The Bottom Line
Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop combines content filters and a registry of known spam. Unfortunately, the results are not as precise as they could be, and misclassifications can't be corrected on the registry.
Pros
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop is simple and easy to use
- Makes use of the Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop network as well as Bayesian analysis
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop includes automatic filter updates
Cons
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop filters are not always precise enough
- No way to correct false classifications
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop works with POP accounts only
Description
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop filters POP email accounts for spam.
- Working as a POP proxy, Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop sits between your email client and the mail server.
- Each incoming message is filtered using a set of scoring rules, which can be updated automatically.
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop can also look up whether mail is known spam in the Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop Network.
- Based on the score resulting from these actions, mail can be marked in the Subject or by a header.
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop includes white and black lists of friends and blocked senders.
- Additionally, a Bayesian filter is used to classify junk mail based on past decisions.
- A step by step wizard helps you configure Outlook Express accounts for Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop.
- Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop supports Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista.
Guide Review - Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop 4.0 - Spam Filter
Good old scoring spam filters are nice, but a network that can check each message against known spam in real time is great, too.
Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop tries a hybrid approach, combining the two. The results are mixed. On the one hand, Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop does identify a good deal of spam and marks it flexibly in the Subject or in a custom header; working as a POP proxy, Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop can be used with most email clients.
On the other hand, the filters are not transparent or customizable, and even in combination with Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop return a number of false negatives as well as false positives.
Unfortunately, you can't submit classification corrections to the network with Mailshell Anti-Spam Desktop. You can, however, use the internal Bayesian filter to improve your results.
