With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week its taking tougher for consumers to contruct informed choices in their purchases.

There are 3 basic types of spam filters:

1. Integrated
2. Standalone
3. Online

Well look at each type of spam filter and at the end you should be able to decide what spam filter is right for you.

Integrated spam filters
This type of spam filtering software is the most common. Once installed it sits "on top" of your existing e mail software and installs a new set of buttons into your email software. In future when you collect e mail you will see options for marking e-mail as Spam,
marking the email as Not Spam, Bounce the e mail back to sender, etc. The description and position of these buttons varies from one item to the next but their purpose remains the identical .

Most integrated spam filters automatically place suspected junk electronic mail into a separate folder on your PC for you to review or delete later on.

The newer integrated spam filters are also "intelligent". They might basically learn the difference between what is spam and what is not and delete the junk e-mail you do not want.

The most popular integrated spam filters are:

iHate Spam
Spambully
Spam Inspector

Integrated spam filters are most popular amongst many people who want a one click solution to collecting their personal e mail and filtering junk email at the identical time.

Advantages:
One click solution.

Disadvantages:
Software defined. Some work with Outlook and Outlook Express only.

Standalone spam filters
These are less common than their integarted counterparts but that doesnt generate them any less useful. A standalone spam filter is basically a separate piece of software installed on
your PC that you utilize to check your e mail for spam.

Standalone filters have the big advantage of being able to preview your email on the mail server before its downloaded to your PC. This one single feature has the huge benefit of allowing you to just download the electronic mail that you want as opposed to downloading all of your electronic mail , including the spam, and then sorting through it.

Using a standalone spam filter is a little more work simply because its a separate piece of software that you have to run before you open up your electronic mail software. Most standalone filters
do allow you to configure them so that your standard electronic mail application is opened once youve chosen what spam to filter. This suits some people and not others.

The most popular standalone spam filter is:

Mailwasher Pro

Advantages:
Doesnt rely on distinctive e-mail applications to work properly.

Disadvantages:
Two step process. Load standalone filter and then your e mail application.

Online spam filters
There are really two types of online spam filters. One is for business make use of and one is for home utilize. A typical example of a business type item is iHate Spam server edition where the
software deletes junk e-mail directly from the mail server before the end user even sees it. Large businesses employ this type of technology.

Home users will be using Spam Arrest or similar. Spam Arrest offers an inventive solution to spam whereby any email sent to the users account has a challenge request sent back to it which
the sender must authenticate. The automatic junk electronic mail software used by spammers cant currently deal with this type of response. Any failure to authenticate the challenge email results in the junk e-mail being left to die in cyberspace. A user is authenticated with Spam Arrest only once for security just to build sure the software doesnt become a nuisance.

The most popular online spam filter is:

Spam Arrest

Advantages:
Users are guaranteed to only receive the electronic mail that they want or requested.

Disadvantages:
Any techncial problems with the Spam Arrest server and you have no defense against spam.

Now youve seen what spam filtering options are available to you just ask yourself which one suits you most. If youre still not sure drop by http://www.spam-page .com and check out our merchandise reviews - we have something for every one .