Returned mail: User unknown
For the past couple of weeks I've been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of spam email. "What's so new about that?" I hear you ask. Well, in this particular case, I'm suffering from the results of bounced spam. Someone is sending out spam with the email's 'From' address being a randomly created name at one of my domains. It seems as if their spam mailing list isn't quite so up-to-date, as I'm receiving a nontrivial amount of bounced spam messages in my inbox.
Until now I've been pretty lax when it comes to installing some form of spam protection software. However, given this recent influx of junk, I think the time has come to be a little more pro-active. I currently use Outlook Express as my main email (and newsgroup) application, although I'm prepared to look elsewhere for something that can better handle these unwanted messages. I'm intrigued by Thunderbird, and I'd be very interested to hear from early adopters about its stability. I'm also open to exploring proxy-based alternatives, such as SpamBayes.
Any suggestions are most appreciated. In the interim, I'm doing my little bit by forwarding these bounced emails along to the appropriate abuse@insert-spammers-isp-name-here.com. Maybe they'll be investigated, or maybe they'll disappear into the bit-bucket along with all the other spam...
I am using Thunderbird since its early alpha stages. It is pretty stable for everyday use. The built in spam filter seem to effective but I get only 5-10 spams a day. I guess I am lucky. ;-)
Are you getting emails from Micro$oft telling you to upgrade too? If so it's more likely these are from people infected with the Sven virus. I've been getting 10-20 mails a day saying either they're from M$ or they are rejected mails that you sent to addresses you never heard of...
As a linux user it's quite funny to get messages supposedly from M$ saying you need to patch security holes from M$ users that haven't patched securtity holes ;-)
Kevin - I wish it was that easy :(
Unfortunately, whoever is spoofing my domains is sending out adverts for certain male body part 'enhancement supplements', amongst others.
The majority of the bounces are coming back from AOL email servers, so fortunately I've been able to set up a couple of rules to move those messages directly into the trash. I still need a long term solution though...
Thunderbird is very stable (point releases are anyway, haven't tried nightly builds). I've been using it multiple times a day, under heavy loads, and it's never complained or locked up. I couldn't say that about any other mail system I've used, bar pine.
Try Mailwasher pro at www.firetrust.com I have used it for a year or so and it's great. Run it before your email program and a list of all email on the ISP server is displayed. For those that are spam you can bounce it and delete it from the server. Bouncing it returns it to the sender with a username unknown message. After a couple of uses, your email gets deleted from their spam list. At least it has worked for me in the past.