Bust Spam Spam. Nobody likes, wants or needs it. No, we're not referring to the canned meat, but to the unsolicited, annoying, and often inappropriate messages that inundate our email by the dozen. Most email providers utilise some form of spam filtering, however they never appear to do a great job of discriminating between emails that are welcome, and those that are decidedly not. It therefore becomes more and more important to rely on some form of additional spam filtering product. One such filtering system aimed at Outlook and Outlook Express users has had very positive reviews based on its excellent detection, and low rate of false positives - that is to say, you receive those emails that you wish to receive, and the spam ends up where it belongs. This system is known as Cloudmark Desktop, (previously called SpamNet and SafetyBar). It utilises a unique community-based filtering process. Users report new spam, which results in the spammer being placed on a blacklist within minutes. From then on, other members will not receive that particular spam. Cloudmark similarly applies this process to phishing email scams. The interesting part of this process is the manner in which Cloudmark creates a digital reputation model of reporting spam. Users begin with a neutral reputation, which increases if they are among the first to identify spam. On the other hand, a user's reputation decreases when they falsely report spam. This results in an automated, highly scalable system that is very resistant to tampering. Another advantage of the software is that it is easy to use; it installs quickly and efficiently, and does not depend upon the user to configure its settings. Cloudmark blocks more than 98% of spam from reaching inboxes, and this is reflected in its popularity; there are over one million users worldwide. The cost of the program is $39.95 for a one-year subscription, which is renewable each year. For those interested in test driving the product, a free 15-day trial period for both Outlook and Outlook Express is available. |
