Spam Blocking Methods
Getting spammed either through a regular email address or from a website is really frustrating. It needlessly takes up space and can be quite time consuming when you are trying to delete it all. You can block the spam, and hopefully the spammers will either get caught or move on.
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List-Based Filters
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The list-based filter is probably the most commonly used tactic to avoid spam. This basically allows the user to say which email addresses to trust mail from, and which not to. Through this, you can build up your lists accordingly, though it does take some time.
Most email addresses and websites offer this feature and they are very easy to use. The only problem is that most people who send spam don't use their own email addresses or change them frequently so that you have to constantly add addresses to filters.
Greylisting
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Greylisting is a relatively new method of preventing spam attacks but is created to be used in conjunction with other methods, such as the list-based filter. There is no systemic analysis or any other highly technical aspect as in other methods. It is based on the fact that spammers do not send emails like individuals who are sending regular messages to one another.
Greylisting actually applies to the server, not the email address. Messages that are written to be forgotten by the server are generally stopped in their tracks before they reach their destination. Greylisting checks three different items out in any message. These include the IP address, the envelope sender address and the envelope recipient address. If the system has never seen a certain combination of the three, the message is held until a determination is made by the system as to whether it is spam. It has a 95% accuracy rating at this point and not one incidence of a real message being held for an extended period of time.
Whitelist
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You might have heard of the blacklist before, as in the spam filter that you choose from which addresses to block mail. Whitelisting works in the opposite way. You choose from which email addresses to accept mail. If the sender is not on the list, you will not receive the mail.
In some ways, this is too strict because of legitimate mail that you may be sent without knowing it. However, for work mail or for very personal mail, it is one way that you know for sure that you will not be receiving a lot of spam or any at all. If this is used in conjunction with other spam filters, legitimate email from senders that are not on your list is less likely to be targeted as spam.
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