Hotmail and Spam Filtering

[KTYorke]

Hi Ed
I don't have an answer for you, but I was going to make the address in your post active and realized that it didn't work. I Googled "Pop3Hot" and came up with http://pop3hot.com I'm fairly certain this is the same program you were asking about.

To make a link active you can use the 1-Click TagPanel on your post page or simply surround the url with <!t><!/t> and <!t><!/t>.

FYI from the website I read:

<hr>All Pop3Hot functionality -and more- has recently been merged into IzyMail. Pop3Hot is no longer available for download.<hr>

have fun

[EdBB]

KTYorke:

Thanks for the update on Pop3Hot. I just went to the URL that I gave and it is still there, but no matter.

It isn't clear to me what this new "Izymail" might be. It now sounds as if there might need to be a series of programs between OE and Hotmail; i.e., Hotmail ->Izymail -> MailWasher -> OE6.

Does anyone have any information on my question about the "greying out" of the Properties option when I right-click a spam message in OE6 ?

TIA. <img src=/S/confused.gif border=0 alt=confused width=15 height=20>

Ed

[WyllyWylly]

Ed, I have to admit that I think you're fighting a losing battle with Hotmail. It's the premiere spam sending service. Once an email address gets into the UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email) channels, it's toast. The only way to clean it effectively is to start with a new email address and not give it out.

I maintain a Hotmail account, for very occasional use. I have the filter set to exclusive, so unless I am expecting email from someone and have added them to my "safe" list, it doesn't get through. There just isn't any other effective way to stem the tide of crap in the Hotmail inbox. Granted, I use the free service and you get what you pay for....but I wouldn't pony up for a full blown account with the experiences I have had.

I hope you're not paying for this - personally, I'd avoid Hotmail if at all possible (Yahoo too) and use it only for junk purposes, while you have a "real" account somewhere else that you protect like a rabid weasel. <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>

[EdBB]

WyllyWylly:

I'm afraid that you may be right. Perhaps I just put my friends on the "safe" list and otherwise forget about it.

Thanks. <img src=/S/bummer.gif border=0 alt=bummer width=15 height=15>

Ed

[WyllyWylly]

It's ugly, thanks to the spammers of the world. Although I couldn't give you a more optimistic solution (and someone yet may do that), perhaps you can get a little satisfaction out of reading this: Internet spammer can't take what he dishes out

Reading that puts a little smile on my face every time!

[Phil Rabichow]

Check your "preferences" in Hotmail. Woody had an article about them last year. Hotmail automatically put a checkmark under your preferences that automatically asked for spam (i.e. you opted in). Personally, I cancelled the whole account.

[bigaldoc]

You didn't say what version of Mailwasher you tried. I don't use Hotmail, but the BETA version 2.x of Mailwasher claims to have Hotmail support. Is that what you tried?

[Samantha]

Ed:

I use the beta version of Mailwasher, and it works wonderfully with the hotmail account I inherited for a local non-profit group I belong to. We rarely receive email to this account, but it is published amongst the membership, so setting the hotmail filters to reject unknown addresses doesn't work.

I've set Mailwasher to check both my Pop 3 account and the hotmail account, and the friends list and blacklist are common to both accounts. Other advantages of having Mailwasher check the hotmail account are 1) I no longer have to remember to log in to hotmail once a month to keep the account active, 2) since Mailwasher is deleting and bouncing spam, I don't have to worry about valid messages being bounced back because the mailbox is full of spam; and 3) I don't have to remember to log on to hotmail to see if maybe we've received a message. I just added a column to Mailwasher to show the addressee of the message, and I immediately know when there's mail to collect.

Big Al alerted the Lounge to the new Mailwasher beta version, and at first I was hesitant to download it, but so far this beta version of Mailwasher has outperformed full release versions of any Microsoft product I've used. Thanks, Al.

[EdBB]

Samantha/Big Al:

I'm using MW 2.01.25b, that I think is the latest version. I'm running this on a WinXP machine and MW works well with the POP3 accounts.

Here is how I have configured the Hotmail portion of MW.

Account type: Hotmail
Name "Hotmail"
Checked: "include in default mail check"
Address and password are current and work fine in OE
Server: Hotmail
Enable bouncing

With this configuration, I have not ever been able to get a Hotmail message in MW, even though OE will receive them and I can go to the Hotmail site and look at them in IE.

What am I doing wrong ?

TIA. <img src=/S/brickwall.gif border=0 alt=brickwall width=25 height=15>

Ed

[Samantha]

Ed, I use Mailwasher at home, and since I'm working late this evening, I can't answer your questions right away. If I manage to get home before bedtime, I'll check my Mailwasher settings for my hotmail account, and post back.

[Samantha]

Ed, it appears that you have a slightly newer version of Mailwasher than I have. Mine is "Version 2.0.19 beta"

The only differences I see in our settings, are that I have the "remember password" box checked under the Incoming Mail Tab; and under Servers, I have a choice of either "Hotmail" or "MSN Hotmail." I have selected the Hotmail server and it works for me; however you said that is what you chose too, and you can't get Mailwasher to work with Hotmail. My guess is that Hotmail is the freebie account and MSN-Hotmail is the paid for account; but that's just a guess. You might try choosing the MSN-Hotmail Server to see if that works for you.

I do hope that this isn't a case of Mailwasher breaking a feature that worked in my older beta version, such that it's no longer available in your slightly newer version.

[EdBB]

Samantha:

Whoops! My version is 2.01.21beta, not 2.01.25beta - got a little ahead of the game, I guess. Nevertheless, I've tried the suggestion to check off MSN. When I do that and try to connect using MW, it comes back and says" Try Hotmail". All I get when I try to connect to Hotmail is a brief flicker of activity from MW and a message in the box along the bottom of the screen saying something like" Downloading message headers". Of course, it never does, even though there are messages there to be downloaded.
I think that I'll have to give up on this and go on to better uses of my time.

Ed

[WyllyWylly]

Ed, have you sent an email to Mailwasher technical support? Nick and his crew have always been very responsive to me, and since this is a stated beta, they would probably be interested in the details. Most software developers have a keen interest in knowing what works and what doesn't.

And, just as an FYI, I was told via email that 'exciting things are coming in the New Year' and to 'keep an <img src=/S/eyeout.gif border=0 alt=eyeout width=15 height=15>'.

[EdBB]

Edited by WyllyWylly to add URL code. See the Quick Guide.[/i] <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>

Hello:

I seem to have an inordinate amount of spam /porn coming in via Hotmail. Keeping it out with the Hotmail filters seems to be difficult since they don't allow compound filters with the use of "or" or "and". Moreover, they are limited to 36 single filters. As you know, the OE filters don't work on Hotmail.

My questions are:
1. Are there wildcard filters that are successful with Hotmail and what are some examples that you may have found successful ?
2. Has anyone been successful in configuring MailWasher to work reliably with Hotmail ? It works well with my POP3 accounts but does nothing with Hotmail. A MW forum adminstrator replied that he also had difficulty getting MW to work with Hotmail and that this is common with webmail.
3. Does anyone have any experience with a program called "Pop3Hot" ? This is a freeware program from an e-mail company at
http://internetmaillist.com. Given the business that they are in, I am leery of using their program, for fear that it may be "spyware" of some sort.

TIA. <img src=/S/bouncenburn.gif border=0 alt=bouncenburn width=31 height=31>

Ed

[EdBB]

Mark:

Thanks for the suggestion.
I've just sent a message stating the situation to Mailwasher.

I wonder if it would help if I uninstalled it, downloaded a fresh copy and installed that. I'll try it right now.

Thanks.

Ed