When choosing an Internet spam filter, consider usability and recoverability. Hardware filters are best for large organizations, while software filters are better for smaller ones. Outsourcing to a third-party provider may be necessary for medium to large businesses with high volumes of spam.
When trying to choose the best Internet spam filter, you may want to consider usability factors, such as easily configurable white and black lists. It is also generally important that messages marked as spam are easily recoverable in case the Internet spam filter makes a mistake. The two main types of Internet spam filters are either hardware or software based, each of which is better suited to different circumstances. Hardware spam filtering devices are generally recommended for very large organizations, while software filters are better suited to smaller operations. The other option is to outsource your spam filtering needs to a third-party service provider, which may be your best bet if your organization is too large and complex for a software solution but not large enough to guarantee a ‘dedicated hardware appliance.
If you are an individual email user, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), company or school will typically provide spam filtering services for you. You may need to contact your service provider or network administrator to learn how to use the provided Internet spam filter. In many cases you will be able to mark messages as spam to improve the system and you may also be allowed to create a blacklist of addresses or domains that cannot contact you or a whitelist that will always bypass the spam filter.
Spam filters are typically set up by email providers, so if your business or organization offers that service you might be interested in the best solution. A hardware Internet spam filter will usually be the best choice if you need to scan a large number of email addresses. Internet service providers and universities are two examples of organizations that often have a volume of email large enough to warrant this type of filtering.
If you work for a business or organization that offers email to employees, members, or other relatively small groups, a software Internet spam filter is usually sufficient. This type of software is usually installed on your server and can offer a number of useful administration tools. To choose the best Internet spam filter, you’ll typically want to look for a solution that allows you to easily monitor blacklists and whitelists and recover any emails that trigger a false positive. You may also want to look for a solution that can filter based on context and also remove any malicious code before your users are exposed to it.
Another option is to outsource spam filtering to a third party, which is sometimes the right choice for medium to large businesses that receive a large volume of spam. In some organizations, spam accounts for 98% of all mail received, which can create unnecessary server overload. Third party spam management companies can often provide many of the same configurable options as software or hardware solutions without requiring dedicated staff to handle such issues.
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