It seems like it’s got potential but i can’t find any reviews as far as the mac version goes.

In fact, virus scan smtp servers would be prime candidates for this type of filtering – if they don’t already do it.

Of course the best way to eliminate spam is not to get any in the first place. I have multiple email addresses – some are “public” and known and others are private. I don’t get any spam on the private addresses.

POPfile uses a superior classification algorythm, learns way faster, is more accurate, and is not fooled by email content changes like the ones you mention that got through Mail’s filtering. It’s also open source, and works with virtually any POP mail client – it can even serve multiple computers on your network. Do yourself a favor and check it out. You’ll never go back!:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POPFile
http://sourceforge.net/projects/popfile/
http://popfile.sourceforge.net/popfile_stats.html

PS: I am not affiliated in any way with the POPfile project, other than that I have become a loyal “customer” after using POPfile for almost two years now!

What’s been frustrating me most recently is the rubbish I’ve been unable to stop from landing in one inbox that’s always addressed to an address specifically used for correspondence with MacUpdate which has somehow been obtained by spammers. Still no response from Joel Mueller after reporting it to him with a sample, which hasn’t made me feel any better about this.

Bob wrote:

Whoever is doing this is also very clever about the addressing. It is as if they are either looking at mail I have sent to pick names or they have ripped off my address book.

I’d sure like to know how the MU address mentioned above was leaked. I’ve discovered only a few other instances of spam mysteriously addressed to other infrequently used, semi-private addresses. I seriously doubt they were randomly generated or obtained from a compromised PC abook. Far more frequently used and easily guessed addresses in the same domains have remained private.

There’s no security in any clear text communication over the net, but it’s unavoidably inevitable without severely restricting activities. And securely-stored data won’t necessarily remain that way; systems/databases do get cracked. Trusting parties can be nefariously hijacked.

Pay particular attention to the address field of this spam. What you find will amaze you.

This is I fear a major win for the Dark Side and it will take major effort to resolve.

Meg,

I notice that when I try to reply to you the spam example you sent is not returned to you. I find that if I hold the mouse down over the spam portion of the message you sent and drag it to the Desktop I get a document titled “unknown.gif”. This suggests to me that most of the file is a graphic attachment with maybe only the addressing as text. The addressing, of course, must be readable to send the message.

Whoever is doing this is also very clever about the addressing. It is as if they are either looking at mail I have sent to pick names or they have ripped off my address book.

This is going to be a tough challenge. It is not the fault of Apple Mail or any other mail program or computer platform. I don’t think it is going to be as simple as fooling with filter settings to eliminate this scourge.

Bummer!

Bob

http://tinyurl.com/edk6x

I just purchased a new black Intel MacBook for no other reason than to run Outlook Express for my email under XP while remaining functional on one computer under OSX. I don’t know if Apple planned things this way but it will sell many MacBooks/MacBook Pros to people who demand the best and don’t settle for compromise on programs we must use everyday.

Mail.apps biggest problems are the annoying quirks and its many incompatibilities in the Windows world.

Hey Apple…take a page out of the Microsoft manual and copy their code…sometimes you can just get a better product from what already exists.

I would suggest giving SpamSieve a try, if you are able to. It works a lot better than Mail’s built in filtering. I have a license for it myself but Gmail’s spam filtering is so good that I no longer use it.