I am seriously considering using a permission based SPAM service such as SpamArrest. Having used the same email address for years it is not uncommon for me to get over 300 SPAM emails a day. I do have a SPAM filter installed which does move them into a SPAM folder but even still I have to sort through them to be certain important emails don't get trapped.

What do you think about permission based SPAM services?

Whitelisting is a definatly the strongest deterrent. Especially with 300 a day. Wow. I run a Spam Blocker on my mail server (my own mail server), which eleminates probably 80-90% of my spam, but I still probably get 5 - 6 a day of just unwanted spam. Of course it's not consistent. When spammers figure out ways to get around it, I've gotta get in the spam filter on the server and make adjustments. So it's this constant back and forth war. Honestly maybe white listing isn't such a bad idea. I may go for it as well.

I also agree with white listing. Spam blockers only offer a temporary solution, and weeding out your e-mail is time consuming. I do recommend SpamArrest. I'm considering building a network server that may someday serve as a web server, so I've been looking into network security solutions.

Where I work, we were getting something like fifteen thousand (seriously) spams a day.

In desperation, we installed Barracuda's Spam Firewall, which is essentially a rack-mountable dedicated PC with hellacious filters, smart enough to update itself from HQ on a regular basis, and downright ruthless when we want it to be (which is always).

After a year, and exponential growth in the spam business, maybe a couple of hundred sneak past the Barracuda every day - which means that 20,000 or so are getting zapped. Best $1000 (or so) we ever spent, mailwise.

I seriously hate spammers... I mean seriously....

We ought to find these people and really rip them a new one. Mac owners can laugh all you want, but I know if the tables were turned, Macs would be plagued. Maybe not in the same way, but it would happen. Honestly, in the movie 'Hackers', all the characters used Apple laptops to hack each other.

But spammers have to go. Unfortunately, many of them operate in other countries. Once Windows Vista arrives, things may change, especially on the server side with Vista server. It may not stop spam, but hopefully the viruses and malware instances will drop.

But it is also up to mail services as well to stop spam, such as MSN, which is horrible with spam.

Wow!

My inbox finally has some peace. I signed up last night and stayed up late getting all my email boxes configured. So far today not a single SPAM email has hit my box. I even signed up OKCTalk for their affiliate program so if you are thinking about trying the service FREE for 30-days please use the link below.

http://img.spamarrest.com/img/affiliate/ads/emailbanner1.gif (http://www.spamarrest.com/affl?4017168)

If you want to be added to my approved senders list and demo how the process works email todd@okctalk.com.

If all goes well eventually I think I'll spring for the business solution so I can customize the sender verification and confirmation pages with my own text and logo's.