Wipe out newsletter spam from hundreds
of senders at once with Cleanfox
Banish spam by using MailWasher to give
the thumbs-down to a subj ect line
Block spam foreverDiscuss spam-blocking toolsatwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 16 - 29 October 2019 49shut down your PC. Then simply select
one or more sendersto unsubscribe
and/or delete all their messagesfrom
your archive.
Blockspam before it even
downloads
Even the most carefully config ured
filters don’t stopjunk downloading to
your devices – they just divert it from
your main in box. To block spam before
it can touch your computer, use
MailWasher Free (mailwasher.net).
Like Cleanfox, MailWasher links
securely to your email account (steps
vary between providers; seebit.ly/
washsetup486for instructions). It then
acts as a sentry, checking incoming
email every 10 minutes and downloads
the subject lines only. You click the
thumbs up/down symbols to sort spam
from non-spam, then download the
goodstuff. The new version lets you
sort mail by domain and create filters
for hidingand deleting messages.
MailWasher also has a free app, but
it only works properly if you use
MailWasher Pro on your PC (£29.95 per
year) – worth a punt if you’re plag ued
with malici ous or worrying spam on
multiple devices, but the free version is
powerful enough for most us ers.
Spamihilator (www.spamihilator.com)
works in a similar way, but hasn’t been
updated in recent months. It’s very easy
to use and suppor ts excellent plugins –
mostly advanced fi lters that block
specific messagessuch as those that
mention premium-rate numbersor
contain ‘useless chains of charac ters’.Use adisposable email
address for logins
Every ti me you enter your email address
when a website demands it, you’re
opening the door to spam from every
company it shares its database with. So,
to limit future damage, use a temporary
‘burner’ email address.
Most email providers let you add
aliase s for free.In Gmail, click your
picture, then ‘Add account’, ‘Create
account’. You can have as many Gmailaddresses asyou want, then ignore their
inboxes forever. Outlook.com also lets
you create aliase s but their messages
are funnelled into your main in box
(bit.ly/alias486).
A more spam-resistant option is a
disp osable address that automatically
destroys any messagessent to it.
Open-source site Guerrilla Mail
(guer rillamail.com) generates a random
address that you can use for an hour.
Temp-Mail (temp-mail.org) lets you
choose when to delete your disp osable
address, and has apps for Android, iOS,
Chrome and Firefox, as well as a free
web tool.If it’s 14January, it mustbe
‘WINANIPHONEX!!!!’ day- hang on, howdid thatget
there?Yes, spammersare now
forcing their junkintoGoogle
Calendarbyexploitinga default
setting thatlets anyone add
“invitations”(containing
whatever obnoxious textthey
choose) toyourcalendar
automatically, simply bymentioning
themina Gmail message.
Luckily, calendarspamis easyto
block.Open SettingsinGoogle
Calendar and scroll to‘Event
BLOCK GOOGLECALENDAR SPAMsettings’, click‘Automatically add
invitation’ thenchoose‘No,only
display invitations towhichI have
replied’. The change takeseffect
automatically.Blockphone spamusing
built-in settings
Android and iOS are taking action
against the menace of phone spam,
including automated so-calle d
‘robocalls’. The new iOS 13 (see page
38) adds a Sile nce Unknown Callers
option under Phone in the Settings app,
muting calls from numbers not in your
contacts. On iOS 12 and earlier, set Do
Not Distur b to only acceptcalls from
people in your Favorites list. You can
also block indi vidual callers from the
Recents list, by selecting the number,
then ‘i ’, and then Block Contact.
On Android, go to Settings in the
default Phone app and tap to enable
‘Caller ID and spam protection’. Some
devices add the option to send all
unknown calls to voicemail. Sa msung
devices display extra information when
unknown callers try to invade your
space. To block all unknown numbers
completely, go to Phone Settings then
tap ‘Block unknown callers’ un der
‘Block numbers’.BLOCK SPAM CALLS AND TEXTS FOREVERProvide a disposable email when
companies demand your addressKeep
unwanted
callers out
of earshot
with iOS’s
new Silence
Unknown
Callers
option