Spam Stoppers

Consider using an Internet service provider or an email service that includes anti-virus and spam filtering as your first line of defense. An increasing number of Internet service providers (ISP) and email services are offering anti-virus and spam filtering services to their customers. If you need or want to keep your current ISP who does not offer these services, try an email service that does. In addition to or instead of an online service, you can install software on your computer to catch spam. For an overview of the problem, see Stopping Spam, Joshua Goodman, David Heckerman and Robert Rounthwaite, Scientific American, March 28, 2005.

Comparative Reviews

• Spam Filter Reviews [a meta-review of 25 other reviews!], Consumersearch.com, April 2005
• Inbox Tamers, Kevin Savetz, PC World, March 24, 2005 -- Fastmail, Google Gmail, MSN Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, OnlyMyEmail, MS Outlook, Thunderbird, PocoMail, and Qualcomm Eudora.
• Antispam Software: You're Not On the List! Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine, February 14, 2005

• Two Roads to a Spam-Free Inbox -- Norton & SpamNet, Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine, October 28, 2004

• Anti-Spam Round-up: Stop the Spam-sanity, Adam Stone & Forrest Stroud, WinPlanet, July 29, 2004 -- Qurb, SpamKiller, SpamNet, Death2Spam, Norton, Mailshell & Spam Interceptor.

• Antispam Tools: Can They Keep Up? Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine, July 9, 2004 -- MailFrontier, ChoiceMail One, iHateSpam, Spam Shredder & SpamBully.

• PC anti-spam 2004, Simon Edwards, Dennis Publishing UK, June 2004 -- SpamCatcher, SpamNet, MailShield, SpamPal, SpamKiller, SpamStopUp, K9, Norton, Mozilla Mail & MS Outlook.

• Spam-Proof Your In-Box, Logan Harbaugh, PC World, May 4, 2004 -- best buy is SpamNet, also includes reviews of SpamCatcher, InBoxer, MailShield, SpamKiller, Panda suite, IHateSpam, Norton, PC-cillin suite.

• Spam busters on test, Nigel Whitfield, Personal Computer World UK, March 3, 2004 -- InBoxer, SpamNet, MailWasher PRo, SpamKiller 2004,  SAProxyPro & Norton AntiSpam

Individual Product Links & Reviews

• ChoiceMail One, 14 day free trial, $40

  • Pick and Choose Your E-Mail [ChoiceMail 2.0], Larry Seltzer, PC Magazine, December 12, 2003

  • PC Magazine review, May 27, 2003
  • Block That Spam! Andrew Gluck, Advisor, March 25, 2003
  • Halt! Who Spams There? Walter Mossberg, Smart Money, March 11, 2003
• CleanMessage online spam and virus filtering service, 30 day free trial
• Ella for Spam Control Open Field Software, 15 day free trial available, $40
  • Ella - Eliminating Lots of Little Annoyances, Productivity Portfolio, July 2003
  • About.com review, Heinz Tschabitscher, May 2003
• iHateSpam for Outlook (not Express) Sunbelt Software, 30 day free trial, $20
• InBoxer, 21 day free trial, $25
  • InBoxer 1.1 Review, Eric Grevstad, WinPlanet, November 3, 2003
  • PC Magazine review, Cade Metz, September 16, 2003
  • Spamotomy review, August 28, 2003
• McAfee SpamKiller (bought from Novasoft), $40
  • PC Magazine review, Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine, September 14, 2004
• Qurb for Outlook, $25
  • Qurb 3.0 anti-spam review, Daniel Tynan, CNet, March 24, 2005
  • PC Magazine editor's choice, May 27, 2003
  • About.com review
• SpamCatcher, Mailshell, web-based service $3 per month, desktop version $20 per year, Outlook version and universal for Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape Messenger and most POP email clients.
  • PC Magazine editor's choice, February 3, 2003
• SpamFighter, freeware and pro versions
  • Pro review, Heinz Tschabitscher, email.about.com
• SpamNix for Eudora, 30 day free trial, $30
  • CNet editor's choice, Daniel Tynan, February 20, 2003

Resource Sites

• CAUCE
• JunkBusters
• Macintouch
• Spam Abuse
• SpamBayes
• Spamotomy
• Spam Primer
• Spam Watch (PC World)