[X-Apps] Junk filtering strategies in Mail

[Gretchen Hayman]

On Tuesday, Mar 18, 2003, at 10:22 US/Central, hart at nasw.org wrote:

> I'm several months down the road with Mail now, and, while in general 
> the Junk filter does a good job, I'm seeing more false positives 
> (legit mail filtered as junk). Any tips on most effectively using the 
> filter? Should it be the last filter? That seems logical, in a way. 
> Does the filter learn much when you click Not Junk?

Hi Stephen,

I've had extremely good "luck" with Mail's junk filtering.  While it 
does occasionally tag a few legit e-mails as Junk, I don't really get 
too upset, as the e-mails generally fit the profile for spam.  They are 
usually auto-generated registration type e-mails that one gets after 
registering a product/software.  I used to get false positives on staff 
e-mails from time to time, but then added a bit to my Junk filter which 
seemed to help with that.

Here is how I have mine set up.  I've put options in <>

- Junk rule is the LAST rule applied; Custom setup

Description: Junk
if <all> conditions met:
<Sender is not in my Address Book>
<Message is Junk Mail>

Then I transfer to a specific mailbox, so that I can check them out to 
make sure there isn't legit e-mail getting through.  (I also keep spam 
to help test and train other spam filtering software.)

I think Mail does an excellent job, considering just how difficult it 
is to write software to be "smart" enough to catch spam.  IMO, 100% 
accuracy for filtering spam is unattainable.  People who think 
otherwise should try writing their own software to see the challenge 
involved.  But again, that's MnsHO*.  I'm happy with the ~95% accuracy 
that Mail is providing me.

gretchen

*My not so Humble Opinion