Spam blockers are the foundation upon which your computer system keeps spam out of your inbox. However, even people using wonderful spam blocker programs find that their spam blocker does not block all of the spam from getting through. That’s because spam blockers are always trying to achieve a careful balance between blocking spam, and not blocking wanted e-mail. Also, it’s because no spam blocker is “one size fits all.” Your spam blocking needs are not necessarily the same as my spam blocking needs, and neither of our spam blocking needs are the same as everyone else’s spam blocking needs.

When you couple that with all of the different types of spam (and spammers) there are, and that one person’s spam may be another person’s wanted advertisement, you can see how a spam blocker may need some help.

This article will offer some tips to help you to optimize your spam blocker program.

Some of the types of spam out there include:

Sales spam:
Because spammers can send out millions of e-mails for the same cost of sending a few, they do not care whether the recipients are interested or not. From the spammer’s point of view, it is a cost-efficient method of generating profit. The point of spam is to sell you something, and because it is low cost, the number of hits spammers receive from mass mailings results in profit. And of course, as the number of spam blockers in use increases, so does the amount of spam a spammer has to send in order to get the same financial return.

Con artist spam:
Some spammers are not out to sell you anything but are after your personal information, which they then use for their own financial gain. An example of this is the situation where someone in another country asks you to transfer money out of their country, routing it through your bank account. The spammer then has your banking information and access to your funds.

Malicious spam:
Another form of dangerous spam involves messages that are…

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