Spam Filter

A Good Spam Filter Will Save You A Lot Of Time

While a mere decade ago email communication was still quite rare, in the world today it is nearly impossible to live without.  It seems that nearly everyone has at least one email address, and many people have several email identities.  With all these email addresses floating around, the potential for abuse, in the form of unsolicited email, is obvious.  It is important for computer users to either use an email service or internet service provider that provides a spam filter, or to install a spam filter on their own.

The value of the spam filter
While a spam filter is important for all users, home users and business users alike, it is absolutely essential for businesses to use some sort of spam filter.  Spam is not merely annoying to corporations; it is quite costly as well.  It is thought that spam costs American businesses millions of dollars a year.  Spam costs break down into a number of areas, including lost productivity, wasted storage space on servers and of course security risks through email worms and viruses. 

With all this money at stake, it is easy to see what businesses were among the first to use spam filters.  Many businesses have begun to demand that their email services and internet service providers take all steps necessary to cut down on the number of spam messages that get through, and they are holding those companies responsible for the effectiveness of their spam filters.

What about the home user?
While the average home computer user does not have the clout of a Fortune 500 company, they do certainly have some leverage.  Internet users are free to vote with their feet by fleeing internet service companies that do not employ strong spam filters.  Those internet service companies that fail to take security seriously may quickly find themselves with a serious lack of customers.

Likewise, internet users are beginning to take spam filters into account when choosing an email service.  Many of the largest internet based email companies, like Yahoo, Hotmail and Google, already do employ excellent spam filters.  While those spam filters are far from perfect, they do provide a level of protection for the average home user. 

Of course internet users are also free to take matters into their own hands by using their own spam filter.  Most email programs allow users to set up a spam folder, and rules for sending emails to that spam filters.  Most of these spam filters can be trained to recognize similar patterns in email addresses and subject lines, and they provide an extra level of protection to the home user.  In addition, simply by moving an item from the inbox to the spam folder, the spam filter is alerted that all future messages from that address should receive similar treatment.  Spam filters may still have a long way to go, but they have come a long way in a short period of time.  Hopefully one day we will see an end to the problem of spam and other unwanted email communication.