How To: Simple Text Filtering

A lot of users seem to purchase spam email filters predisposed to the notion that it's used for simple text filtering. SpamButcher can be used for this function, but it's not its purpose. SpamButcher's power is that it filters using thousands of data points combined with each other.

Adding or removing a single variation of the word "v!@gra" won't have a major effect on its performance. If you find yourself adding hundreds of entries to the custom filtering menu, you may be looking at the wrong approach to stopping spam.

In fact, if you're primarily interested in simple keyword filtering, you probably already have that functionality. Most email clients already have it built-in.

To access Outlook Express's text filter, select the Tools menu, then Message Rules and pick Mail. Then choose New. You'll be given options to choose what portion of the email you want to filter. You can also specify the text to filter on, and what to do with the message if it's found.

The truth is, you can block a large portion of spam this way. Ultimately a fuzzy logic or Bayesian anti-spam program with a large database will catch more spam and be more accurate.

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