[X4U] Make the Junk filter do a better job?

[Randy B. Singer]

On Apr 18, 2008, at 7:29 AM, Michael Tsai wrote:

> On Apr 18, 2008, at 2:18 AM, Randy B. Singer wrote:
>
>> The spammers are getting smarter.  Just this week I've started to  
>> get a bunch of spam e-mails designed to screw up anti-spam  
>> utilities such as SpamSieve.  Some come with my own e-mail address  
>> as the "sent from" address.
>
> These shouldn't pose any problems unless you have SpamSieve set to  
> consider messages from your address as automatically good:
>
> <http://c-command.com/blog/2007/10/04/catching-spams-from-your- 
> address/>

I'm more concerned that SpamSieve will automatically consider  
messages with my e-mail address in them as bad.

>
>> Others mimic a "failure  notice."
>
> I think these *are* failure notices. That is, someone sent a spam  
> message with your address as the return address, and the message  
> couldn't be delivered, so the failure notice came back to you.

Nope.  They are clearly an odd sort of e-mail message to attack anti- 
spam programs, not a spam spoof bounce.  I can tell by the fact that  
they aren't selling anything in the body text, and that I only get  
one or two a day, and they change every day within certain parameters.

>
>> And some include several paragraphs of legitimate sounding text  
>> hoping to cause anti-spam software to thereafter flag legitimate e- 
>> mail and become worthless.
>
> They've been doing that since 2002. In my experience, this only  
> causes problems when people think it will confuse their spam  
> filter, and so they don't tell the filter that the message is spam.

I'm not so sure.

>
>> SpamSieve is still accurate enough for me, but more and more spam  
>> is starting to find its way through.
>
> From what I've seen and heard, SpamSieve's accuracy over the past  
> couple of months is the same as ever. If your experience differs,  
> please send in a report:
>
> <http://c-command.com/spamsieve/manual-ah/what-information-should>

My experience hasn't been the same.  I've had some clients report  
lately that they have abandoned SpamSieve, after several years of  
use, because it had become less accurate.  Some of my clients in a  
business setting have opted for challenge/response anti-spam services.

But, as I said, I still personally find SpamSieve to be a great  
program, and reliable enough to recommend.  But the war with spammers  
isn't over.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________