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Spam Filter Reviews, Anti Spam Tips, Advice and Spam Filter Ratings
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DescriptionQurb is a simple, elegant yet effective solution for Outlook and Outlook Express that for some will guarantee 100% protection from spam - for ever. It's premise is so simple that this review will probably be one of the shortest we have done so far! Qurb is a whitelist filter, which means that the basic operation is that no messages will get through unless you have pre-approved the sender. Now before, you click away, assuming this is not for you, read on. You may be surprised at how easily this model is put into operation and that it may just work for you after all.
VerdictQurb is a very simple offering for the war against spam, but what it does, it does elegantly and with the absolute minimum of fuss. It will not be for everybody - especially the business user, but for those that can work with this system, you lucky people have just found the solution to your spam problem for ever! It gets top marks from us as it does exactly what it is designed to do in the most efficient manner possible.
InstallationInstallation went without a hitch. Upon installation, Qurb will automatically start scanning your contacts, sent messages and saved messages folders looking for addresses to add to your "Approved Senders" list.
InterfaceAs with most filters that integrate with Outlook/Outlook Express, the toolbar is minimal. Just three buttons are added to Outlook:
All other dialogs (there really aren't that many of them) are neat and well designed.
Features and OperationThe basic operation is as follows: Any new messages that arrive are checked against Qurb's list of "approved senders". If the sender is not in this list, then the "new mail" notification from Outlook/Outlook Express is suppressed and the message is "quarantined" in the Qurb folder. When you are ready (we love that phrase when dealing with spam! - when you are ready), you can simply click on the "Qurb" folder and you will be presented with the following dialog, which will show you brief details about the messages that have been put into quarantine since you last checked the Qurb folder:
Moving the mouse over the checkbox (and this is the only thing we found a need to resort to the help files for), will show some text of the contents of the message. Note here, that every time you click on the Qurb folder, you are only shown a listing of the messages that have been quarantined since you last checked the Qurb folder. This is a nice feature as you don't have to wade through hundreds of messages and it is a simple job to scan through to make sure you aren't missing an important message. Overall, what is really nice about this is that you decide when you wish to deal with messages from people you have not had contact with before. Optionally, Qurb can be put into challenge/response mode, whereby any message that is received from a sender that is not on the approved list will receive a return message asking them to simply reply to confirm that this was not an automated mail. If the sender replies in this way, then the message is accepted into the inbox and the user is added to the approved list. Qurb continually updates your approved list by adding anybody to whom you send a message to the approved list. You can manually add addresses to the approved list (including complete domains), and cause Qurb to scan selected Outlook/Outlook Express folders for addresses to add to the approved senders list:
AccuracyAccuracy with a product like Qurb is very easy to quantify - 100%!
ConclusionThis product, of course, is definitely not for everyone. In particular, it would be quite a surprise to see many business using it. However, for the home user - particularly those whose e-mail activities are quite low, this product really could be the answer to your prayers. It is elegant, simple and guaranteed to do what it says 100% - what more could you ask? We give it a big thumbs up!
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