Living with Spam

According to a recent sampling, 53% of email users trust email less due to spam. I'm surprised this number isn't a lot higher.

On average, more spam is sent than legitimate email. Some users have a relatively minor spam problem. For many users the ratio can be as bad as 150 to 1. The main underlying factor seems to be what list your address has made it onto.

Some studies have shown a minor fall-off in the number of junk emails being received. However, other studies have contradicted this. Some research efforts have failed to distinguish sent messages from received messages. This neglects the impact of new spam fighting methods used by servers and end-users.

My own suspicion is that the amount of junk being sent has vastly increased. This has been partially counteracted by increased deployment of server-side and client-side spam filter programs.

Very few studies have factored in the collateral damage of overzealous ISPs and their attempts to prevent spam mail. I frequently deal with users who have had their email go into the void of a server-side filtering system.

Thirty-five percent of users have knowingly received 'phishing" emails. I used to point and laugh at people who fall for these kinds of messages. Unfortunately, I have to admit recently falling victim to such an effort.

SpamButcher can stop spam in Outlook with a kill rate of up to 98%. A trial version is readily available from this website.

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