Where has all the spam gone?

[Normandy Cow]

We sometimes get periods where we hardly get any spam. For example, in the past few days we've only had a handful, and yet in the past there have been days when we've had 20-30 spam messages in one day.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but I'm wondering why this would be? It's happening on both my new gmail account as well as my old email address...

[Stu]

I'm thinking that more & more e-mail servers are getting more 'intuitive' NC, possibly with the amount of people reporting it these days too, through their spamware etc.

We haven't had that much lately, either. I haven't had one single spam message on my Alice account, very few on my Gmail too. Most are through the dot com account, which is the most heavily used.

[Normandy Cow]

more & more e-mail servers are getting more 'intuitive'

That's good, but I would still prefer the spam to get through but be sent to my spam folder so that I can double-check that nothing legitimate has actually been filtered out by accident...

[Stu]

I don't think that the 'possible' spam will be stopped, but the definite stuff like the viagra ads and pleas emanating from the African nations for someone to look after a dying relatives fortune etc. should be getting bumped.

[Big Sis..]

Hi NC,
I agree ,My Outlook Express is playing up at the mo so Im using my gmail mostly.
Ive found things from legitimate users in my spam folder in gmail,which came through quite happily on my OE.

[Alan Knighting]

That's good, but I would still prefer the spam to get through but be sent to my spam folder so that I can double-check that nothing legitimate has actually been filtered out by accident...

I too would prefer to see a list of all e-mails just in case a genuine message has been treated as spam. At the same time I don’t want to download to my PC any scams or spams and the inherent dangers that some of them contain.

I have recently changed the way I use e-mail. I now log into my France Telecom/Orange e-mail account on the Web and view the lists of messages, both spam and legitimate. I delete all messages I don’t want to receive and I log-out. I then run Outlook 2003 and receive only the messages I want. Yes, it’s a double-barrelled approach but I don’t spend any time downloading onto my PC anything I don’t want.

Alan

[Big Sis..]

Ive found things from legitimate users in my spam folder in gmail

Just to illustrate this pont.
A LMHer has kindly just sent me an email to my gmail ,
and promptly ended up in the Spam folder
[and there were no attachments]
only the fact that I was 'waiting for it' made me look there!

[Stu]

I think that one thing to be clear on is that for a virus contained within an e-mail to have any effect, the e-mail attachment MUST be opened for the virus to activate. Spam is annoying, but it's just that - spam! It won't destroy your hard drive, or send out all your passwords & banking details to 'phishers'. At the very worst, if you don't delete it from time to time, it'll build up & clog up your system, thereby slowing down the pc a little.

[Hells Bells]

I haven't had any problems with genuine mail appearing in my Spam folder in gmail. I have very little problems at all, apart from occasional non-delivery of my own mail to other people's hotmail accounts. This is usually if it contains a url or an attachment.

[Elle1971]

I only receive my emails in my Outlook ( I love Outlook, because I can just drag emails into my calendar - and hey presto lol).

Yes I get fair amount of spam, becas I have "catchall" and diverts running all over various web addresses.

But I can easily scan down the spam folder - and be assured nothing gets missed that way. I certainly wouldn't open any attachments I wasn't expecting, or from an unknown source. You can usually tell from the wording anyway.

Elle xx

[Big Sis..]

Hi Elle,
I prefer Outlook as well, but as I say mines a bit iffy at the mo.
What annoys me is that legitimite people are getting trashed and this got through ok

Chinaexport <chinaexport2008_1@yahoo.cn> to
show details 4:15 pm (3½ hours ago)

Dear Sir/Madam,
We are a wholesale company of electronics with a huge inventory of selected electronic items including Laptop Notebook, Digital Camera, Digital Video, LCD TV, Mobile Phone, GPS, DVD, Projector,PSP,Memory Cards,Digital Photo Frame and so on.We've w....blah de blah de....

[Elle1971]

Don't forget the ones that are selling you those erm... "products to improve your" erm... well you know!

[Normandy Cow]

( I love Outlook, because I can just drag emails into my calendar - and hey presto lol).

I've just converted back to Outlook from gmail, as although I've given gmail a try, I still prefer Outlook.

But Elle, I've never dragged emails into the calendar. What does that do?

[Elle1971]

Oh it's a goodun. Just click once on the email you wish to add to your calendar. Keep the mouse held - and just drag it to your calendar (or task list if you prefer) Release the mouse, and a calendar window will pop open. Then you can adjust the date, time, reminder delay, coloured tag, invite etc etc as you need to.

I find it really useful as a way to remind me when I need to follow up emails... or to add appointments and visitors

Give it a try - and yell if you get stuck. It only works on Outlook though - not Outlook Express.

I don't know what I'd do without it! With Internet Explorer, Outlook and Excel... my life is complete!

Elle xx

[Normandy Cow]

Wow!!!!

Thanks for the tip Elle, I never realised you could do that...

That is so useful!