SpamKiller 5.0

by McAfee

Product Features

• Multi-layered filtering engine and state-of-the-art technology keeps your inbox clean and spam-free
• Automatically identifies and removes junk email
• Helps protect against fraud and scam email
• Helps prevent online identity theft
• Self-learning technology; plus Dictionary Attack filters out name-generating software

Product Details

Product Manual [1.18mb PDF]

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000CE238
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 2, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 1.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,874 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Unwanted email is at epidemic proportions. That's why McAfee SpamKiller uses a multi-layered filtering engine and state-of-the-art technology - e.g., One-Click Block, Dictionary Attack filtering, predictive analysis - to keep inboxes clean and free of spam, including offensive content and potentially dangerous identity theft scams.

Best of all, for maximum convenience, SpamKiller integrates directly with Outlook and Outlook Express while also working with other popular PC email programs. It's the best way to get only the email you want and nothing else!

Benefits:

• Automatically identifies and removes junk email
• Helps protect against fraudulent emails and scams
• Scam filters block virus hoaxes and email pitches that can lead to identity theft
• Blocks future spam based on "self-learning" technology
• "Dictionary Attack" filter defeats name-generating software
• Blocks foreign-language spam
• Blacklists known spammers
• Friends List recognizes email from legitimate addresses
• Updates spam filters automatically
• Filters spam quickly and silently in the background
• Creates custom spam filters
• Protects children from inappropriate email
• Filters email from multiple accounts
• Reports spam to McAfee
• Integrates directly with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express

Features:

• Blocks Unwanted and Inappropriate Emails
• McAfee Spamkiller's easy-to-use Personal Filter Editor lets you block messages based on content, subject lines and other characteristics.
• For fastest relief, One-Click Block automatically generates both a content-based and sender-based filter.
• Based on spam blocked, McAfee Spamkiller trains and personalizes its core filtering engine to block similar spam using predictive analysis (" self-learning") techniques.
• An automatic Friends List ensures email is always received from friends, family and co-workers.
• Filters Multiple Email Accounts
• McAfee Spamkiller sets up in minutes on multiple accounts. Running efficiently in the background, automatic filtering eliminates spam for multi-user PCs and families sharing accounts.
• Advanced filter technology quarantines questionable mail and places it in a blocked email folder for automatic deletion. The blocked email folder can be password protected for parents wishing to protect children from unsuitable content.
• With Microsoft Outlook Integration, you can block spam, add friends and view blocked messages directly from the toolbars within Outlook Express 6.0 and Outlook 98, 2000 or XP. McAfee Spamkiller also works with POP3, MAPI and MSN/Hotmail accounts.
• Updates Protection Against New Types of Spam
• Spammers are always exploring new ways of delivering unwanted email, and McAfee Spamkiller continually provides the most current anti-spam technology available to stop them. New filter updates are automatically downloaded and installed daily to counter the latest spam threats.
• To prevent random spam attacks through name-generating software —the most prevalent type of spam — McAfee Spamkiller uses proprietary technology that keeps spammers from finding and using your name (e.g., [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]). Powerful "Dictionary Attack" filtering detects minor variations in an email's TO: or CC: fields and blocks emails it detects using these techniques.
• Reports Spammers to Service Providers
• For future relief from spam, McAfee Spamkiller can send an error message back to the originator so it appears your email is invalid – which keeps your address off spammer lists.
• McAfee Spamkiller reports spam abuse to Web hosts and Internet Service Providers, while encouraging users to report undetected spam email directly to McAfee. If a new threat is identified, this notification can result in quick filter updates for all McAfee Spamkiller users.

Note: McAfee SpamKiller filters MSN/Hotmail, but currently does not filter AOL, Yahoo or other Web-based email accounts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I wish I could rate this negative five stars!, October 31, 2003

By 

Matt Fletcher "guumbah" (Costa Mesa, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SpamKiller 5.0 (CD-ROM)

This program is just about the most useless one I have ever owned. First of all, don't bother if you use MAPI, or have more than one POP3 account in Outlook, or if your SMTP server requires authentication, or you have any other installation that varies from using just one standard POP3 account in Outlook Express. On my POP3 accounts, this thing made it so that I could not send without being prompted for my password, because my server requires authentication. There's a place in the program to enter this information, but I can't see why, because you are never told to send through it, only receive. Plus, it tagged almost EVERYTHING as spam, so what's the point? When I tried in a corporate setting, with Exchange Server and Outlook, it did absolutely nothing. It saw my acccount, said it was functioning correctly, then proceeded to not block ANYTHING. It didn't even see any email, spam or otherwise. Attempts to manually stamp something as spam always failed. The final straw that makes this program the most useless is the lack of support. Unless you like paying more than twice the cost of the software itself for phone support. The online help is nothing more than a reprint of the in-program help, which is just an electronic version of the useless manual. None of them really explains anything. Now I remember why I always pay a few bucks extra for Norton products.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More hassle than it saves, November 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: SpamKiller 5.0 (CD-ROM)

First, it does not integrate with Outlook unless you have an active MAPI account, which is funny because it advertises integration with Outlook, but in the set up it mentions most people have POP3 accounts, which is true, so for most people it does not integrate with Outlook!

Second, it installs this useless "Security Center" (aka Ad Center) which you can't uninstall unless you uninstall Spamkiller! Security Center just tells you what you already know (what security programs you have installed) and pushes Mcafee products by saying "well, if you had mcafee antivirus....blah blah...." I have Norton Antivirus leave me alone!

Also, I hear support is a joke so I haven't even tried. I regret buying this and of course, will avoid Mcafee products from now on.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this product. This a 0 Star rating if it existed., November 24, 2003

By 

Steven Coil "One click pony" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SpamKiller 5.0 (CD-ROM)

This a very poorly designed software package. I have been using a free/shareware program <http://www.mailwasher.net> and thought while I was purchasing an upgrade to my virus protection I would get a SPAM filter as well and check it out.
I have used VirusScan for years and it has worked fine, though I think this new version is a step back.
By default SpamKiller puts all your e-mail into a SPAM folder with no simple way to sort out what is acceptable and unacceptable.
It just looks like a mess with your real e-mail in with the SPAM. I think whoever did the user acceptance of this should be moved to another department.
The program seems like it will do a lot, but it does not do the basics well. For example my freeware program is set to check e-mail every ten minutes and it always had e-mail in it that SpamKiller did not have set for the same time interval. It is just slow and clunky.
This a case where less is more.
With mailwasher you have to take the time to blacklist & white list addresses & domains, but it least it gives the that control in an easy interface.
I am not touting this little program I just happen to find a few years back, which is free/shareware, it would seem to me if Mcaffe is charging $40.00 for SpamKiller and other software is out there for free or very little that does the job with understanding there is no technical support (versus the illusion that Mcaffe has it).
Why buy this product?
Forget the rebate it is a joke. It is a sales pitch to get you to buy and then when you read the fine print you won't get any money.