Spam Reviews: SpamNet 4.1

Product: Spamnet 4.1
Vendor: Cloudmark
Price: $39.95 (1-year subscription)
Editor Rating: 3 stars

Pros

+ Very good protection against spam.

Cons

- Light on extra features, such as reporting spam abuse
- Leaving messages on server causes them to be re-downloaded on every refresh

Review

We test each spam filter by first sending 100 spam emails to a test account with the spam filter installed. If necessary, we then train the product, typically by pressing a button marking the email as spam. After the training process is complete, we then send a different set of spam emails to the same account to determine the overall effectiveness of the product.

If applicable, we tested each spam filter on Outlook Express, Eudora, and Yahoo.

Installation

SpamNet installed perfectly the first time. It installed seamlessly into both Outlook and Outlook Express.

Usability

Like other good spam filtering applications, SpamNet was very easy to use. It installed a toolbar directly into Outlook Express with just two buttons, “Block” and “Unblock” (it also had an options button):

We did have a very big technical problem with SpamNet. We use our email accounts from both work and home, and in order to ensure that we have access to them at both locations, we’ve configured our email clients to leave the messages for five days on the server instead of removing them. SpamNet would download the same messages each time from the server. This product would be much better if it remembered which email it had already checked.

Training

After installing SpamNet for the first time, we downloaded 96 spam emails and 4 legitimate emails from our test account. It correctly quarantined 50 of the spam emails (52%) and allowed the legitimate emails through.

We then selected the 46 spam messages and clicked on the “block” button. This sends information about the spam emails back to Cloudmark. Each time you block an email, it counts as a vote. When a spam email gets enough negative votes from users, SpamNet will then filter it from everyone’s email inbox. At least, this is how it works in theory. The real test came next.

We then imported an additional 291 spam email and 15 legitimate emails. Spamnet quarantined 238 of them (82%) and allowed all of the legitimate emails to pass through … much better than the initial test. It allowed some spam through, such as a faked Yahoo forum newsletter, several Viagara ads, mortgage solicitations, as well as an ad for an adult website.

Other Features

SpamNet does little more than filter spam. It doesn’t give you the ability to report spammers, and while there is a “whitelist” feature that lets you tell SpamNet which addresses to always allow, it is very basic. For instance, you can’t allow or disallow certain domain names or servers.

Summary

SpamNet provided very good protection, although not perfect. It lacks any additional features beyond spam filtering and it is higher priced than our top picks.

Price: $39.95
Free Trial: YES

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