How do I get rid of unwanted Spam and other unwanted advertisements on my email.   I use Outlook Express and have Norton AntiVirus.  Should I upgrade to Norton Internet Security or is there some other ideas.

Thanks.....Edward Northey.

Hi Northey!

This thread will likely receive a lot of replies based on users' individual experiences. Here are my thoughts/suggestions for you:

1. See if your ISP has a spam-filtering feature and set it to a filter level of your choice (Medium for starters, then check the spam folder in the webmail interface to see what 'good' mails might have been routed there).

2. Try a program such as the free Mailwasher at http://www.mailwasher.net

I use the Pro version and it works wonderfully for my purposes. Go directly here for that: http://www.firetrust.com or use the link from the above location.

3. Try the web-based solution at spamarrest at http://www.spamarrest.com

I use this too! I have too many mailboxes, ha!

Also you can read-up on more about spam here: http://www.cauce.org/

CAUCE, The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email is an ad hoc, all volunteer organization, created by Netizens to advocate for a legislative solution to the problem of UCE (a/k/a "spam").

CAUCE has a forum/discussion group too where you can find even more suggestions.

hth,

shana

Thanks Shana...I'll try all of your helpful suggestions....Regards Edward Northey.

Hey Northey,

As the others have suggested.. The best products in this class are in fact, shareware not free. That said, MailWasher is for most folks, the best free option.

The advantage of this approach is that you can kill unwanted messages including spam, viruses and large attachments before they get anywhere near your computer. MailWasher flags for you any messages containing possible spam and viruses for you to quickly check.  It's a simple idea but quite effective and one which average users find easy to understand. The last free version of MailWasher [2] before it went commercial is still floating around the web. It lacks many of the advanced spam detection features of the current commercial version but is still quite effective.  Alternatively, try XTerminator [3] which works much the same way as MailWasher and is totally free. I must say though, I prefer MailWasher's user interface  
[1] http://www.mailwasher.net ( 3.05MB)
[2] http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page2.html#Mailwasher (1.57MB)
[3] http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/xterminator.htm  (1.87MB)

Also.. To limit the future problem as you're fixing the present..
SPAM Do’s and Don’ts

Delete junk e-mail messages without opening them. Sometimes even opening spam can alert spammers.

Don't reply to spam unless you're certain that the message comes from a legitimate source. This includes not responding to such messages that offer an option to "Remove me from your list." Never use the opt-out facility on spam mail. This address (if it is a real one) usually links to an email harvesting site. The fact that a reply comes from your address tells the email harvester that your address is a live one - and that you actually read the spam! That makes your address more saleable.

Don't give personal information in an e-mail or instant message. It could be a trick.

Don't buy anything or give to any charity promoted through spam. Spammers often swap or sell the e-mail addresses of those who have bought from them, so buying something through spam may result in even more spam.

Don't forward chain e-mail messages. Not only do you lose control over who sees your e-mail address, but you also may be furthering a hoax or aiding in the delivery of a virus.

Be careful about sharing your e-mail or instant message address!

Only share your primary e-mail address with people you know. Avoid listing your e-mail address in large Internet directories and job-posting Web sites. Don't even post it on your own Web site (unless you disguise it as described below).

Setup an e-mail address dedicated solely to Web transactions. Consider using a free e-mail service to help keep
your primary e-mail address private. When you get too much spam there, simply drop it for a new one.

Disguise your e-mail address when you post it to a newsgroup, chat room, bulletin board, or other public Web page—for example, SairajUdin AT example DOT com. This way, a person can interpret your address, but the automated programs that spammers use often cannot.

Watch out for pre-checked boxes. When you buy things online, companies sometimes pre-select check boxes to indicate that it's fine to sell or give your e-mail address to responsible parties. Clear the check box if you don't want
to be contacted.

Tip:  When you sign up for Web-based services such as banking, shopping, or a newsletter, carefully read the
privacy policy before revealing your e-mail address so you don't unwittingly agree to share confidential information. The privacy policy should outline the terms and circumstances regarding if or how the site will share your information.
If a Web site does not post a privacy statement,
consider taking your business elsewhere.


And definately use the filters, too!

If the problem is bad enough.. You may want to complain...

Do not simply reply to spam. Usually the mail header and the 'from' address are heavily disguised to make it difficult for recipients to see where the mail came from. In over 95% of cases the reply to or from address is forged, and may be the live address of someone totally unconnected to the spam. They do this because the sending of spam is forbidden by most Internet Service Providers and their accounts or web sites could be closed down if their misconduct was reported.

The first step to take is to find out where the spam came from. You are looking for the server that let the spammer send out the junk mail. To find this information, we need to view the email's header information. This is a trace of the different servers the email went through to get to At&t's mail server and then into your inbox. Normally, an email's header information is hidden because it contains information that is for computer to computer routing. The only information you usually see is the subject, date, and the "From" or "Return" address. Spammers are generally clever enough to forge the "From" address either to a fake address or an innocent victim.

The header allows the message to be traced from its origin to destination. Each computer that the message passes through will attach identifying information in a "Recieved" line, such as where the mail came from, the machines name, date, and time the mail passed through it. There can be one "Received" line or there can be many, the newest one is always placed on top. Since newer headers are placed on top, the first 'Received' line will usually show the message origin. Headers are viewable in Outlook by opening the mail item then clicking View then Details. Take a look at the sample header below:

Received: from sample.com (sample.com [208.27.176.33])
by arthur.avalon.net (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id SAA01295
for <SUPPORT@avalon.net>; Thu, 25 May 2000 18:55:04 -0500 (CDT)

Received: from spammer.example.com(spammer.example.com[200.238.107.3])
by sample.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id IAA21240;
Thu, 25 May 2000 18:55:01 -0500

From: "Forged Name" <probably forged as well>
To: <SUPPORT@avalon.net>
Subject: FREE Magic Weight Loss Pills!
Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 18:55:01 -0500
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3
Message-ID: <05c460155231950BDCED@spammer.example.com>

The first Received line (the one closest to the "From:" line) tells us where the spam was sent from. It appears to have come from spammer.example.com[200.238.107.3] on Thusday 25 May. It is possible that the spammer forged not only the "From:" line but also the Name Server (spammer.example.com). The only thing we know for sure is that it came from the IP address 200.238.107.3 so we can check for forgeries by performing a NSLOOKUP on the IP address. From msdos you would type:
nslookup 200.238.107.3

If this was not an example you would get:
Name: real.spammer.com
Address: 200.238.107.3

The name should match what is in the parentheses. Since it doesn't in this case then the header was forged. The IP address is very difficult to forge, and will point back to the originating domain.

You now have the address of the server from which the spam was sent and the real name of the server. NOTE: This is not the spammers personal address, this is just the server that the spammer used to send his or her mail.

Once you look at the header and get the address of the server that the email originated from, you can mail a complaint to the server to let them know that one of their users is spamming. Please remember that most Networks (including At&t) have a strict no spamming policy and the spammer is at fault, not the Network Administrator.

Most networks reserve the Abuse and Postmaster addresses for e-mail problems. Each network will usually list their complaint address someplace on their Web site. If you are not sure, send your complaint to Postmaster. For the above example, you would send a complaint to postmaster@real.spammer.com.

Unfortunately there are a few networks allowing spammers to continue spamming from their servers. Groups such as MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) have put together lists of these known spam-friendly networks and make their list public. This means that other networks can deny spam-friendly networks access to certain parts of the Internet and protect their users from spam orginating on these "blacklisted" servers.
You need to get the real address and check to see if it is a known spammer. If the check returns "not listed," then all you can do is email the postmaster. If the check returns "the name was listed," you can then email the full header to your email isp server to see if they can block any more spam coming from that server.

Hope this helps!