Convincing the Boss to Cough Up For Anti-Spam Software By Jesmond Darmanin Ah, there's nothing like starting the day with a steaming cup of coffee, a chocolate doughnut... and a stinking mountain of spam. It seems like your company's anti spam filter lets almost all your daily spam right through. They may as well send an invitation. And so instead of enjoying your breakfast while reading up on the latest antics of Paris Hilton and the Middle East, you get to filter your emails, instead. Going through what feels like a billion spam emails to fish out anything that's real work... what fun. By the time you're finished, your chocolate doughnut has gone unsavored and you're left wondering if all those "Miracle Diet Pill!" emails are trying to tell you something about the affect your daily doughnut is having on your body. Sorting through mountains of spam eats up time that could be better spent screwing off at work-- or, hey, even working. And while your company probably has a spam filter in place, unless they really work at keeping their software updated you're going to be bombarded with spam. After all, just because spammers are the scum of the earth doesn't mean they're stupid... they know their way around sub-par anti spam software. Chances are, your manager doesn't realize that your current software is outdated-- he never checks his emails, anyway. But he does care that your time is being wasted with spam when you could be getting some work done. Want to make your boss sit up and take notice of the problem? Give him a poetic sampling of what you deal with each day. Thousands of customers, meds online Improved performance, for yours and mine Oh, the temptation And stubborn persuasion Fine watches, all for cheap Discounts on brands, no price too steep All that distraction For just a fraction Here's the best deal we'll ever make Improved performance for me, better results for you - have and eat that cake! I swear it's no scam JUST GET RID OF ALL THAT SPAM! Your boss may ask you where you found the time to write up stupid poems about spam when you should be working-- just tell him you cribbed it from Shakespeare. He won't know. Did you put your heart and soul into your "Spam Hurts" poem, but feel like it got you nowhere? Give the boss a real taste of how much spam eats up your time by forwarding him all of your spam messages. Sure, you'll look like sort of a jerk, but... it'll probably work. If it doesn't, you may want to think about taking your boss out to that famous Monty Python restaurant offering "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Baked Beans, and Spam" to accentuate your point. All jokes aside, dealing with heaps of spam is counterproductive-- and that's not something your boss wants. With all the cutting edge anti-spam software available, there's no reason for you to spend your busy days sifting through spam-- a good spam filter deals with it for you. And if getting more work out of you doesn't convince your boss to opt for better spam software... well, nothing will. If that happens, take a few extra minutes in the morning to enjoy your doughnut and your daily Paris Hilton gossip, guilt free. Your boss deserves unproductive employees. Jes Darmanin blogs at All Spammed Up.com: a blog that covers dealing with anti-spam, anti-phishing and general email security in a business environment. Visit this anti spam blog to read more! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jesmond_Darmanin =================================================== What Is The Best Anti Spam Program? Part One of Two By Ara Rubyan The following anti spam programs are effective, popular and (the best part) free! eXpurgate Expurgate is an effective, if unusual, anti spam program. Here's what that mean. You have to use at least two different email accounts to use eXpurgate. Your existing email address has to be set up to forward your incoming mail to eXpurgate where the messages get filtered. After that, the mail is sent to another account for distribution to you. Beyond that, eXpurgate uses familiar anti spam techniques such as Pros * eXpurgate is easy to set up and maintain. * Unlike a Bayesian filter, this anti spam program requires no training to reach optimum efficiency. * Saves you download time and resources Cons * EXpurgate does not "get" your mail from a POP or IMAP account -- you have to set up your email box to forward it. * After filtering your mail, eXpurgate sends the mail to a second account of your choosing -- and/but this address MUST NOT get into the hands of spammers...or else you are back where you started. * EXpurgate's spam filter rate isn't as good as an anti spam program that uses a fully trained Bayesian filter G-Lock SpamCombat SpamCombat combines the personal approach of Bayesian filtering with the "two-heads-are-better-than-one" approach of DNS blacklists to capture spam very effecetively. It also uses content analysis to uncover bogus HTML that may be hiding real spam. All of these features eliminate a lot of spam at the server before you download it to your computer. The downside to SpamCombat is that it only works for POP email accounts. Not only that: it cannot work as proxy, so you are required to check your email twice -- first in SpamCombat, then in your email client. SpamCombat makes the process of training the Bayesian filter a bit difficult by presenting you with an interface that is kind of cluttered-looking. SpamCombat supports white- and blacklists through regular expressions -- not exactly my favorite thing to do as it is kind of involved. Luckily, this isn't a core function of SpamCombat and it works fine without it. Pros * Uses multiple blocking and filtering techniques for high success rate * Uses Bayesian filtering * DNS blacklists * Can detect bogus HTML that hides spam messaging Cons * Supports POP accounts only, * Cannot work as a proxy * The interface is cluttered * Message preview feature not the greatest not ideal K9 K9 uses a Bayesian filter to find spam. As you know, you will have to tell K9 what you consider to be spam and what you consider to be good email. K9 will do the rest and put the spam in any folder you want. You can periodically check the folder to make sure K9 is not junking any real mail; if that is the case, you can correct K9's filter easily so it won't happen again. K9 can also connect to a DNS blacklist for known spammers, although some users suggest that this won't increase K9's accuracy. K9 works as a POP proxy so it works with just about any email software. The downside to this is that it only works with POP accounts. Pros * Works with any email client Cons * No remote administration * No web interface * Only supports POP accounts MailWasher Mailwasher deletes spam right at the server through a system of filters that use regular expressions (formulas that describe a series of words or phrases). It also uses black- and whitelists, relying on the information in the email header (sender, subject info, etc.). This makes MailWasher easy to use and maintain. MailWasher lacks the kinds of scoring filters or Bayesian statistics that automatically adjust to spammers' tactics. Another drawback is that it you can only use Mailwashwer on one POP account. Not only that: it doesn't work with IMAP accounts. It also doesn't work with Web-based email accounts. Pros * Mostly easy to maintain and use * Uses black- and whitelists of senders Cons * Supports only one POP account * Doesn't use scoring filters or statistical analysis which requires you to perform some amount of maintenance Ara Rubyan is experienced in training design and delivery and has been developing web based training for more than 10 years. His background in training coupled with his IT knowledge help him to ensure the seamless development of product user training. Visit Spam Blocker Central for the complete version of this, and other, related articles, complete with periodic updates. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ara_Rubyan