Customizing Content Filtering On Your Anti Spam Software
Anti Spam Technology
There are a number of different technologies that anti spam software can use in order to help combat spam and junk mail. Keyword or content filtering is still the most widely used and works by checking the subject line and the body of emails received to look for known spam keywords. Many spam emails are geared towards only a few topics. As well as adult orientated messages it is likely that you will receive emails pertaining to online medication, replica watches, and enhancement and performance products. Websites that sell these products are typically high commission paying sites making them the most popular among spammers, that usually return a low conversion rate.
The Problem Of Spam
Spam is a serious problem that affects many Internet users on a daily basis. If you have ever placed your email address online or you have your own website with a published email address then the chances are that you have fallen foul of spam software. This software is used by unethical marketers to scrape email addresses from hundreds, thousands, or even millions of websites.
Automated Spam Software
Once the software has your address it will then proceed to send marketing emails to you on an alarmingly frequent basis. The result is not only annoying but can cause errors with your email application and cause your email server to slow down or even freeze completely. If your children also use this email address then a lot of the email content you receive could be considered questionable at best.
The Advance Of Anti Spam Software
Anti spam software has advanced in recent years. Heuristic filtering offers intelligent software that learns from your actions. The most recent software usually involves some level of heuristic filtering but also typically combines this with keyword filtering because this remains one of the most potent forms of spam counteraction. Anti spam applications usually have settings that enable users to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the spam keyword list. Some applications also provide other spam options such as the ability to accept or decline emails on certain topics and the capability to add or remove specific keywords from the list. By taking advantage of these options you can effectively protect yourself from spam without missing emails you may have a genuine interest in.
Protection Level
Anti spam applications usually offer a protection level setting on a sliding scale basis. This means that by choosing a setting from low to high protection you can alter many of the settings automatically. A low setting means that fewer keywords will be blocked, you will be prompted for action with more emails, and fewer keywords will be added to the default keyword list.
On the other hand a high spam setting will typically include all known spam keywords, emails will be aggressively deleted or removed, and an increasing number of keywords will be added on a regular basis. Users need to find the right balance according to their personal use. For example with the most stringent setting you may fail to receive some genuine emails from genuine people that you have requested. Even effective use of the black list and white list senders usually means you will still miss out on the occasion email.
Keyword Lists
Obviously the most important factor with keyword scanning anti spam software is the list of keywords it uses. Applications that use this technique should include an extensive list of keywords to begin with and should give the user the opportunity, when required, to enable or disable emails containing each individual keyword. Automatic updates will download the latest additions to these keyword lists.
The Importance Of Updating Your Keyword List
Keyword lists are important because spammers use a lot of different techniques in order to evade manual email filters. Incorrectly spelled words and the replacement of letters with numbers or symbols is not at all uncommon. Keyword list updates will include many of these alternatives to a lot of different keyword topics. You should always ensure that your anti spam software is able to access the Internet and download the latest updates even if you do not intend to use all of the keywords in the new list.
Spam Email Marketing Trends
Spam emails usually follow trends in the same way as any form of genuine advertising does. New topics of spam email mean new keywords and manually it is highly unlikely that you will be able to keep up with this ever changing market.
Manual Adding And Removing Of Keywords
Sometimes, anti spam keyword lists do miss out on some keywords. It's possible that you are one of few people receiving specific spam emails and, as such, a keyword list is unlikely to include these keywords. For cases like this you will need to manually add keywords to the keyword list. Alternatively, you may be a genuine shopper that has requested information on watches, online medication, or another spam topic. In these cases you will typically want to be able to remove specific keywords from the list.
Anti Spam Software And You
The greatest benefit of anti spam software is that it automates the process of checking and removing spam email from your email client. However, it can only do this according to your settings because every user is different and has different needs. If you do not keep on top of managing keyword lists and manually adding or removing keywords from the list you may find yourself receiving some spam emails or missing out on some genuine emails. We strongly recommend that if you do have a genuine interest in a topic that you do not purchase through spam emails. Not only can they prove to be phishing or scam emails but the only way to truly stop spam is to stop using spam emails.