Help with Spam

[Sammy aff]

200ish emails today, even with all bells whistles anti-spam latest norton blah.
It seems to be getting worst, especially the "hey man last chance for mortgage etc" It is starting to really annoy me, i mean REALLY annoy me.

How do you guys cope? I had an idea a few months ago to bring the main culprits site down and was advised if i did it would be illegal. Now I don't care if illegal i will have a go, sure they can move on but i would luv to give em some back.

[ChrisEvans]

With our hosting packages, we provide a spam filter.

Bit of a plug there I know.

You'll find they just build up more and more. Don't click on any links within the email, make sure outlook is set not to show images by default and don't reply... then they won't know that your email definately exists.

In Outlook Express, open the email, then click: File -> Properties -> Details and copy everthing in there. Paste it back here or send it to me in a PM.

We can see where it originated from. If it's coming from this country, the USA or Canada, I generally find I have quite a bit of luck stopping the senders (they most likely have a virus doing it for them) by contacting their bandwidth provider (broadband provider / web hosting provider etc).

If you copy that stuff here then I can look up who their provider is for you and you can copy the details to them.

Always worth a try.

Chris

[Sammy aff]

Thanks for that chris, yep i use outlook, i can find out where most of the stuff is coming from, looking at source. But they just change ip's a week later.
The prob with norton is i need email from some guys but it gets filtered spam; and goes in the spam bin, i've tried all sorts of stuff, blocking etc.
I assume yahoo/msn type emails get blocked depending ...btw if anybody wants gmail let me know

[ChrisEvans]

Hi,
Yes, you'll find they change IPs. However: typically you'll find that these emails are being sent from peoples machines without them knowing - which means their IP will change each week anyway - but all the IPs will belong to one company...

Got any IP I can take a look at?

It'll be something like this:

Received: from scobby.metsixe.co.uk (210.67-19-25.reverse.theplanet.com [67.19.25.210])

Chris

[Green2K]

SpamBully for outlook is ok for spam filtering.

Green2K.

Originally Posted by ChrisEvans Hi, Yes, you'll find they change IPs. However: typically you'll find that these emails are being sent from peoples machines without them knowing - which means their IP will change each week anyway - but all the IPs will belong to one company... Got any IP I can take a look at? It'll be something like this: Received: from scobby.metsixe.co.uk (210.67-19-25.reverse.theplanet.com [67.19.25.210]) Chris

[smn2]

Hi,

I don't get that much spam.

This is what I do:

1) I try not to use catchall email addresses (and direct this
email to Lycos, where I can delete it by quickly scanning it).
And for new sites, I tend not to switch email on at all, using
a generic email from another domain, instead.

2) I don't put 'live' email addresses on my site, anymore.
Either use 'Javascript encrypted' email or I use Willmaster's
anti-spam perl/CGI program, and use (his) anti-spam contact form
(i.e. the email address is not part of one of the hidden forms)

3) If I do get lots of spam to a particular email address, then I stop
using that email address (make it part of the catchall instead - see 1) )

4) I switch on anti-spam and anti-virus features at my web host,
if possible. So if spam gets to my email system (Outlook), it's easier
to filter it out

5) I don't bother with challenge response systems or programs like mailwasher

It's an ongoing battle, I admit, but I feel like I'm winning (right now)

I did write a couple of anti-spam articles a while ago. If anyone's
interested to find out more (and use the resources I do - all free, I
think), then just send me a PM

Steve