Junk Mail: If You Are Worried About Electronic Junk Mail

The most popular use of junk mail today is probably e-mail spam. People known as spammers send out large quantities of unwanted e-mails containing product information or sales copy to a large list of e-mail addresses. They do this in the hope of generating a lot of sales or leads whilst having little mailing costs.

Spam and spyware may discreetly be using your computer's resources causing it to run slower than normal. You should scan your computer and remove any spyware you find. In extreme cases your computer can actually be used by spammers to help them to distribute their junk mail.

It is critical to have some sort of spam filter in place for ordering and screening your e-mails in your inbox. E-mail filtering software

can do this for you automatically. A spam filter may remove suspicious junk mail so you do not have to do it yourself.

There are many anti-spam software available that may filter and prevent junk mail from reaching your inbox. This can better protect your computer against unwanted e-mails. You can look for software such as Comodo, SpamTitan, Mailwasher or SpamFighter.

There are many a free spam blocker that you may find by using search engines. Here are 3 free software options I found by just entering the keyphrase 'free spam filter' into the Google search engine and clicking on the search button.

#1. SPAMfighter is a free tool

designed for use with the e-mail programs Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express that automatically filters spam.

#2. Mailwasher is reliable and protects your computer from unwanted junk mail.

#3. Spambutcher claims to be an advanced spam filtering software that can stop junk mail almost 98% of the time.

So why is spam protection so important? It is vital in order to protect your inbox and computer from insolicited junk mail sent by spammers, spam gangs and spam services.

What does the the law say about this issue? Spam law states that a message is spam only if it is unsolicited as well as sent in bulk. It is not just an issue of content, but rather of consent. It is about the delivery method. Spamming is illegal and punishable by law.

There are also spam filtering services available. You will have to pay for most of them. SpamRejection offers a comprehensive service with a money-back guarantee. Cudamail is another service that offers proven e-mail scanning technology and e-mail free of viruses and junk mail.

A spam firewall normally combines open source virus solutions, spam solutions and many different defense layers. For example, the Barracuda Spam Firewall is a powerful spam solution that is easy to install and operate. It is a paid system.

Refrain from displaying your primary address on your website or anywhere else on the world wide web. Spammers may see it and add it to their list of harvested emails. You will then keep getting junk mail you did not subscribe to in the first place.

Electronic junk mail will continue to be a problem for you as long as you do not have a strategy or software in place for handling this common internet threat.

Nicolaas Theron shares more information on how to stop spam at http://how-to-stop-spam.com/.

Why Use It – BARRACUDA ANTI SPAM

BARRACUDA ANTI SPAM

E-mail is now abused. The flood of spam on the Internet is the proof. It is annoying to download hundreds of disgusting spam in the search for the inbox of some legitimate messages. Not only do you waste your valuable time to delete junk emails by hand, you lose also lose your money as each spam message in your inbox precious kilobytes of bandwidth will have paid. In addition, spam messages can contain viruses that may infect your computer system, and hidden tracking codes that, when you are working on the message and let the spammer that your e-mail address is valid, too. With all that being said, it's nice to messages that you do not want to get ahead and start your email client to only shoot well delete e-mails. The anti-spam software can do for you. It helps you against annoying spam.

There are a wide variety of spam filters available on the Internet. The common services or functions that they offer are:
* White list and blacklist. The decision whether an email is spam or is taken on the basis of the e-mail address of the sender. The white list "addresses" friendly e-mail and the black list of possible spammers, or just people you do not want to communicate.
* Filter on the subject of the message or content. Some words or phrases in spam e-mails more frequently than others filled. They are usually vulgar words or an adult (sometimes) even insulted. Thus, a keyword filter is quite useful.
* Virus scanning. It is possible that spam e-mail contains a virus in the plant. Some anti-spam programs allow you to block emails with various attachments suspicious.
* Automatic detection of spam. Some spam filters to check incoming emails and deleting e-mails for spam, they automatically at regular intervals.
* E-mail recovery. Some spam blockers provide the ability to send e-mails in a spam quarantine folder and keep them for a certain number of days. Moreover, it is possible to retrieve an e-mail from the trash when you need it.
BARRACUDA ANTI SPAM, offers the key features and benefits of anti-spam software, you can easily block the most spam e-mails.

BARRACUDA ANTI SPAM

Barracuda Anti-spam Service

If you have a domain hosting and e-mail need, we can do it! Domain names from $ 20 per year, and e-mail hosting starts at $ 9 per month and includes our Barracuda spam. Barracuda spam appliance also examine whether viruses. You can significantly reduce the amount of spam (at least 90%), and you protect yourself against viruses at the same time. You have access to our Web administration e-mail, so you can manage your own mailboxes, and change passwords. Whether you are 10, 100 or 1000 mailboxes, email hosting gives you the power and flexibility for your business needs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Is that spam filters work with all e-mails on my domain?
Yes. The filtering is based on the domain based so that each mailbox will be filtered for viruses and spam.

Do I have my mail client?
No. One of the great advantages of this approach to get rid of spam is that there is no software to install, configure any settings and benefits were apparent reason away.

As spam will be reduced?
You should have a 90% or more reduction can see the amount of spam that arrives in your mailbox.
Are viruses from incoming e-mails will be removed?
Yes. The anti-spam appliance also has an anti-virus checker built. Any e-mail deleted by a virus. An added bonus is the software anti-virus and anti-spam software is updated hourly.

How will I know if all spam was deleted?
You will receive an email each day at 3:30 pm CST, when the e-mail has been quarantined, and some messages may appear in your Inbox marked as [BULK]. Either way is to know whether the filters are working. In addition, you should drastically reduce the spam that results in your inbox.

And if the error filter a spam message, can I restore it?
No, if an e-mail has been determined to be spam, it must be declared returned to the sender with a note that the anti-spam appliance has detected that the message was spam. At this point, the sender can communicate with you, and we can help you determine what should be done that go to these mailings, as they should () white list

Best Anti Virus and Anti Spam Protection - Barracuda

The Barracuda combines hardware and software in a system that uses 12 degrees of protection that your network and the threat of attack holds free. These layers will provide security against denial of service, rate control, analysis of IP reputation, authentication of the sender and the recipient, virus protection, user specified rules, spam fingerprint check-in for the image and the Bayesian analysis and rule-based scoring.
One of the beauties of the system Barracuda is that it is not necessary to install additional software or modifications to your existing email network. Install a Firewall Barracuda is simple, every time he is ready to monitor your system via an intuitive web interface and update your virus definitions and spam through the center of the security around the clock. The Security Center creates and delivers updates for your network, when there is new spam and virus detects trends. They have done something to run updates; Barracuda does all the work to ensure meaningful data until the last minute to protect against spam and to attack the methods of the virus.
The Barracuda handles millions of e-mails on a daily basis, and viruses and spam before discharge from reaching your inbox. Has the anti-spam algorithms and methods are the best in the industry to offer. This reduces the load on the server and the number of messages that you in the face every day. Junction-Virus provides comprehensive antivirus protection. Barracuda filter and outgoing messages and attachments for viruses, rate controls and encryption.
In the absence of a license per user pay system Barracuda is easily affordable. Your system does not monitor user accounts. Barracuda is compatible with all types of mail servers, and a perfect fit for enterprise networks large and small. A firewall can take care of 100,000 people and several Barracuda cluster can contain up to 200,000. A single Barracuda system can lower administrative costs through the use of multiple servers and domains.

Is Barracuda the Best Solution For Eliminating Spam?

So you realize that you need a better solution to eliminate spam and provide virus protection for your organization. If you have done any research at all you are probably thinking that Barracuda Networks or some other spam blocking appliance is probably your best solution. Let's investigate this further.

One issue you will have with any appliance that you install is the cost of on-going licensing fees. This is in addition to the initial capital expense you will incur for the appliance itself. Although Barracuda does do a good job of blocking spam you will always need to manage the appliance with on-going updates and patches.

Then there is the backscatter issue. Barracuda Spam Firewalls are often configured to auto respond to spam emails by letting the sender know that their email has been blocked. The problem is that usually spammers use legitimate email addresses by forging the "From" address in a spam email. When Barracuda auto responds to the innocent person's forged email address this is called backscatter.

As Barracuda sends out an auto response to each of these forged email addresses the innocent person receiving these auto responses, several times a day, will naturally mark this as spam. If you are using Barracuda's auto response feature this could possibly get your company block-listed. This would eventually prevent some of your company's regular emails from being delivered since our domain would be labeled as a spammer. Not good.

Yes, you could configure the Barracuda Spam Firewall to not auto reply to the blocked spam emails but this can cause problems as well. What happens if there is a false positive, meaning a legitimate person sends an email that is incorrectly blocked as spam, and there is no reply to inform him that his email was blocked? This could cause frustration for the person that sent the email or potentially lead to a loss sale if the sender was inquiring on purchasing from your business and thought you were just being non-responsive.

Let's say you have a workaround for the backscatter issue and you have plenty of time to spend managing the appliance with updates and tweaks. How would you deal with hard drive lock ups? In July of 2008 Seagate Barracuda released it's largest hard drive the, the Barracuda 7200.11 which was plagued with lockups from the get go. Seagate has since issued firmware updates to help fix the problem but it appears that some customers are still experiencing problems with lockups and at times actual failures.

More than likely Seagate Barracuda will get this hard drive problem fixed but that is not the point. The point is that appliance hardware used to stop spam can fail and does require ongoing maintenance and monitoring. As effective as Barracuda is in blocking spam and preventing viruses from infiltrating your company's network there is a better and more cost effective solution to consider.

If you are a small or medium sized business you should seriously consider a managed service by MX Logic. When you figure all of the costs associated of purchasing, installing, administrating and updating a hardware appliance, MX Logic begins to make the most economic sense. In addition, MX Logic also has one of the best track records for blocking spam. In fact it has been independently tested to block 99% of all spam with one of the lowest false positive rates in the industry.

How the service works is pretty straightforward. You simply redirect your mail exchange record (aka your MX record) to the MX Logic Email Defense Service. This way all of your emails are filtered before it even reaches your network firewall. The Email Defense Service then uses a unique multilayered system of more than 20 separate filters to protect against email threats. When the service finds a suspect email it quarantines it so that you or your administrator can review it and decide if the email is legitimate or not.

The engineers at MX Logic are constantly updating their filters and monitoring the service 24x7 so you never have to worry about updating anything yourself. Free technical support is also available 24x7. By utilizing this service you essentially get to tap into the skills of highly trained technicians that eat and breath this stuff.

Barracuda Networks has proven to be an effective tool to eliminate spam enterprise wide. However, as more and more organizations look to managed services to help reduce IT related costs MX Logic also stands out to be an effective spam elimination solution as well.

May 2009
Mark Oetken is a consultant with The ConnectIT Group LLC, a nationwide reseller of IT managed services and fiber optic cable installations. http://www.ConnectITGroup.com© 2009 The ConnectIT Group, LLC

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Oetken