Spam Problem, Need help from the Geeks please.

I have a spam problem, not serious just annoying. When I open Outlook Express there are loads of junk emails all from the same site Aim.com which I think is like Messenger, basically full of pricks annoying the hell out of people

I use Spamfighter which does a pretty good job in weedling out the crap but for some reason all these Aim.com emails keep getting through. Does anyone know if there's a way to put a blanket ban on any mail at all from Aim.com?

Thanks.

Spamfighter may have something that allows you to do it - look for an option to blacklist that domain. If you have to blacklist a full address it may support something like *@aim.com to do the whole domain. You may be able to tell I have never come across Spamfighter in order to know it's options - sorry.

The alternative method which I would recommend is to use Gmail to 'wash' the mail. The way I do this is as follows:

Set up a Gmail account.
In the Gmail options you can set it to collect mail from other accounts via POP3 (you have to make sure it is set to delete the mail from the other account once retrieved otherwise the mailbox will fill up on the other account). It will then poll those accounts every few minutes for mail.
You can then set Outlook Express to retrieve your mail from the Gmail account.

This has a number of advantages over the desktop spam filtering applications:
1) GMail has automatic spam/virus filtering that far surpasses anything I have seen from the desktop applications or ISPs.
2) It also does it at the server which means you don't slow down your PC with the application trying to do spam filtering as it processes the mail.
3) You can use other devices such as phones etc to read your mail and it is already filtered.
4) You have a web page access to your email when away from home which is likely to be far better/feature rich than your ISP provides.

It does take setting up of course, but if you search on Goggle you should find instructions for setting up each part.

There are disadvantages like having to trust Google with your email - so it won't be for everyone as a solution.

Ok thanks Rowan. I actually already have a Gmail account but have rarely used it. I'll try and follow up on what you suggest.

Thanks.

I'd like to echo Rowan's comments. You can go one step further by creating a Google Apps account in order to have Google host and manage email for an existing domain you own - as is the case with my business. It's basically Gmail for your company, using your company's existing email addresses, meaning you get to keep your contact details the same as they are now and yet enjoy Google's superior spam suppression.

www.google.co.uk/apps

The Gmail-only solution using forwards/collection and aliases for sending is still a perfectly valid way of going about things and requires less fiddling about.

Rowan is spot on.

As an aside, if you're lucky enough that all the spam is always coming from the same domain, just create a message rule to filter all from that domain.

One thing though, if its persistently from the same address, it may be subscription spam, rather than unsolicited. In this case, check through the message for any link allowing you to opt out or unsubscribe, this may well halt the spam from that particular source.

Failing that, Gmail's spam filter will eat the lot.

Ciarán

Hi Guys.

On the topic of annoying, uninvited things on your computer, my fired up the other day with something which at first glance appeared to be a genuine XP anti-malware or virus programme, right down to a little icon on the bottom toolbar where you normally get the Windows update icon. Luckily, it just seemed that bit too persistent to open itself, so I decided to Google it and it is indeed some sort of nasty.
Unless I've been suckered by that as well, I found and downloaded something from 'Malwarebytes' which does seem to have successfully purged the fake XP program.

Mike.

Hi Mike,

You and thousands of others unfortunately.
I've fixed over 20 machines with that bloody XP/Vista/Win Antivirus 2008/2009 and the 'Virus Response Lab 2009' shite, in the past month.

Its a real epidemic at the moment. You did the right thing running the Malware Bytes tool, its great for removing it.

There's another called 'SmitFraudFix' which I also use from time to time.

Thankfully you seem to have recovered with no ill effects, I've had a few machines with recurring infections, and the Trojan.Zlob (the thing that installs the crap in the first place) keeps downloading new installations of the fake AV software.

Complete pain in the ass.

Ciarán

Hi Ciaran

Blimey -- I'll have to go and sit down. Doing the right thing with the computer is a rare event indeed for me !!

Mike.

I had a recent infection called "falsealarm". That thing popped up a bubble from the toolbar warning me that my computer was infected and inviting me to download their program to disinfect it. Fortunately I didn't do so.

Derek

On the couple of occasions before when I've been unfortunate enough to get a real virus (they always seem to be trojans), I've looked on CastleCops website where they have a self help page. It's full of various well known anti malware programs and the idea is to follow them through in order. Its worked everytime and I have cleaned relatives pc's as well with this method. One laptop was severely infected with pop ups so bad it was impossible to run anything. It took nearly a fortnight but I cleared the lot out and never lost any data at all.