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by Editors of Choice magazine
Choice, an Australian magazine similar to Consumer Reports, reports on seven standalone spam filters, plus the spam-blocking abilities of four email clients. Four additional standalone spam filters are… dropped from the test because the editors could not get them to work satisfactorily. Among the standalone products, POPFile and BullGuard Spamfilter are recommended for their balance of performance, ease of set-up and ease of use. Testing is comprehensive and well explained, but discussion of the individual programs is disappointingly thin.
by Neil J. Rubenking
by Editors of ConsumerReports.org
Consumer Reports' most recent security suite coverage focuses on all-in-one security suites, but also assembles a recommended trio of free programs -- including a standalone spam filter -- that rates well.… Notably, Consumer Reports says that the 2009 version of its recommended spam filter performed better than its 2008 version and that their assembled suite of free security programs performs on a par with the best pay security suites.
by Editors of Which? magazine
by "msirianno"
According to this article, average users need software that's easy to set up and use, but most free spam filters are relatively complex. That said, three programs are singled out by this anonymous reviewer.… MailWasher is called the best for most users. XTerminator is said to be similar, but the reviewer doesn't like the interface as much. For those who use Outlook Express, Spamfighter is called a "commanding" choice that works like a charm.
by Editors of Gizmo's Freeware
This article identifies POPFile and Spamato as the best free spam filters, but only for experienced users willing to take the time and effort to set them up properly. Both are "learning" spam filters that… use a Bayesian technique. They must be taught to recognize the difference between your normal email and spam, and it can take quite some time for either to reach maximum effectiveness. Three other free Bayesian spam filters worth considering are also named.
by Editors of WebUser
by Neil J. Rubenking
This comprehensive roundup reports on 16 Internet security suites. All aspects -- including spam-filtering abilities -- are reported on. The top-rated security suite overall -- Norton Internet Security 2009… -- has poor spam-filtering performance. McAfee Total Protection 2009 does best in guarding against spam, but lags behind in most other respects. ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2009 falls slightly short of Norton in terms of overall protection, and slightly short of McAfee when it comes to spam prevention, but it strikes a good balance if you want spam protection only as part of an integrated suite.
by Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com's guide to email, rates 14 free anti-spam programs. A summary includes links to the individual articles. Tschabitscher provides no statistics to show what percentage of spam… is filtered and how many false positives are snagged by any program, so we aren't sure relative effectiveness is a factor in his ratings. Nonetheless, all other factors are comprehensively addressed, including drain on system resources. Reviews are balanced fairly. Several pay anti-spam software titles are reviewed separately. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)
by Editors of PC Advisor
by Editors of TopTenReviews.com
by Editors of and Contributors to Download.com
by Jon Brodkin
This is one of several articles about a study of spam filtering conducted by Brockmann and Company, a specialty market research company. The study is more about types of filtering technology than individual… solutions. Challenge/response filters are most effective. Brockmann's survey shows that anti-spam products from the major vendors (McAfee, Symantec and TrendMicro) satisfy just 22 percent of customers, about the same as Microsoft and Apple's integrated tools. The study identifies two best performing products and a couple of the worst. If this article were more recent, we would rate it much higher.
by Editors of TechRadar.com
by Steve Ragan
by Stephen Manes
by Thomas C. Greene
This comprehensive review of Vista's alleged security enhancements includes a section titled "Spambuster?" Thomas Greene says Windows Mail is as bad as Outlook Express. He describes the user interface to… the filtering process in some detail, but with poor clarity. In Greene's opinion, Windows Mail has "half-decent junk mail controls." He criticizes the tools as awkward. The major shortcoming of this review is the lack of performance testing.
by Editors of PCPerformanceTools.com
The anonymous purveyors of this site claim to be "software experts who have downloaded and tested thousands of PC utilities since 1991." They review eight anti-spam products. Each review bears an… ever-changing date, but most appear to be from 2005 and 2006; program versions aren't revealed in most reviews. Half the reviewed programs earn the top rating. If this site had better disclosure, we might be more confident in its reviews.
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