Spam Filtering Tips: Avoid the Downside of Spam Filters
“I hate all this spam – what can I do about it?”
There is only so much. Spam filtering tools are still evolving. Let’s face it: They are simply software programs trying to determine, based on known criteria, whether something is spam or not. And there is no context.
Right now, you can expect some emails you send and receive to be misidentified as spam. So, albeit erroneously, they end up in the junk, spam, or trash folders.
This is a false positive. Since spam will not go away, here are a few tips to help you manage the inevitable.
Organize Your View
You can view emails by sender, date, subject, or other criteria. Therefore, when reviewing your junk or trash folder for false positives, organize it by Subject.
Viewing by Subject helps spam with the same Subject stick out like a sore thumb. This will allow you to skip them confidently and move on to potentially misidentified emails.
Next, as you peruse the list of Subjects that appear legitimate, take a quick look to see who sent them. If the name is all lowercase, is the first name only, and you don’t recognize it, or it doesn’t make sense, skip it. You can then delete it.
Always Check Before Emptying
Checking your junk, spam, and trash folders before clearing them will help you avoid deleting legitimate emails. In my email program, I can right-click and select “Not Junk” so that future emails are delivered.
Often, spammy emails don’t have a Subject field. The subject line contains typical spam phrases and formatting that trigger spam filters. When I encounter this in emails from contacts that land in my junk folder, I send them a quick note to let them know.
I then explain why I think it happened (no subject, all lowercase, text formatting), so they know their email to others could also end up in the trash if it were to me. In addition, once a contact is on my email program’s contact list, they are on my whitelist.
Whitelist Contacts Immediately
With all the blocker software and network filters now included with ISP and hosting accounts, you should first set up your whitelist or approved senders list.
Check whether your email program or provider automatically “whitelists” contacts added to your address book. Whitelisting helps ensure your friends and known contacts are delivered to your inbox.
If you sign up for newsletters or mailing lists, pay close attention to any notice of what email address you should immediately add to your approved or whitelist, and then do it. Most sites will now tell you exactly what email address to add. If you are unsure, add their .com domain to your list so that emails you want to receive from them reach you.
On the confirmation pages of my websites, I specify the email address I will be sending from and ask recipients to add it to their whitelist so my emails are delivered. If you have a website, you want to do the same thing.
Use Attachment Limitations
What do attachments have to do with spam? It is about security concerns. For example, my email program is not set to automatically download attachments larger than a specified size.
This setting lets me see whether it is an attachment I expect or one I want to download. If I don’t want to download it, I click the trash icon. Then, when I check my email next time or empty the trash, that attachment is automatically deleted from the server without downloading.
You can set your download limit to match your available resources. Start at around 100,000 bytes. Any attachment under 100K will be downloaded automatically to help keep your inbox clean. You can then review the larger attachments you weren’t expecting, which could be spam or potentially malicious.
Spam is not going anywhere…
Yep, it is aggravating—and like you, I get frustrated that I have to spend time dealing with it. By implementing these tips, you’ll find some relief by letting your email filters and software do their best.
