Spam

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ChoiceMail Puts a Stranglehold on Spam

By Gene Emery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Reuters) - I don't need Viagra, my credit is fine, and

somehow I doubt the PhD offered via e-mail with " no required tests, classes,

books, or interviews! " is going to be worth much. If you're inundated and

infuriated by spam, the newly released free version of DigiPortal Software's

ChoiceMail may prevent you from going postal.

I've found it does a wonderful job of mopping up the insidious e-mail that

gets past most spam filters.

I receive, on average, about 33 pieces of junk mail per day. The spam

blocker offered by my Internet provider screens out 75 percent of the

messages, but one in four still get through, partly because spammers keep

finding ingenious and insidious new ways to get past the filters. One way is

by spelling Viagra " V!(at)gra. "

ChoiceMail takes a different approach. It uses all the names in your

electronic address book to create a " whitelist " of people you probably want

to hear from. Messages from them will get through automatically, unless you

decide otherwise. If you send e-mail to someone, ChoiceMail automatically

adds that address to your whitelist -- another feature that can be turned

off, if you wish.

When someone who is not on the whitelist sends an e-mail, the message is

moved, as if by an occult hand, into an " Unknown senders " folder. Senders

then get an e-mail reply announcing that their message won't be delivered

until they go to a Web page and fill out a short challenge form, which, as

it turns out, isn't particularly challenging. It simply requests the

sender's name, asks that individual to write a brief message, and type in a

number that appears on the screen, which prevents an automated response.

DigiPortal says it's akin to your asking " Who's there? " when you hear a

knock on the door.

The sender has four days to respond, otherwise their message is sent to the

Junk Box, where it is held for a few more days before being automatically

deleted. The program allows you to change the holding time.

If the sender has filled out the form, an on-screen message alerts you. A

simple click will send you to the " Senders waiting for your approval "

screen.

At that point, you can decide to accept that one piece of e-mail, accept all

future e-mails from that sender, or put them on a " blacklist " that

automatically deletes all their correspondence. If you choose to blacklist

someone, the program gives you the option to e-mail an explanation.

ChoiceMail also allows you to accept all mail from a particular domain, such

as Reuters.com, regardless of who is sending it to you.

The system isn't foolproof.

Newsletters, for example, are often sent from e-mail addresses that are

incapable of receiving mail, so they might get lost.

In my case, ChoiceMail held up newsletters from quackwatch.org, which tracks

the often-nefarious doings of people who hawk untested medical treatments;

snopes.com, which checks the truthfulness of stories you hear via the

Internet, and a newsletter for curmudgeonly journalists called the

Burned-Out Newspapercreatures Guild (BONG) Bulletin, which tries to

encourage ink-stained wretches like moi to work the phrase " occult hand "

into their stories.

This is why it pays to periodically go through the " Unknown senders " folder

or the Junk Box to see if you're missing anything important.

Once again, if you find something that should not have been blocked, you

have the option of instantly adding senders or their company/organization to

your whitelist.

The program also lets you create rules for blocking or allowing messages.

For

example: I've set up my program so that any message that mentions " Reuters "

gets through.

ChoiceMail has a great system for previewing questionable messages. Rolling

the cursor over a message reveals the first few words. If you double-click

on the message, you can read the text without having to worry about viruses.

One problem I found: Some senders may not see the reply inviting them to

fill out the challenge form.

When a friend with a Yahoo account tried to send me a message, the reply

from ChoiceMail was treated as spam and sent to the Yahoo " Bulk Mail "

folder, where it was missed.

The free version of ChoiceMail lacks some features included in the paid

version, which costs $40. With the paid version, called ChoiceMail One, you

can customize the reply that senders receive, protect an unlimited number of

e-mail accounts, and use the program on Webmail from Yahoo, AOL, MSN and

Hotmail.

For most consumers, " ChoiceMail Free " should work just fine. It can be

downloaded from http://www.DigiPortal.com http://www.digiportal.com/> .