{"id":659,"date":"2006-02-07T13:36:00","date_gmt":"2006-02-07T19:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=659"},"modified":"2006-02-07T13:36:00","modified_gmt":"2006-02-07T19:36:00","slug":"this-weeks-tech-column-working-together-to-fight-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/this-weeks-tech-column-working-together-to-fight-spam\/","title":{"rendered":"This week’s tech column: Working together to fight spam"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like me, one of the most annoying issues with e-mail is all the spam and fraudulent e-mails you receive everyday.
\nI can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t begin to think about the time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wasted while having to surf through junk mail.
\nMy buddy Michael<\/A> even has an entire blog dedicated to fighting spam.
\nLuckily my hosting service has recently installed an improved spam fighter that reduces a large amount of that time.
\nEvery suspect e-mail that comes to my inbox is marked with [SPAM] in the subject line.
\nWith a simple rule in Microsoft Outlook, the mail is automatically sent to a special junk folder in Outlook.
\nFrom time to time I will scan the folder to be sure my legitimate e-mail is not being trashed, but the majority of the time, only junk mail is caught and quarantined.
\nFor the occasional times when legitimate e-mail is tagged, a quick e-mail to my hosting service will usually un-tag future e-mails from that sender.
\nBut what about those of you who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to mess with Outlook rules and need a simple easy to use solution?
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found some software that I think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all love.
\nCloudmark<\/A> Desktop, formerly SafetyBar, for Outlook and Outlook Express installs quickly as a toolbar within the Microsoft e-mail clients.
\nCloudmark was released to the open source community in 1999 and the commercial product became available in 2001, with improvements continuing along the way.
\nWithin minutes of downloading the software, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re up and running and connected to a larger network of users to help combat spam and fraudulent e-mails.
\nAccording to Cloudmark, the software blocks 98 percent of spam from ever reaching your inbox.
\nWhen an e-mail is received, a special fingerprint is generated and compared with information on Cloudmark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s servers.
\nFingerprints based on feedback from more than 50 million Cloudmark mailboxes are scanned and the e-mail is blocked if it matches other undesirable e-mail.
\nE-mail that is identified as spam is moved to a folder labeled spam, or you can customize the software to move the e-mail elsewhere.
\nIf the e-mail is incorrectly identified, the user simply clicks “unblock” or “block” and the fingerprint is sent back to Cloudmark for future e-mails.
\nThe process is quick and barely noticeable.
\nAs the number of Cloudmark users continue to grow, the software should continue to improve as more and more people block spam senders.
\n“We base our spam on the votes of our users,” Amy Baker, a spokesperson for Cloudmark said. “The moment one person says ‘That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spam,’ it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collaborated with other users. Other software uses a series of rules to pick out spam. No one opens it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just based on very specific rules.
\n“An e-mail might look like spam but you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always tell. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the real difference; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only blocking what the real users say is spam,” she said.
\nUsers can download the software for free from Cloudmark.com and if you continue to use the software after a 15-day free trail, you can extend the use of the software for $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year.
\nOther products based on the technology are also available.
\nA server-based application is available for installation on Exchange servers and Internet service providers can purchase a program that adds the coding for their users.
\nThe product has already impressed a number of people in the industry.
\nLast year it was named one of the Top 100 products of 2005 by PC World Magazine, as well as one of the Top 100 Products by Datamation.
\nThere are other options available, but so far this is by far the easiest and best option I have found for cutting down e-mail with Outlook and Outlook Express.
\nOh and sorry Mac users, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no plan for a Mac version of Cloudmark yet.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Blundell is a reporter with the Waxahachie Daily Light.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like me, one of the most annoying issues with e-mail is all the spam and fraudulent e-mails you receive everyday. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t begin to think about the time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wasted while having to surf through junk mail. My buddy Michael even has an entire blog dedicated to fighting spam. Luckily my hosting service … Continue reading This week’s tech column: Working together to fight spam<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-aD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}