Everyone has a favorite spam mail. As much as we hate spam, we actually love when we get a really silly one that we just have to put up on our blog or show to a friend. As annoying as spam is, it can really brighten your day when a foreign dignitary is trying to help you get your mojo back with a free prescription for erectile dysfunction pills. Even so, we can probably all agree that we’d rather just not get any spam mail at all.
The funny thing is, no matter how good your email client’s built-in spam filter happens to be, most of them do let a bad message through now and then (which is exactly why we all know everything about erectile dysfunction).
So, it’s a good thing that we have so many free spam blockers out there. Of course, the downside to having plenty of something is that you also have too much. There are so many dang free spam filters out there, it’s hard to know which one to download.
You could go ahead and say “to heck with it” and download every single one of them (they’re free, after all!) until you find one that really gets the job done, but that’s a little more hassle than it’s worth.
So here’s what you should keep in mind for narrowing your search down. Consider these the “must haves” for any free spam filter.
Ease of Use
Some spam filters are built with tech school graduates in mind, so look for some software that’s popular because it’s easy to use, and not in spite of the fact that it isn’t.
Effectiveness
Well, this one is a no brainer. Obviously, if it doesn’t even work, it stinks, no matter how free it is.
And Updates
Spam filtering works largely by simply keeping track of known spam sources, so an up to date database is the heart of any good anti-spam software.
One of the best free spam filters out there has to be POPfile. It’s flexible, without being complicated, it’s effective, without deleting half of the emails you need, and it’s kept well up to date.
The only drawback is that, if you have a large volume of email, it can tend to get a bit heavy on memory and CPU, so make sure to couple it with strong anti-spam tactics on your own part, like not giving your email address out to just anyone.
