SpamNet
Posted on February 22, 2004
Filed Under Uncategorized
I’ve been hesitating to admit this, but I’ve moved some of my email to the PC. I’m using Outlook 2003 as my PIM now, because with it I can more easily sync email, contacts and calendar to my Palm T3 than I could with anything on the Mac. Plus, with my contacts in Outlook I can easily sync to my phone. I had to jump through so many hoops to get the data in sync that by the time I added up all the pieces it was cheaper and easier to just use Outlook. I have my virus protection up to date, and to be even safer I only view email in plain text and I know better than to click on any attachments.
I’ve set my main email account to be IMAP so I can easily share mail between the computers. It’s working beautifully, except for spam filtering. This is my main account, the one that I’ve been using everywhere for the past 4 years or so. It gets about 200 messages a day, 95% spam. With SpamSieve on the Mac, I didn’t care since I didn’t see those messages. The junk mail filter in Outlook and Norton AntiSpam are good, but they only work on POP email. I had to do some searching and trial and error, but I found something on the PC that works just as well with IMAP email. It’s called SpamNet. It’s an interesting concept. Users tell its database what is and isn’t spam. The more people who report an email as spam, the better it is at identifying the junk once it hits your box. In the week that I’ve been using SpamNet, I’ve only had to report 28 pieces of spam out of 1,142 emails caught. Not a single false positive. It’s very well reviewed at PC sites, and for good reason.
Comments
4 Responses to “SpamNet”
The only other suggestion I’d make — unless I’m too late because you already splurged for SpamNet — is that you try out Mozilla Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/ ).
The Junk filter is clearly inspired by Mail.app’s own, but I find it has SpamSieve’s deadly accuracy. No false positives.
You’re allowing email into a Windows machine?? Careful with those viruses!
I am using my Zire as a conduit b/w my Mac’s email and Outlook 2003 on the PC.
How do you like that T3? I am in the market for a new Palm, but waiting for OS6 and a device with 802.11b and Bluetooth holds me back.
Lex, The reason why I’m using Outlook on the PC is because of the PIM. I’m looking forward to Office 2004 on the Mac for the Project Center. My email is closely tied to my calendar, contacts and task list and Entourage v.X is showing its age.
Jeremy, I’m being very careful. Using IMAP, I’m checking attachments out first on the Mac.
Justin, I love the T3 so far. My only complaint is that I keep hitting the voice record button when I’m expanding it. It’s fast and my writing accuracy is way up. I considered a 802.11b device, but in the end I thought the T3 a better buy due to the faster processor and higher resolution. I think it will be a while before anything comes out with OS 6.