If you keep having to deal with spam, what you want to do is, of course, get yourself a spam blocker.
Now, you’ve got dozens and dozens of options for a good spam blocker, but it’s always hard to pick when you have so many options.
What we can say is that you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to get the best spam protection. In fact, some of the best spam blockers are priced well under twenty bucks.
And, of course, there are free spam blockers available. The question we hear a lot, though, is whether or not those freebies are actually any good. When it comes to free downloads, there’s a tendency for the program to bring you face to face with one of the simple facts of the economy: You get what you pay for.
So does that rule apply to free spam blockers?
Well, yes and no. Here’s our advice…
Be ready to pay for a spam blocker that works, but while you’re shopping around, get yourself some free spam blockers.
Now what you want to do is keep trying a few different ones (we like POPfile best, to be honest). If one doesn’t work, try another one.
Now once you have your spam filter of choice downloaded and installed, check your email every day for about a week before you spend any money on a paid program. If you don’t get any spam, well then, it looks like the free spam filter is doing just fine, and when it comes down to it, that’s all that counts. If it kills spam, it’s a great program.
And if it doesn’t, it’s probably just about time to upgrade.
It’s a little tricky for us to give you a flat out answer and say “yes, free spam filters are great” or “no, they’re not”. See, every email account really is different when it comes to how much spam it gets. For the average user, a free spam filter probably will do the job, but if you’ve had your email address sold to dozens of different spammers, it’s probably going to be a little trickier, and unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing whether or not spammers have your email until you get some spam.
You do need some kind of protection, though, so at the very least, a free spam blocker makes a great substitute until you’ve selected a paid program.
