De-Spam Your Inbox: "How to Fight the Spam War and Win!"

Spam, Spam everywhere... what's a person to do? If you're
an online entrepreneur, odds are your mailbox is filling
up daily with Spam. The longer you've been "working" the
Net and the more visible you've become, the more you're
probably receiving. I've been online about five years now,
and one of my mailboxes alone is over 85% Spam.

First, you need to realize that Spam is part of doing
business online and there's really no escaping it. But
that doesn't mean you can't rid yourself of it by using
the right tools and arming yourself for daily battle.

There are many excellent tools, some even free that will
help you fight the war on Spam and Win! Let's review some
of my personal favorites:

1) SpamNet: http://www.CloudMark.com

This excellent piece of software is a relative newcomer
and free to download. It only works with Outlook and
runs invisibly in the background of your mail program.
The software adds 2 new buttons at the top of Outlook's
interface named "block" and "unblock" and adds a "Spam
folder" where it puts all of the Spam it finds so you
can review it if you want before deletion.

If you get a piece of junk when you download your mail,
just hit the block button. This sends it and whatever
the sender tries to mail you in the future straight to
the Spam folder. It also casts your vote to CloudMark
and when they receive enough complaints on a sender
that mail is automatically labeled as Spam.

If, after reviewing the Spam folder, you find something
that doesn't belong there, just highlight it and click
the "unblock" button to bring the sender back in to your
inbox forever more. Right now this software only works
with Outlook, but there is talk about a version for
Outlook Express coming soon.I've been using this
software for a few months and am very pleased with
the results. Runs on Win 98/NT/2000/XP.

2) MailWasher: http://www.MailWasher.net

Another ad-supported free piece of software that works
beautifully. I've been using this with my Outlook
Express accounts and couldn't be happier. You run
Mailwasher before downloading your mail from your
server. It automatically marks mail it suspects
as Spam - then you can designate the sender as a "friend"
or blacklist him with just a click. You then click
"process mail" and any "bad" email is bounced back to
the sender and the good stuff is sent to your inbox.

You can upgrade Mailwasher to an ad-free version by
sending a donation to its creators. Believe me, you'll
love it so much you'll want to send them money for all
the headaches this software will save you. It can be
configured to check multiple accounts so it's great
if you're managing multiple identities and boxes.It
does not support web based accounts like Hotmail or
Yahoo, but a version is supposedly underway for them.
Runs on Win 95/98/ME/NT4/ 2000/XP

3) SpamBuster:
http://www.Contactplus.com/products/spam/spam.htm

The free version of this software is ad-supported,
which means it displays banners at the top. If you
spend the 19.95 and register it, the ads are removed.
Before using your POP mail account you run SpamBuster,
which looks for junk and comes complete with a list
of over 17,000 known spammers. It checks your email
periodically for new messages and provides stats and
charts of how much Spam you're actually receiving.
Also Works with AOL, Hotmail, or Yahoo! accounts.
Works on Win 95/98/2000/ME/NT/XP

4) MailShell: http://www.MailShell.com

Blocks 99% of all junk mail and works with your
current email address. Free 30 day trial available.
Less then 3.00 a month after that

5) SpamKiller:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/msk/default.asp

SpamKiller was recently purchased by Mcafee Software.
who makes the award winning virus software. Works with
POP based email accounts and will run you 39.95. Like
most Spam filtering software, it checks for new email
and possible Spam on your server before downloading it
to your email client. Filters are automatically updated
and you can create your own custom filters. You can
also lodge complaints with spammers and their hosts
from within the interface. Supports Win 95/98/NT/
ME/2000 or XP.

6) JunkMuncher.com: http://www.JunkMuncher.com

Works with POP email accounts and includes its own
email porn filtering utility. Does not support AOL or
Hotmail accounts.

7) SpamWeasel:
http://www.mailgate.com/products/spamweas/sw_feat.asp

Free software that supports multiple email accounts.
Spam Weasel uses powerful rules to identify Spam and
permits a range of user defined actions like blocking
and deleting. Easy to Install and use.

8) Spamex: http://www.Spamex.com

Spamex offers disposable email addresses so you keep
your real address off spammers' lists. Mail sent to
the fake address is then forwarded to your real email
account. As soon as the disposable account starts
picking up Spam and being abused you can delete it
and create a new one. 19.95 a year.

9) ChoiceMail: http://www.digiportal.com/product4.html

A Spam blocking system that's based on the fact that
most incoming mail is Spam unless the sender has
obtained your permission to email you. You may
preapprove senders from your address book. When an
unauthorized email is sent to you, its sender is forced
to fill out a form stating why he should be allowed to
communicate with you. Then it's your choice whether or
not to receive messages from him.

Supports POP accounts and runs on Windows NT, 2000, XP,
98, ME. It does not currently work with web-based
email systems such as HotMail, Juno or Yahoo or with
MSN or AOL's proprietary email. Currently offering a
2-week trial of their service, or buy it for 39.95.

10) Spam Arrest: http://spamarrest.com/

Another service that blocks the junk before it can hit
your inbox. All email goes through their server first,
and if the sender is already a "verified source" their
mail travels to you seamlessly. If they are not, you'll
need to add them to your approval list to make sure
you continue to receive their emails without any
interruption.

Spam Arrest works on Eudora, Outlook, Outlook Express,
Netscape, Incredimail, and any other email program
that supports the POP3 protocol. Free 30 day trial is
available and if you like it the price is only 19.95
every 6 months.

For more tips and helpful Spam resources check out:

Elsop's Anti-Spam Page
Excellent links and resources offered here
http://www.elsop.com/wrc/nospam.htm

Info. on More Anti-Spam Software
http://www.spamrecycle.com

JunkBusters
http://www.JunkBusters.com

More Free Anti-Spam Software
http://www.webattack.com/freeware/comm/fwspam.shtml

Let's face it. You can't wage your own personal war
on Spam and win, but you can reclaim your own inbox
by incorporating software that only allows "real"
mail to come through. So choose your weapon and
prepare for battle by protecting what's rightfully
yours -- your Inbox.