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Q&A: Spam Slayer: New Antispam Weaponry |
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Mail services enlist army of 100 million users to help fight spam.
Tom Spring,
PCWorld.com
Last week was a bad one for spammers. Tools introduced by powerhouses Microsoft and Yahoo boost spam protection for many Web-based and desktop in-boxes.
Microsoft has beefed up its desktop defense with a cadre of new tools that are part of its Outlook 2003 release. Yahoo is helping the spam-weary with a handful of spam-fighting tools for its Web-based Yahoo Mail customers.
Central to both approaches is people power. The ISPs are trying to give the spammed users a way to stop junk e-mail for themselves, as well as for others.
A New Outlook
Microsoft has been on the receiving side of more cheap shots than Arnold Schwarzenegger lately when it comes to its Outlook e-mail client. Outlook is an unlocked door for virus writers and spammers everywhere. Until now, Microsoft seems almost to have put out a welcome mat.
But with Outlook 2003, Microsoft finally throws some padlocks on the in-box door. In my tests, Outlook 2003 blocked over 95 percent of spam messages and gave me some modern-day weaponry to combat sneaky new spam tricks.
Besides updated features like improved preview and folder views, antispam technology is central to Outlook 2003. Outlook spam filters have moved from pathetic to terrific. Each message is evaluated based on keywords, its structure, time sent, and personal tastes in order to determine what's junk. Suspect e-mail is corralled into a spam e-mail folder for later review.
Part of Outlook's new spam filtering comes from some of the 130 million Hotmail users who report spam to Microsoft. New trends or junk e-mail tricks that Hotmail users spot are recycled to help filter Outlook 2003 spam. Microsoft plans to add the filter updates as part of regular Office Updates. To access Office Update, go to Help and then Check for Updates.
Outlook 2003 automatically blocks embedded graphics, preventing spam from loading malicious content onto your PC or notifying the spammer that your e-mail address is valid and that their spam is being read.
When a message tries to connect to the Internet, you see a small alert; right-click it and select Download Pictures to see the content.
You can buy Outlook 2003 as a standalone program for $109.
Yahoo Mail Goes on a Spam Diet
If you can't beat them, spoof them, could be Yahoo's new antispam motto. Yahoo has rolled out several new features for subscribers of its Mail Plus service, which costs $30 yearly.
One component is AddressGuard, which lets users of its premium Yahoo Mail more easily trick spammers and in turn curb spam. Under AddressGuard, you can set up a base name and up to 500 variations on it. Spammers commonly harvest e-mail addresses on the Web, so if you sign up for something online or post to a message board, your address becomes fair game. But instead of having to ditch your Yahoo e-mail account entirely and signing up for a new one to shake off spammers, you can just delete one of those many e-mail aliases.
Any e-mail sent to your faux Yahoo accounts gets shuffled into a separate folder, or can be funneled into a regular in-box highlighted in a different color.
Another Yahoo Mail Plus update is SpamGuard Plus, which lets users customize the general SpamGuard filter based on usage and preferences. This feature also is not available to users of Yahoo's free e-mail service.
Like Microsoft, Yahoo has over the past year bolstered its filters by enlisting its 50 million free Yahoo e-mail subscribers to help identify spammers. Yahoo gets 700,000 spam complaints daily from its Yahoo Mail customers.
Neither Microsoft or Yahoo have solved the spamdemic with the new antispam tools. But in the spam battle, we'll take what new ammunition we can.
Q & A
Q. I've often wondered why spammers use hidden text in their messages. It never shows until you highlight everything, and then you see hidden letters and even words you don't normally otherwise see. Why is this?
--Mike
A. Spammers use hidden text to trick e-mail filters that block e-mail containing specific words and sentence structures characteristic of spam. For example, e-mail filters can recognize Everything you need to copy DVD here! as spam. A spam filter has a much harder time when a message is represented as an innocent note from a friend that reads What do you say we grab a beer after work on Friday?
Q. If the government can create a national no-call list, how come there isn't a national no-spam list?
--Bill C.
A. The U.S. Senate last week passed antispam legislation. The CAN-SPAM Act (S. 877) includes a provision urging the Federal Trade Commission to enact a no-spam registry. Private-sector organizations are separately trying to create a similar antispam registry.
However, it's likely neither proposal will rid your in-box of spam. The flaw with a do-not-spam registry is that legitimate marketers who would honor the list are not responsible for most spam. Also, spam is a global problem and Congressional efforts to ban junk e-mail won't stop it coming from outside the U.S. And harsh laws would likely only push U.S. spammers to open outpost offices outside the country so they could continue to spam U.S. in-boxes.
Tip of the Week
Overzealous spam filters can block e-mail you want. Worse, sometimes mail you send is refused and you don't even know it. To avoid e-mail ambiguity, request a receipt when your message is read. Receipt requests are automated in Outlook Express and Outlook. In Outlook Express, go to Tools/Options/Receipts. In Outlook, select File/Properties in the message composition window, and pick Read Receipt Requested. Most e-mail programs offer return receipt functions.
Send gripes, questions, and tips for the spam wars to spamwatch@pcworld.com. Return to the SpamWatch page for more articles.
PCWorld
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