Is Yahoo doing all it can to prevent the spread of viruses?

[Thomas Miller]

I found a solution to the yahoo problem. It is very kludgey but what
the hell- it is working:


make a new folder called "BS" in yahoomail.

set up a filter in yahoomail to send all messages from "microsoft" or
"ms" to go to "BS"


Download the yahoopops utility from http://yahoopops.sourceforge.net/
and install it according to the directions. configure yahoopops to
just check the "BS" folder. Yahoopops integrates with Outlook express,
eudora etc.

Set up a oulook express to automatically check mail every ten minutes.
set up a rule in outloook express to automatically delete all mail
with FROM "microsoft" or FROM "ms".

works for me!

p.s. there is a bug in yahoopops that it will not "Empty the yahoo
trash" automatically on exit. I tried that already. kinda buggy
utility but hey it's free.

Tom

 

[Guest]

To the original question, the answer is No. Yahoo has done nothing. One wonders if they are even
aware a problem even exists. The company appears to have created an impenetrable bubble for itself,
impervious to email, phone messages, faxes--any human contact whatsoever. If it were not for my kill
filters my inbox would continue to become inundated with Swen. As it is, my bulk folder still is.

 

[Robert Clark]

Apparently Yahoo has decided to change its policies on detecting
viruses. In addition to the anti-spam improvements, Yahoo now requires
all attachments to be scanned for viruses before downloading.
I can confirm this anti-virus requirement applies to the free
service.


Bob Clark

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Technology - Reuters

Yahoo Launches Anti-Spam E-Mail Decoys
Tue Oct 21,12:03 AM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), the Internet
media and services company, on Tuesday launched a new set of premium
e-mail features that lets users create hundreds of decoy addresses to
thwart spam mail.

Yahoo, which has marketed itself as a successful spam fighter for
e-mail users, said most of the new functions are available only to
subscribers of its Mail Plus service, which costs $29.99 a year.

The battle against spam has drawn the attention of e-mail providers
and legislators, amid growing concern about the cost of junk e-mail to
companies and consumers.

Yahoo said it has seen a 40 percent jump in spam from January to
August and now averages 700,000 spam reports a day. Some analysts
estimate that spam totals one-third of all e-mail, costing
corporations billions of dollars a year.

Yahoo said its new AddressGuard feature would let users create a
fictitious "base name" and then 500 variations on that name that they
could give out when shopping, banking and joining communities online.

If an address started to receive spam, the user could simply shut down
the address and use another one.

SpamGuard Plus, which like AddressGuard is available only to premium
subscribers, lets customers set individual rules to define spam and
continue to use a blanket filter to block all spam.

Another new feature available to all users allows for a message
display limited to e-mails from known users. Some users will start to
have that function next week, Yahoo said, though it will not be fully
launched systemwide until November.

Yahoo has also changed rules on viruses, forcing users to scan all
attachments for viruses before downloading. Such scans had been
optional.

Brad Garlinghouse, vice president of communications products at Yahoo,
told Reuters the company had to keep enhancing its software because
the legal battle against spam could not do the job alone.

"Legislation and litigation, it's something of a whack-a-mole
problem," he said, a reference to a popular arcade game that
challenges players to try to hit an increasingly fast array of pop-up
figures, though he added Yahoo has supported spam laws and used
anti-spam suits in past.

Yahoo said its marketing research highlights the extent to which spam
is despised. In an August survey of Yahoo users, 77 percent said they
would rather clean a toilet than sort through the junk e-mail in their
inbox.
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