Best Anti-spam blocker for virus generated spam?

[Tom Adams]

My Yahoo account puts the spam in a Bulk Mail folder, but I still have
to see the stuff.

Is there a spam blocker or anti-virus system that will the make the
spam with virus signatures not even get to my mailbox?

The only solution that I know of is to use a challenge response system
for my email

 

[Ruster]

I use cloudmark, this is an outstanding spam blocker. It blocks about 98%
with very good accuracy. You can have it completely delete any detected spam
or place it in a specific folder.

If you are using outlook you can use a rule and have any items placed in a
specific folder deteleted.

 

[Steve M (remove wax for reply)]

My Yahoo account puts the spam in a Bulk Mail folder, but I still have
to see the stuff.

Is there a spam blocker or anti-virus system that will the make the
spam with virus signatures not even get to my mailbox?

The only solution that I know of is to use a challenge response system
for my email

Please don't use challenge response. It will work for you and others
as long as there aren't very many of you.

But in the process it will generate challenges to addresses in the
"From:" field that have been faked by a spammer or a virus. This will
create lots of spam for other people. Even if you don't care about
that, there are admins that will blocklist. Go read
news.admin.net-abuse.email and see what they think about challenge /
response.

I think right now the best bet for a Yahoo user (I'm one) is to write
a paper mail letter and emphasize that they need to add more options,
unless they're trying to get people to quit using their services. I
did that about a year and a half ago, and shortly thereafter SpamGuard
took a great leap forward in effectiveness.

But they need to do something now. For example, allow their filters
to delete email right away instead of just putting it in the Trash
folder. Or, automatically delete items from the Trash when the quota
is reached. Or delete email with attachments. Any of these would be
an improvement.

 

[Steve M (remove wax for reply)]

I use cloudmark, this is an outstanding spam blocker. It blocks about 98%
with very good accuracy. You can have it completely delete any detected spam
or place it in a specific folder.

If you are using outlook you can use a rule and have any items placed in a
specific folder deteleted.

The original question was about Yahoo mail. I'm assuming that the
original poster is using the web interface. Does Cloudmark work with
Yahoo mail?

Another idea: If your Yahoo mail address is worth keeping, then you
might want to shell out a few bucks to have POP3 access to your Yahoo
account, and then use a spam filter along with more powerful rules in
your email client (such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or any other
one).

 

[Tom Adams]

Please don't use challenge response. It will work for you and others
as long as there aren't very many of you.

But in the process it will generate challenges to addresses in the
"From:" field that have been faked by a spammer or a virus. This will
create lots of spam for other people. Even if you don't care about
that, there are admins that will blocklist. Go read
news.admin.net-abuse.email and see what they think about challenge /
response.

I think right now the best bet for a Yahoo user (I'm one) is to write
a paper mail letter and emphasize that they need to add more options,
unless they're trying to get people to quit using their services. I
did that about a year and a half ago, and shortly thereafter SpamGuard
took a great leap forward in effectiveness.

But they need to do something now. For example, allow their filters
to delete email right away instead of just putting it in the Trash
folder. Or, automatically delete items from the Trash when the quota
is reached. Or delete email with attachments. Any of these would be
an improvement.

Or autoscan the attachments for viruses and eliminate the ones with
viruses rather than filling mailboxes with them.

 

[Tom Adams]

Please don't use challenge response. It will work for you and others
as long as there aren't very many of you.

But in the process it will generate challenges to addresses in the
"From:" field that have been faked by a spammer or a virus. This will
create lots of spam for other people.

My Yahoo mail sends a bounce message when the mailbox fills, creating
lots of spam for other people, anyway. The mailbox refills pretty
soon after I clear the junk, maybe within minutes or a hour.

I have pretty much given up on my Yahoo mail for now. I am
redirecting people to my work address where the junk never gets to my
mailbox. But I cannot read this mail except at work.

But sending Yahoo snail-mail is a good idea.

 

[Steve M (remove wax for reply)]

My Yahoo mail sends a bounce message when the mailbox fills, creating
lots of spam for other people, anyway. The mailbox refills pretty
soon after I clear the junk, maybe within minutes or a hour.

I have pretty much given up on my Yahoo mail for now. I am
redirecting people to my work address where the junk never gets to my
mailbox. But I cannot read this mail except at work.

In another thread, somebody proposed using the "mail blocking" feature
of Yahoo mail. You can add the domains that appear in the "From" line
of the Swen spam. For example, from the last three copies that I
received:

microsoft.com
bulletin.msdn.com
puremail.com

I don't expect any email from Microsoft at my Yahoo address, and I
have never heard of puremail.com

The great advantage is that messages with these domains in the From:
field are discarded immediately. They don't go to Bulk or Trash, and
they don't count against your quota.

 

[Heather]

In another thread, somebody proposed using the "mail blocking" feature
of Yahoo mail. You can add the domains that appear in the "From" line
of the Swen spam. For example, from the last three copies that I
received:

microsoft.com
bulletin.msdn.com
puremail.com

I don't expect any email from Microsoft at my Yahoo address, and I
have never heard of puremail.com

The great advantage is that messages with these domains in the From:
field are discarded immediately. They don't go to Bulk or Trash, and
they don't count against your quota.

However.......as there are a gazillion different From addresses, I found
out by blocking them that Yahoo has a limit of 100 I believe on
addresses that you can block........so I removed half of them.......and
I still have to empty the trash several times a day.......

If they would do 2 things like Hotmail, it would be marvellous. Don't
count the trash emails towards your limit......and empty the trash every
day.......

Sigh.......wishful thinking on my part........Heather

 

[Tom Adams]

However.......as there are a gazillion different From addresses, I found
out by blocking them that Yahoo has a limit of 100 I believe on
addresses that you can block........so I removed half of them.......and
I still have to empty the trash several times a day.......

If they would do 2 things like Hotmail, it would be marvellous. Don't
count the trash emails towards your limit......and empty the trash every
day.......

Sigh.......wishful thinking on my part........Heather

I think I will start using hotmail!