forum - the approach is totally consistent ever since it started. I write for the 99% who don't download things, who wouldn't hack their registry other than to save their firstborn and who get constantly ripped off not just by marketeers and crap sales people but most of all from keen, knowledgeable and very helpful enthusiasts:E :E :E

This is primarily a First Aid Station for PPRuNers with problems and queries. I'd have to step in far less often if our resident experts bore the real audience in mind. The person who has bought a mass market machine just to get on the net and do e-mail but is tentatively, very tentatively dipping their toe into the mysterious and often worrying waters of upgrading, networking, imaging and music.

I hope our aces will at least consider this and perhaps think of some of my rules of thumb. If someone doesn't spend at least 80% of their time gaming or simulating what possible use can they have for a 2+ghz cpu and a high end video card??? When someone posts a tightly specified query (cost and spec) on a digital camera why did it only go for a couple of hours before we were launched into flights of fancy regarding 3, 4 and 5 mb cameras and their supposed merits. In that case Mac the Knife's emminently sensible and professional reply was trampled underfoot by the male jewelry brigade. Luckily the original poster stayed focussed but important point is a lot of other lurkers are always reading as well.

Sum Up: The vast majority of PPRuNers don't want to or can't download executable solutions. Remember, Microsoft themselves only acknowledge an 11% adoption of their updates. It's childsplay to you but unnerving to them. Please read that again - the average PPRuNer is in the 89% bracket, not your part................

The tech advice here is to a very high standard but the buying and practicality advice is dominated either by those who regard computers as an engaging and engrossing hobby which they fund accordingly or by pro's who spec and buy gear but don't pay for it out of their own after tax income.

As it's an aviation site lets put it this way: Much of this forum's advice can be compared to a student pilot being told that their 152 is useless - what they reall y need is a LearJet :} :}

Regards to all
Rob

PS - If you'd like to rebut or take issue with my thoughts please do me the courtesy of pulling up my posts for the last year - my approach is consistent even if you don't find yourself in agreement. On the subject of my Mac bias you'll have to counter this: I built and supplied PC's for 15 years and the phone still rings with queries and problems. I know that many of you are in the same situation with people you've helped. Doesn't happen with Macs - barring hardware failure it's that simple.

Anyway - about that spam:uhoh: :uhoh: :uhoh:

[BEagle]

Good point, well made, mate.

But shouldn't the ISPs be made to do more to combat the continual stream of cr@p which they allow through to their customers?

What I'd really like to see is one of these spam-perpetrators exposed, charged and jailed. And then let him describe the joys of viagra, willy-enlargment and the rest of his rubbish to his fellow inmates whilst carefully ensuring that he doesn't drop the soap in the shower....

[Keef]

Yes, Beagle, but the perpetrator is in the USA where the constitution and the law preserve the individual's right to deluge everyone with spam.

My 200-a-day come primarily from rr.com, verizon.net, comcast.net, sjrb.ca, attbi.com and adelphia.net. The rest are from .cn, .kr, .br, .ar, or chello. None of those take a blind bit of notice of spam reports or complaints.

I take PPRuNe Towers' point, but the many folks I've set up with Spamcop are very happy indeed with it. If a retired, "with this world but not of it" clergyperson like a certain colleague of mine can handle it, I'd reckon anyone can.

[PPRuNe Towers]

Hi Keith, sometimes I can get a little too philosopical for my own good so let's cut it down to a bite sized chunk.

The software and ISP or office server solutions you guys are recommending are developed, created and owned by the company that makes its fortune by creating and selling the spam cannons causing the problem in the first place.

You're all suggesting we add to the problem by supporting spam killing at any point in the chain other than its origin. If it's not killed at source they make a killing:uhoh: :uhoh: :uhoh: That's why I won't use spam killing software - it's making things worse not better.

Rob

[goates]

BOAC,

Most software firewalls will alert you to in and outbound traffic, and will give you the option of blocking it. I've been using ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonealarm.com) for a while, but there are others such as Norton Personal Firewall. I would think that your virus program would warn you if it had been tampered with, but if not you should be able to boot from the emergency CD or floppies and scan the computer that way.

goates

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

One of my jobs here is to keep the experts honest - to prevent this forum from straying for too long into boffin/extreme computing territory. -Yep, must be a Mac user. :rolleyes:


I hope our aces will at least consider this and perhaps think of some of my rules of thumb. If someone doesn't spend at least 80% of their time gaming or simulating what possible use can they have for a 2+ghz cpu and a high end video card??? When someone posts a tightly specified query (cost and spec) on a digital camera why did it only go for a couple of hours before we were launched into flights of fancy regarding 3, 4 and 5 mb cameras and their supposed merits.

Rob, it comes down to Best Bang for the Buck. The person that does not use the computer for gaming or high end simulations on average keep their computers much longer than gamers. I cannot see the point in recommending a comp with a 1Ghz Duron or a 1Ghz Celeron when you can get a AthlonXP 2500+ for a few dollars more. They might not need it for what they run now, but a couple of years down the road it will be really handy having the extra horsepower. Same with Cameras, you can get a good 3Mp Camera for a little more than a 2Mp camera. It is a good investment. (Even the 5Mp Kodak camera I mentioned runs £170 here is the U.S., not exactly a high end price.)

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. The best method for troubleshooting people's problems is, K.I.S.S., especially what you are doing it online and are not in front of their computer.

[Mac the Knife]

Ahem..my suggestion IS a good camera but it is actually outside his price range...

Blushes furiously...

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Mac the Knife,

I could not pass up ribbing Rob a little since he was ribbing us. ;)

Those funny Mac users. They all seem to think they have all the solutions for us dumb PC users and probably all the solutions for solving all the problems in the world too. :p

Richard

P.S. I think this thread is officially Hijacked now! :eek:

[BOAC]

OK - fighting off the hijackers.........

goates - thanks - I use ZoneAlarm, but a lot of my 'flock' do not have firewalls. Does the hacker's 'internal' SMTP sender leave any trails when it sends, so I can direct them to a simple cehck of a file or two?

[goates]

BOAC,

I'm not sure if there would be a file that can easilt be checked. If you could find one, you could probably remove any hidden programs controlling the machine. The best thing to do would be to run an up-to-date anti-virus program, and then either Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) or AdAware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com). Spybot looks to be a little more thorough and can immunize your computer against some malicious programs. After that, strongly encourage your users to set up ZoneAlarm. ZoneAlarm can track where outbound connections are going.

goates

[fobotcso]

...I'm trying hard to think of something sensible to say that will prove how wise I am.

The trouble is, I don't understand the question... :(

My (very experienced) son-in-law spent the last week-end rebuiling his iMac after it crashed and fell to pieces. The old Toshiba laptop I rebuilt for his wife shows no sign of needing the same treatment.

Toast anyone? :p

[Keef]

My (graphic artist) daughter swears by her Mac. I swear at it.

[Binoculars]

My spam numbers continue to increase, but I am for the moment intrigued by the latest development.

I can understand if the From box says Angel, or Tiffany, or even Accounts Department or Microsoft Download Patch; the idea is to get you to at least click on the subject. But over the last four days, I have received emails from the following, and as Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up;

Careless R. Stationer,
Partridge P. Blavatsky,
Mightiest E. Ulna,
Shaun H. Resoundingly,
Puritans F. Hieing,
Shortcutting V. Litterbug, (!)
Myrtle E. Deferring,
Gethsemane K. Coincident, (!!)
Scabbiest R. Bedroll,
Optimization E. Misgovern,
Abstrusely Q. Laud,
Woodcutter O. Pedalling, and
Exertion R. Encephalog!!!!!! :uhoh:

No idea what any of them were about, I just copied the names from the Trash folder, but at least there is a degree of curiosity about where my spam is going to come from these days. Surely they can't believe ANYBODY would open them?