Get Rid of Your Spam - Podcast 66
I might like to eat the stuff, but I do not like getting it in my E-mail inbox. Getting spam is nothing new to anybody who has spent five minutes on the World Wide Web. So what can Web hosts and Web hosting clients do to get less of it? I have a few things to say and a few tips to share, right here on the 66th edition of the Web Hosting Show.
Download the Web Hosting Show, Podcast 66!
Running Time: 12 minutes | File Size: 5.93 MB
Welcome one and all to the studio of the number one Web hosting podcast out there today, the Web Hosting Show. For those of you who might not know who I am, I am the Web hosting industry’s media rock star, Mitch Keeler. This show’s major supporter is Web Hosting Chat, make sure after you listen to this, go check them out at WebHostingChat.com.
I have a new poll question for everybody to go check out and vote on. Don’t worry, there is no registration needed, all you need to do is make your choice, and hit vote. So what are we voting on now? I would like to hear what you have to say about the higher audio quality we have been producing here the past few weeks. Would you rather have higher quality sound and higher file sizes or lower quality sound and lower file sizes. The choice is up to you, so please vote!
A little later on today’s show, we are going to be talking about how to deal with spam the Web hosting way. Do you have any special methods that you think might help the rest of the Web Hosting Show audience? Do you want to vent on how much you just hate getting those “male enhancement” E-mails? If so, send me a few audio comments via Odeo and I’ll do my best to get them into next week’s show. Once again, no registration needed… just click the link, record your voice and send it my way.
This show is a digital run through of the best the Web hosting industry has to offer. If you want to let me know what you think, it is easy to do. Just send me an E-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com.
Hosting Headline
This week’s Web Hosting Headline is brought to you by the Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide. Go check them out at WebHostMagazine.com.
Hackers use Google Pages to host Trojan horse
Web site hosting service is apparently being used by hackers to try to steal money using a malicious program, a security company said. Security vendor Websense Inc. warned on Friday that a Trojan horse is being hosted on a site with the same IP address as the main Google Pages Web site. Trojan horses present themselves as legitimate programs but actually conceal malicious code inside. They can be engineered to steal information from computers and are frequently spread by unsolicited e-mails or via instant messaging (IM) links.
Mitch’s Thoughts: Now the real story here is not the Trojan horse. Sure, Trojan horses are bad, but they are an old problem that we will probably always have. I think the real story here is that everybody is so quick to jump on this because it is Google. Would anybody care if there was a Trojan horse on Geocities or Angelfire? I don’t think so. Any time we can, we like to kick dirt in Google’s eye to remind them they are not so great after all.
+ Technorati Search for the Google Pages Trojan Horse
Hot Topic in Hosting
The Hot Topic in Hosting is sponsored by Data Center Talk. Go check them out on the Web at DataCenterTalk.com.
What Can Web Hosts Do to Block Spam?
No mater who you are or what you do, one thing is for sure. If you have an E-mail account, then you hate spam. We all get it, it is just a mater of what we do with it. Personally, I do not get as much of it as I used to, but I still get some. So what can Web hosts do to help us cut down on our daily spam intake?
One helpful choice would be making use of some local blacklist filters. Just like a white list is there to make sure E-mail does get through, a blacklist make sure E-mail doesn’t get through. Think of it as a VIP list for your incoming E-mails. If your E-mail came from “billy@winfreecrapandstuff.com” then you are not getting in. The only problem with blacklist these days is spam almost never comes from the same place (or domain) twice.
So what is next? Well, filtering by keywords is a little better than filtering by a blacklist. This way you can shut out any E-mail that contains words you know you don’t want to receive. This works best when it is combined into several words that come often in E-mails. Let us say for an example, if the incoming E-mail had “win” “money” “sick Ethiopian millionaire” then you would know that could go right into the trash. Now if you want to get E-mail from a sick Ethiopian millionaire, and this type of filtering is going on, you might be out of luck.
So is there really a way that Web hosts can help us battle the spam problems? It seems like every method has a hole in it. There really is no one fool proof way to cure your spam problems. I would say your best chance is not to do the filtering on the Web hosts’ side. You need to handle more of the filtering yourself.
SpamAssassin - Your Best Tool in Spam Fighting
Now I said it a few shows back, and I still mean it. I think SpamAssassin is the best tool you can have in fighting spam. I have been a fan of it for as long as I’ve been in Web hosting, and it has never let me down. For most of you, you might even already have it installed on your Web hosting account. If you do not (or you do not know) you should ask your Web host about it.
Now the good thing about SpamAssassin is I can set the “level” of spam I want marked. For an example, let us say I get a spam E-mail sent to me. SpamAssassin does its magic to see if it is spam or not, then it sends it my way. Since it was spam, I can have the title marked. Personally I like SpamAssassin to put the word “CRAP!” in the subject line so I can set up a rule in my E-mail client to filter all E-mail with the word “CRAP!” in the subject line to the trash. That helps me get rid of about 99% of the spam I get.
If you need anymore help, be sure to check out these links:
Related Links:
+ Official SpamAssassin Web Site
+ SpamAssassin Configuration Generator
Web Hosting Site of the Week
The Web Hosting Site of the Week is brought to you by Ping! Zine. Go check them out and subscribe to the free magazine at PingZine.com.
This week’s pick for Web hosting site of the week is cPanelDemos.com.
This week’s pick offers an answer to a problem every Web host faces. If they use cPanel or WHM to control the servers they run, they want to put out a demo so future customers can check it out, play with it and get familiar with it. If you try to set up this demo yourself, you have to watch it 24/7 to make sure no jerks are messing around with it.
With cPanelDemos.com, for a price, they take that worry off your hands and manage the demo for you. If you are a Web host with a little cash to burn, I say give them a shot. The cheapest plan is around $30 for two years of demo hosting. That is not a bad deal at all.
So go check out cPanelDemos.com, and when you do make sure you let them know that the Web Hosting Show sent you there.
Final Web Hosting Thoughts
Well that is it for this week’s edition of the Web Hosting Show. If you want to interact with this podcast, it is easy to do.
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I am Mitch Keeler, and you have been listening to the Web Hosting Show, the number one Web hosting podcast across the nation and the one and only voice of the Web hosting world.
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