Sound off !

Can there be anyone out there who will understand ?

We use Windows XP Pro
We use Microsoft Outlook Express.
We use Bellsouth.net DSL Extreme service.

(All the above is fact - some of the items below may be faulse due to my stupidity !)
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1. My internet service provider (Bellsouth.net) allows me space to receive
E-Mail. I retreive it via Outlook Express and then disposition the mail.

2. They also provide a service (named Mailguard) that screens the mail and per a set of rules classify it as spam or junk and deletes it. I never see that mail. I elected to review it at first, but found the program did a good job so we now just let those items be automatically deleted.

3. However, that feature worked "great" for a few days. Programers or "hackers" have now gotten around the program and we get lots of junk mail again.

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4. So, we go out and select what seemed to be a good program called a "Spam Blocker ". Seemed to work, but one day Bellsouth notified my mail box was full.

5. What really was happening was that:
a. Bellsouth received my mail and stored it.
b. They screened some (quite a lot) out with thier Mailguard program and deleted it.
c. I then used Outlook Express to retreive the remainder.
d. But, what I did not know was that the Spam Blocker program was
blocking Outlook Express from receiving those mails that I said I did not
want. (Simply put - if the mail was not from those in by Outlook Express
Address Book I did not want it.)
6. So, eventually my mail box overflowed. Why ? Because the programmer of that Spam Blocker program only did half a job. Good programming yes, but very poorly conceived.
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7. With the above said we are ready to get to the point of this posting.

8. Is there a programmer out there who will provide the customer what they want - not what the programmer thinks is best.
Sorry, I'm not knocking those who can program the computer - just the fact that the programmers do their thing and will not hear what is requested.
Thus a half fast program such as that Spam Blocker program that only did half the job.

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Finally - is there a program, or can one be provided that will ?:

A. Analize the mail that I retreive from the server with Outlook Express.
B. And very simply determine if it is from sources in "my" Address Book.
C. If not, zap it - period. Don't build in any required responses from me.
Don't waste my time as others are doing. Just delete it - and what
remains will be the mail that I want.
(OK, I know, some hacker can at times send their mail using my address book data as the sender - and it will come through - but I'll handle that. Switching E-mail idenity ever so often works fine when that occurs.)

KISS (Keep it simple stupid !)

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Anyone wanting to respond to this can post here or send e-mail to:

Edit - email address removed by Mod

 

Poor marylou with the Juno account - some wisdom and restraint on your part would go a long way to cutting back on the unwanted stuff, but even worse - you now have now created another nice mess for marylou.

My recommendation still goes to mailwasher and you can make it just as tight as you want. I too use Bellsouth and have none of the problems you reference.



edit: Just reread my response and figured some more clarification might help. First, I'll stand pat that you have created a potential monster for marylou by posting her email address and I'm hopeful that the moderator cleans this up. Secondly, Mailwasher Pro will help one eliminate most garbage emails and permits one to check mail on the ISP's server efore being downloaded to your machine. One can also activate a couple of free and at least one paid spam database. It beats anything and everything I've ever tried with no close second place contenders. Third, you can set your BellSouth spam filters a couple of different ways and have it discard trash email instead of retaining it and letting it build up. As you probably know, this has to be done by accessing your mail accounts from their web site.

 

We found a solution !

One person asked "How much was my budget ? "
Ok, it was good eneough to locate a computer programmer who did what I asked. Yes, it cost me $300.00
But I now only receive mail from "Only those in my address book ".

Yes, it was worth it - I was spending too much time deleting spam - and when you let 30 employees do the same (wasting time) that is big bucks.

Anyone want to know - irt'll cost you $300.00 - I ain't stupid !