Cloudmark SpamNet

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.cloudmark.com/">http://www.cloudmark.com/</a><br /><br />If you're sick of spam, this is worth checking out. Cloudmark takes the peer to peer (P2P) concept and extends it to spam blocking. How? Well, let's say that I check my email and get a spam message. I click on BLOCK, and it uploads the profile of that spam message to the server, so when one of YOU check your email, that spam message will be blocks. If something is mis-filed as spam, I click UNBLOCK and that information is uploaded to the server as well (it somehow thought my Lockergnome newsletter was spam). Ultimately this is a far more useful solution than relying on massive lists on a server that get updated every few weeks. Spammers are constantly changing the subject line and FROM information to elude filters, but SpamNet works quite well.<br /><br />Since installing the software (it integrates really nicely into Outlook 2002) on the 27th, I've had 209 pieces of spam come my way. The program caught about 180 of those automatically, and I've had to "teach" it to block the others. They're at beta 3 now, and so far the application is free. It's not perfect (when their server isn't responding, you get no spam filtering), but this is the best spam-filtering solution I've seen yet. It definitely gets my nod of approval, and it they keep improving it, this could become a very powerful tool for nuking spam.<br /><br />Here's a blurb from the site: "Cloudmark SpamNet saves you time and frustration by automatically stopping spam. The service is free and easy to use. Spend time reading your email -- not deleting unwanted spam messages. Not only do you protect your own Inbox, but you also shield the entire community from spam each time you block a message. Help others and join SpamNet now." Source: Stefan

[mel]

Good concept, but how do they protect against sabotage? For example, if Site A and Site B compete for the same audience, and Site A has a better email newsletter, Site B would simply subscribe to that newsletter, mark it as spam, and thus prevent legitimate subscribers of Site A's newsletter from reading it. Also, does it have a "local" settings vs "global" settings ? For example, what if someone else thinks a certain source is spam, but I think it is useful information...can I still receive it? I'm just speculating, haven't tried this software myself...

[normaldude]

I like the idea. Too bad I use Eudora for my email client, not Outlook. When they have an Eudora plug-in, I'll give it a shot. It's not a hurry for me anyway, since I haven't gotten any spam email in over 2 years :D

[nishka]

I've been using this for a short time and am equally happy with it. I've had my email addres for eight years, so you can imagine I'm probably on every spam list known to man.

This program works great but there are, however, some annoyances. My wired newsletter gets put in the spam box every day. When I 'unblock' the email it goes to the inbox and then goes BACK to the spam box! Hitting unblock again puts it back in the inbox for good. It also doesn't learn from one session to the next that I actually want to keep this mail. But this does have some great potential and is worth the download. I save a ton of time every morning sorting out my email. [/quote]

[Jason Dunn]

It's working pretty good for me so far, although today it was down for a while so I saw all the spam. Eww. ;-)

[dochall]

www.mailwasher.net is a better product although it doesn't offer the integration with Outlook but sits beside it. (Normaldude - you could use it with Eudora).

It will automatically bounce spam but will present it to you so you can check. It also can connect to Spamcop, Ordb and Visi to use dns lookups and automatically blacklist.

It is easy to use and cheap (a suggested $20 donation) but it will operate with no nagging just some static advertising of the author (NOT spyware).

I did install spamnet after an Anchordesk story at Zdnet. I have a load of spam which I have never got round to deleting from inbox so I gave it a whirl. It pushed some important mail into the Spam folder (it appears to think that an attached zip file with no body is spam - it was actually a file that I had requested from colleague in Romania and bizarrely an email from a colleague specifically adressed to me and containing a press release from a partner organisation).

The funniest thing however was the original anchordesk mail which mentioned Spamnet was also classified as spam. :roll:

[Theo]

I've been using SpamNet for a week or so and its a useful back-up to MailWasher. Mailwasher (http://www.mailwasher.net/) bounces back unwanted e-mails so it looks as if my email address is not valid. This will eventually make the sender think your address is no longer active so your name can be removed from their list.

Can't wait for SpamNet to includes this functionality.

Theo

[Theo]

Typical - all that effort to register, validate email etc and someone beats me to my post! :)

[normaldude]

www.mailwasher.net is a better product although it doesn't offer the integration with Outlook but sits beside it. (Normaldude - you could use it with Eudora).

I have had mailwasher for a while. But I don't get any spam email, and thus nothing to test it on. I hear good things about mailwasher, and I've bounced some of my own test emails for fun and it seems to work.

[innersky]

mailwasher doesn't work for me as most from email adresses from spammers don't even exist. So it bounces right back to me...

Cloudmark seems nice, but also dangerous as it seems to block non-spam also...

[dochall]

mailwasher doesn't work for me as most from email adresses from spammers don't even exist. So it bounces right back to me...


You could set up a rule that automatically deletes them but although I receive a lot of email (being at the same address for the last 12 years) I don't get that problem.

[Jason Dunn]

Cloudmark seems nice, but also dangerous as it seems to block non-spam also...

It's not "dangerous" because it doesn't "block" it - it all goes into a SPAM folder inside Outlook. It doesn't bounce it like some apps...

[wastl]

Thanks Jason for adding it onto your website!

Go into => Tools => SpamNet AND
click on "Move to Deleted Items Folder"

AND

Go into => Tools => Other AND
tick "Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exciting"

and all Spam will go automatic into the delete Folder and when you exciting Outlook 2002 it will ask you to delete all Messages in the Delete folder!

Cool...so you never ever have to look at that crap again!
Give it a try!

Cheers

Stefan
PS. SpamNet is not my inventation and I don't know this company!

[klinux]

Brightmail (www.brightmail.com) does the same thing except it is their staff/algorithm does the actual determination of an e-mail's spamness. Now they only serve enterprise clients (like Earthlink/Charter which is my cable ISP) and it works very well.

[bbarker]

Good concept, but how do they protect against sabotage? For example, if Site A and Site B compete for the same audience, and Site A has a better email newsletter, Site B would simply subscribe to that newsletter, mark it as spam, and thus prevent legitimate subscribers of Site A's newsletter from reading it. Also, does it have a "local" settings vs "global" settings ? For example, what if someone else thinks a certain source is spam, but I think it is useful information...can I still receive it? I'm just speculating, haven't tried this software myself...
I've been interested in SpamNet since reading an article about it in AnchorDesk. That article explains how they cover the problems you mention.

I'm very interested because, after 3 years with my current email address, I get A TON of spam every day -- literally dozens. I have Outlook 2002 rules set up that send a lot of the blatent stuff off to my Deleted Items folder, but much of it gets through. As a result, every time I download email I have to go through and delete spam before I get to anything else. I actually have 2 POP3 accounts set up in Outlook. One of them now is almost exclusively spam, and I intend to cancel it pretty soon.

As soon as I post this I plan to go over to www.cloudmark.com and download SpamNet. I hope it's as good as it sounds. I sure need it to be.

[DesertLarry]

I just downloaded this new product called iHateSpam last night from http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=930 I get anywhere from 100 to 200 spam messages a day :evil:. I have gotten 97 spam messages since I installed the iHateSpam product and it caught 94 of them! :P It moves everything into a Quarantine folder where I can delete them. It also gives me the ability to bounce back the messages that I choose.

[Jason Dunn]

Go into => Tools => SpamNet AND
click on "Move to Deleted Items Folder"


Strange - I don't have Spamnet on my TOOLS menu...?

[butch]

Go into => Tools => SpamNet AND
click on "Move to Deleted Items Folder"


Strange - I don't have Spamnet on my TOOLS menu...?

I think he meens Tools - OPTIONS - SpamNet

[innersky]

Cloudmark seems nice, but also dangerous as it seems to block non-spam also...

It's not "dangerous" because it doesn't "block" it - it all goes into a SPAM folder inside Outlook. It doesn't bounce it like some apps...

well, you'd still have to look at it to be sure...

[Jason Dunn]

well, you'd still have to look at it to be sure...

Yes, and that's no different than any other spam blocking program. They either bounce from the server (dangerous) or put it in a folder (not dangerous). The only other solution is to not filter spam at all, which is what I was doing before I tried SpamNet. Trust me, SpamNet is a slick solution. I see FAR less spam now.