SpamPal: The Free, Open Source Anti-Spam Alternative Whitelists, Blacklists, Bayesian Technology, and More Adam Stone
Whitelists, Blacklists, Bayesian Technology, and More
One of the biggest complaints we have regarding spam blockers is that they will sometimes send real mail into the junk box. This is more than just a nuisance: It can be a serious interruption to business. SpamPal addresses this in several ways, with the primary tool being the use of whitelists, filters designed to allow mail from certain senders to pass through unquestioned.
A user can whitelist family, friends, or business associates so that their mail is never tagged as spam. One can also disagree with a DNSBL list, whitelisting that entire block as true mail. In addition, individuals and mail servers with whom the user corresponds frequently are automatically whitelisted.
On the flip side, users can manually blacklist email addresses or an entire block of senders as being spammers.
In addition to being free, SpamPal is also open source. The code is available to anyone who would use it, and developers have been busy adding their own plug-ins to this already versatile software. One function, for example, allows a user to filter by URLs (Web links) contained within the body of a message body. Spammers can disguise their addresses all they like, but if the link within the message leads to an ad for body-parts enlargement, that mail is going in the trash.
Another powerful plug-in is the Bayesian filter. Rather than relying on lists of reported spammers, Bayesian techniques use sophisticated algorithms to process statistical data in order to ferret out the junk mail. So if a user finds that SpamPal's default anti-spam techniques aren't quite measuring up, the Bayesian plug-in can be installed to give SpamPal an additional level of spam detection.
If there is a downside to SpamPal beyond those already mentioned, it's that the software can often have a bumpy time interacting with Outlook and Outlook Express. For some users, the spam-trap folder disappears every time they boot up. There is an easy fix for this one, though — simply create the folder at the root of the tree or within a folder other than deleted items (as opposed to creating it as a sub-folder of the deleted items folder). An easy fix, but you'll need the FAQ to walk you through it.
Overall, is SpamPal worth small inconveniences like this? We think so, for a number of reasons.
First: SpamPal works, stifling well over 90 percent of all junk and rarely sending any real mail to the scrap heap, although users do report mixed results in terms of false positives being generated more often when the Bayesian plug-in has been installed.
Second, it's free — have we mentioned yet that it's completely free? With few genuinely free anti-spam alternatives available, SpamPal stands out primarily on this point alone.
Third, unlike many (most?) of the alternative freeware applications, this one does not serve up any adware, spyware, of nagware. It appears that in this case at least, the developers really are just trying to help.
Pros: Effective and easy to use, this free application will stomp on nearly all incoming spam
Cons: Requires more configuration to work with Outlook/Outlook Express than competing tools like Qurb, Norton AntiSpam, and Cloudmark SafetyNet; lacks the ability to add quick and simple approve/reject message buttons in Outlook/Outlook Express toolbars; there can be a few small hiccups in the Outlook interface; difficult to fine tune spam filtering control
