ZeroSpam.Org

There are many ways to fight SPAM. The most widely used methods are Rule Based and Challenge-Response. A quick and concise overview of these two methods follows. You'll quickly see why our FREE software utilizes the Challenge-Response method to save you time and frustration. We'll help you win the war against SPAM and rescue your INBOX from the "spammers".

As the name infers, these methods use "rules" to determine what is and what is not SPAM. They generally look for specific keywords or content in the email. They may also use special algorithms or a distributed "community" approach where SPAM examples are sent in by users (the community) to central servers. The "community" can then use this ever-growing database to detect and block SPAM. However, because the "rule" databases are in a constant state of change in an attempt to keep up with or stay one step ahead of the "spammers", there is always the chance that valid emails will be mistaken as SPAM. In an attempt to avoid this situation, the emails are usually "tagged" as SPAM by adding a specific keyword to the email header, subject line or some other field. These keywords can then be included in email client (Outlook Express etc.) rules so that the questionable emails can be appropriately routed to special email folders for later inspection or deleted. Unfortunately, an additional burden is then put on the user to monitor "spam" email folders for falsely "tagged" emails. Although many of these Rule Based methods do reduce SPAM, the necessity of updating "rule" databases, the ever present possibility of valid emails being detected as SPAM and the time consuming need to review "spam" folder(s) makes these methods less than desireable.

Although there is no perfect solution for eliminating SPAM, Challenge-Response methods have become increasingly popular. These methods are extremely simple and only require you to maintain a "white list" and a "black list". When an email is received from someone on your "white list", it is delivered. When an email is received from someone on your "black list", it is rejected and deleted. When an email is received from someone on neither of your lists, a simple "challenge" reply email is sent to them. When the unknown sender replies appropriately to the "challenge" message, they are added to your "white list" and their original and any future emails are delivered to your INBOX. The reason this method works so effectively is that "spammers" usually do not supply valid return email addresses and, if they do, there is usually a "robot" that sent the SPAM and it will not respond to your "challenge" message.