Looking for smtp-proxy against spam and e-mail virusses

  • Thread starter Thread starter Willy Pastoor
  • Start date Start date
W

Willy Pastoor

Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.

Any idea's?

Grtz,
Willy
 
Trying to get a word in edge-wise "Willy Pastoor" wrote in
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.
Click to expand...
Condoms
 
Trying to get a word in edge-wise "Willy Pastoor" wrote in
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.
Click to expand...

Seriously, your ISP does some of that. Never open an attachment. Never
use the preview pane in OE. If a e-mail is suspicious delete it. Don't
open junk mail. I'm sure someone here will know what you're looking
for.
 
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.

Any idea's?

Grtz,
Willy
Click to expand...

Try Spampal: http://www.spampal.org/
--
RJB
11/12/2003 2:39:48 PM

Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full
house and four people died
--Steven Wright
 
dszady said:
Trying to get a word in edge-wise "Willy Pastoor" wrote in


Seriously, your ISP does some of that. Never open an attachment. Never
use the preview pane in OE. If a e-mail is suspicious delete it. Don't
open junk mail. I'm sure someone here will know what you're looking
for.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. And of course i also use an anti-virus program.
But i just don't want to be bothered anymore with all this junk. I want to
be able to just read my mail and never even see any spam or virusses.

Just like the most of us i guess... ;-)
 
Willy said:
I know what you mean. And of course i also use an anti-virus program.
But i just don't want to be bothered anymore with all this junk. I want to
be able to just read my mail and never even see any spam or virusses.

Just like the most of us i guess... ;-)
Click to expand...

I like mailwasher - should come up on google. Don't bother
'bouncing' though.
Very easy and effective imho.

HTH

B
 
Willy Pastoor said:
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.

Any idea's?
Click to expand...

First of all SMTP is Send Mail Transfer Protocol. What you are actually
looking for is a POP3 or IMAP proxy. AFAIK there isn't one that will plug-in
to OE the way you want. Mailwasher will do what you want (not a proxy), but
you have to run it first and let it do it's thing. I use POPFile (a proxy),
but it will only classify email you receive, it will not delete anything at
the ISP mailserver. This is going to be the two types you'll mostly see.
Hope this helps
HK
 
H-Man said:
First of all SMTP is Send Mail Transfer Protocol. What you are
actually looking for is a POP3 or IMAP proxy. AFAIK there isn't one
that will plug-in to OE the way you want. Mailwasher will do what you
want (not a proxy), but you have to run it first and let it do it's
thing. I use POPFile (a proxy), but it will only classify email you
receive, it will not delete anything at the ISP mailserver. This is
going to be the two types you'll mostly see. Hope this helps
HK
Click to expand...

Sorry, you're right. I meant a POP3 proxy.

I have used mailwasher for a long time and use poptray instead for a
few weeks now. These are nice programs, but they only check the
mailserver at certain intervals.

I'm looking for something more transparent. Just as i wrote before. And
i'm certainly NOT looking for a proxy that only tags incoming e-mails
because then i still have the change of getting virusses in my mailbox.

I really want the proxy to delete unwanted mail directly from the mail-
server so i will never see it... Of course in that case i must be very
careful when defining filteringrules. But i'm willing to take that change.
 
On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 21:51:15 +0100, "Willy Pastoor" >I'm looking for something
more transparent. Just as i wrote before. And
i'm certainly NOT looking for a proxy that only tags incoming e-mails
because then i still have the change of getting virusses in my mailbox.
Click to expand...

Well, using SpamPal and the HtmlModify plugin, this is what I get:

Subject: [SPAM] ***VIRUS***Use this patch immediately !
X-Bayesian-Result: Spam (100)
X-Bayesian-Words: 500.000 50 already 30 dangerous 80 dear 50 explorer 90 friend
99 immediately 28 infected! 99 internet 50 more 99 now! 99 patch 93 than 99
there 24 virus 9
X-HTMLModify: VIRUS - attachment deleted
X-HTMLModify: Attachment renamed (bad extension)
X-SpamPal: SPAM BAYESIAN_PLUGIN BODY

So:

a) if the attachment matches a crc that htmlmodify knows is 100% a virus, the
attachment is removed, leaving you just the message, which using an outlook
message rule, you can safely store in a folder other than your inbox.

b) if the attachment isn't a known virus, but is a dangerous scr/bat/pif etc.
etc. attachment then htmlmodify will rename the attachment, so it won't run.
Again, you can setup a message rule to move into another 'safe' folder

So, to do this you need:

SpamPal: www.spampal.org
HtmlModify Beta-Version (1.11) : http://www.ib-hoebel.de/SpamPal/

Cheers,

Steve
 
Willy Pastoor said:
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.

Any idea's?

Grtz,
Willy
Click to expand...

You can do that right now with Outlook Express. It's a little tedious to set
up, but it works. I know because I've used it successfully myself.

In OE go to Tools -> Message Rules -> Mail and then click on the Mail tab
and then on New. Set up your filters there under 1. Select your Conditions,
and then
under 2. Select your Actions, check the last box on the list, Delete from
server.

So, e.g., let's say you want to eliminate all mail from (e-mail address removed).
Put that address in 1, tell 2 to delete it from the server. Every time mail
comes from (e-mail address removed), OE will delete the mail from the server. You
will not even see it or know that it was ever sent to you.


Give it a try. It works. But it is tedious. So I've used it only on a few
recalcitrant idiots who insisted on sending me email even after they were
told to stop.

For every day use, I use POPpeeper and K9 configured together. K9 filters
the spam, and POPpeeper sits in between OE and the ISP's server. This way I
can see all the spam in advance, delete it all from the server, and never
get a single piece of spam on my system

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Dumping OE is a good start - try Mozilla mail or any other non-MS email
client. Them use any of the POP2 proxies that catch SPAM (like K9 or
mailwasher). Then setup a filter in your mail client to just delete any
mail tagged as SPAM.

brian
 
Willy said:
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the unwanted mail
on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's the
best possible
protection.

Any idea's?

Grtz,
Willy
Click to expand...
You want a POP proxy, not SMTP.

SMTP iw what you use to send mail, POP is what you use to pull mail from
your mailbox.

That said, I use mailwasher rather than a POP-proxy, so I can't answer
you. Perhaps goggle for "POP Proxy" and you will fine one?

Cheers,
Gary B-)
 
Willy said:
Hi there,

I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a
SMTP-proxy that acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.

When i start my e-mail client the proxy should delete all the
unwanted mail on the
mailserver according to filters i make before downloading the regular
e-mails.

This way dangerous e-mails will never reach my PC. So i guess that's
the best possible
protection.

Any idea's?

Grtz,
Willy
Click to expand...


Thank you all for your suggestions!
I will try out some of them and let you know when i find the
perfect soultion ;-)
 
On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 21:51:15 +0100, "Willy Pastoor"

I'm looking for something more transparent. Just as i wrote before. And
i'm certainly NOT looking for a proxy that only tags incoming e-mails
because then i still have the change of getting virusses in my mailbox.
Click to expand...

If your proxy tags "dangerous" mail with a label then your emailer can
instantly delete the mail by acting on that tag.
I really want the proxy to delete unwanted mail directly from the mail-
server so i will never see it... Of course in that case i must be very
careful when defining filteringrules. But i'm willing to take that change.
Click to expand...

If you instantly delete mail then you will not be seeing it. Doesn't
matter if it sits on your computer for 1-2 seconds.

Regards, John.

--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.aspects.org.au/index.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
 
First of all SMTP is Send Mail Transfer Protocol. What you are
actually looking for is a POP3 or IMAP proxy.
Click to expand...

Right, but there are SMTP spam filters. You will need to run your own
mail server though.



Aaron (my email is not munged!)
 
BrianE said:
I like mailwasher - should come up on google. Don't bother
'bouncing' though.
Very easy and effective imho.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the latest free version is crippleware.


Aaron (my email is not munged!)
 
I searched this newsgroup but didn't find what i was looking for.
Can anyone tell me what's the best protection against spam and e-mail
virusses?

I use Outlook Express as an e-mail client. What i want is a SMTP-proxy that
acts
as a filter between my client and my providers mailserver.
Click to expand...

To accomplish your idea, you need a combination of both tools: A
POP3 or IMAP proxy with spam filtering, of which there have been
already a lot of suggestions. The other tool is an antivirus that
filters incoming mail automatically, such as Avast! Home Edition
(registerware, http://www.avast.com/). You can set up both in a
tier setting, mail filter pulls mail through the antivirus proxy
and then the mail client pulls its mail from the mail filter proxy.

A caveat: you need an understanding of the meaning of localhost and
service ports. As well, you need to protect yourself behind an
application firewall, such as sygate free.

Another posssibility you could explore is using Hamster to pull all
your mail to a local mailserver.
 
Aaron said:
Yes, but the latest free version is crippleware.
Click to expand...
Only if you consider being restricted to a single account to be crippling.

Sometimes I wonder how many accounts people need, and why.

I've been using (personal, as opposed to work-supplied) internet email
for over a decade now, and I just stick to the one address. Well, it's
the ACM re-director, and they do SPAM filtering, and the ISP it
currently points to does SPAM and virus filtering, so I have never
needed another address. Of course, more than one address feeds into the
ISP mailbox, but that's not a problem.

Cheers,
Gary B-)
 
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