/ How efficient should a good Spam filter be?

How efficient should a good Spam filter be?

Any technology that you pay your hard earned dollars for had better be efficient, right? If I’m going to buy a product, I expect it to be efficient. However, spam filters can be too efficient. I know, that sounds contradictory. However, there’s a method to my madness: spam filters that are too aggressive will mark too many legitimate messages as spam which defeats the purpose.

For example, if your spam filter is too efficient, many of your legitimate emails will wind up marked as spam. You may start to wonder why no one is emailing you or you’ll miss important emails. Eventually, someone will advise you to check your Junk Mail folder. When you do, much to your horror, you’ll find numerous important emails hidden amongst the offers for herbal remedies and investment opportunities from Nigerian kings. Soon, you won’t trust your spam filter and you will religiously search your Junk Mail folders for legitimate messages. What good is that?

On the other extreme are spam filters that are not effective enough. The whole idea is to avoid spam. If your inbox has enough spam to annoy you, your filter isn’t very efficient. I can deal with one or two spam messages a week finding their way into my inbox without being annoyed but much more than that and I’d be opening the anti-spam program interface and making adjustments.

No matter which anti-spam filter you use, finding the right efficiency balance is critical. The goal is to keep legitimate emails where you want them (in the inbox) and never have to look at another spam message ever again.

Fortunately, most good anti-spam filters offer various control levels. You’ll have to experiment with the different levels to find the right balance for your needs. Start at the lowest level and see if the filter is catching enough spam. The lowest levels generally leave your legitimate emails alone but the drawback is that more spam gets through. If you’re not satisfied with the efficiency, bump up the level to medium and see if that provides the right balance or not. The highest setting will catch the most spam but it may also compromise your legitimate emails.

The anti-spam program that you chose should be efficient at blocking spam and not marking legitimate messages as spam. I’ve had good luck with both Trend Micro PC-Cillin Internet Security and ParetoLogic Spam Controls. I’ve also used iHateSpam and a few other products. Each has its own way of identifying and dealing with junk mail.

For example, spam control in the PC-Cillin product is just one feature of many. This product is a suite that offers other protections such as virus and spyware protection. The anti-spam feature is an added enhancement. ParetoLogic Spam Controls is dedicated to spam and only spam. It is unique in that it uses pattern classifications rather than keywords to identify spam. By analyzing the content for known patterns, false positives are virtually eliminated.

Because spammers are continually changing their methods, today’s most efficient spam protection will be obsolete in weeks, if not days. That’s why creating your own spam filter using keywords and message rules doesn’t work. Believe me, I’ve tried. It’s impossible for the average computer user to keep up. Instead, select an anti-spam program that is updated regularly with the latest spam definitions.