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Spam Sleuth User's Guide
You may be tempted to turn on all of the black lists, but it really isn't necessary. Most of them
contain the same or at least similar information. Some of them are subsets of the others. It
would be better to increase the number of points assigned when the one blacklist reports that
the e-mail was sent by a known spam server. By default, Spam Sleuth ™ uses SpamCop,
which seems to be one of the more accurate lists
These lists are built in different ways. Some of them use spam traps where they put a brand
new e-mail address out on a web page and then "trap" everybody who sends to that e-mail.
Some are built by taking a weighted average based on how many people send them copies of
the same spam message from the same server.
Each list that you check will take 3 to 5 seconds to check if the e-mail is not from a spammer
(negative response). It takes about 1 second to check if the e-mail is from a known spammer
(positive response).
You can edit the number of points assigned when a blacklist reports that the IP is a known
spammer.
3.2.16 HTML Removal
Are HTML e-mail messages dangerous? I guess it depends on how you define dangerous. HTML email can run scripts, redirect to other web pages which may be pornographic, and even send
information back to the sender that says you looked at the e-mail. The HTML Removal Analyzer is
one of the more unique features of Spam Sleuth . It can selectively remove dangerous HTML from
your e-mails. By removing script, you don't have to worry about being redirected to another web page.
By default, Spam Sleuth will remove HTML script. You may lose some flying logos, but your computer
will be safer. Some folks would prefer to get just the text without the colors, fonts, backgrounds, etc. If
you just like the plain text without the frilly icing, then let the HTML Removal Analyzer take out the
extraneous text formatting. The HTML Removal Analyzer can also remove links. Links are usually
pretty safe because you have to click on them to go to a web page. For kids, however, you might
consider removing links.
There are two kinds of images that can appear in an e-mail. There are embedded (internal) images,
which use up your computer connection when the e-mail is sent, and the more dangerous kind –
external images. The external images are stored on a web server. When the e-mail is viewed, you
computer goes and gets the external images. Often times it also sends information to the spammer
that you looked at the e-mail. This increases the chances of you getting more spam from that
spammer in the future. If you choose to Remove images (External) in the HTML Removal Analyzer
you will not see the pretty pictures in your spam or in your valid newsletters.
If you don't want spammers to know that you've read your e-mail, you may need to take out Web Bugs,
External References and Read Receipt Requested header tags out of your e-mail. The HTML
Removal Analyzer handles all of these.
© 2004 Blue Squirrel