Spam Blocker Recommendations?

AstroZombie

I rarely use my comcast email account but I do have a large amount of spam when I do check it. Anyone have any recommendations for a free spam blocker that works with Outlook Express?

Hollowmind

I never use Outlook anymore so I don't know any that work with it. Mozilla Thunderbird does a great job filtering out spam. I use it at work. I check through my spam folder on occassion to make sure it didn't filter out any important emails and it's only done that a few times in the last year or 2 I've been using it.

monster

I like Qurb. It adds a simple 4 button tool bar to Outlook Express.

http://www.qurb.com/

AstroZombie

Thanks guys. As a fairly recent Firefox convert, I'm gonna give Thunderbird a try.

Asthane

Also, spam gourmet for your pre-emptive spam blocking needs.

Daz

WTF is up with specifically Comcast and Spam btw? I pretty much gave up using my comcast account because it's completely INSANE. Spam filters aside, surely they as a provider have some responsibility for this madness no? I get zero spam in my hotmail account, and yet this is a typical day from my comcast account:



Dumb question alert: how do any of the spam filters above get around the potential problem of filtering out an e-mail that is a genuinuinely for you and important only it just so happens to be not from anyone you've ever received an e-mail from before? e.g potential job/work?

AstroZombie

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WTF is up with specifically Comcast and Spam btw?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea, I hardly use my Comcast account for anything, like I said, and I get a ton of spam. Ridiculous.

KDR_11k

Daz: Spam filters work by using a learning algorithm that recognizes sequences of words that most likely constitute spam. Usually it doesn't matter who the mail is from. Since the filters don't delete the mail but move it into a spam folder you can just look in there if it has caught any false positives.

hawken

I got into thunderbird a few years back only to realise that you can't export your mail from it.

I changed back to outlook start of this year, much better program with much more features.

notman

Comcast sells your email info. When I had Comcast, my wife set up the account, so she was assigned an email addy. I then added an account for me. She used Yahoo and never touched her Comcast account. I only used my Comcast account for emailing friends and professional contacts.

One day, I started getting tons of spam. I didn't think too much of it initially, figuring I used my account somewhere that I shouldn't have trusted. Then I realized ALL the accounts in the 'to' box were Comcast customers.

A few months later, I cancelled my service, for other reasons. When they were trying to convince me to stay, I said one reason I wanted to leave was because they sold my email account, even though I was paying HIGH prices for the service. They of course denied it. After I got off the phone, I checked my wife's account, which had NEVER been used. It had several hundred spam emails. Yeah, sure they don't sell them

bearkub

I have comcast, and where as I do get spam, it's nothing like you guys are talking about. Weird.

thnom

I use NTLworld (my ISP). I have 25 emails that I can give people, I'd be willing to give out like 5 or so if you have serious problems. I do not receive any spam with it. Then again I have never received spam with my gmail account..

sledgy

Gmail has some of the best spam filtering I have seen. I get ~60-80/day and maybe 1 sneaks through the filter.

acc

I agree, Gmail is by far the best I've seen. And even when a certain type of spam does get through, the filter learns to block it incredibly fast.

joolz8000

I just gotta echo what Daz said- WTF, Comcast?! I've had this account for over four years with no problems- until, well, about two weeks now. Now my inbox looks just like that pic above. Every effin' day. I use a hotmail account for all my online purchasing- I don't know how this happened. I find it hard to believe they'd sell the account, notman- it's just ridiculously bad business. I'll check out Qurb.

Daz

That's an interesting point joolz because it happened overnight for me too. Ive also had this account for years with no spam at all. At some point late last year, bam, an inbox full of complete shite every single day. Maybe you're right notman, but I'd find it hard to to believe too. There may be other ways that these wankers can get the addresses, but I don't know much about this stuff. I still think however that Comcast need to get off their arses and do something. Spam filters are great n' all, but I still just don't understand why my hotmail accnt doesn't receive ANY spam, and my comcast does. There is something fishy going on for sure.

notman

I wouldn't be so quick to blame Comcast if my wife's account had been used. If they didn't sell it, then someone hacked their account records. It wasn't like the typical bots where all the accounts were consecutive. Like when I get some spam at notman05@yahoo.com, you can sometimes see notman04, 03 and so on.
Guess I'm quicker to believe they sold it because they are such greedy asses... atleast in my area.