Mercury/32 provides several methods you can use to control spam. Here are some of my favorites:

  1. POPFile - When run as a POP3 or SMTP proxy, POPFile accepts email BEFORE Mercury gets it. A Bayesian classifier that attempts to classify mail into one of several "buckets" based on the content of the message. Whenever it makes a mistake, you correct it using a web interface. This simple process teaches POPFile how to classify messages. It is incredibly accurate, easily attaining over 99.9% accuracy. For an explanation of Bayesian filtering, and some idea of how accurate it can be, read this page: http://www.paulgraham.com/antispam.html. A technical discussion of how bayesian filtering works: WikiPedia:Bayesian_filtering. If you want to use DNSBLs and POPFile, then you should use the POPFileD daemon for Mercury/32.
  2. POPFileD - POPFileD is a daemon for Mercury/32 that integrates POPFile message classification into the Mercury/32 Core process, therefor permitting Mercury to do front-end DNSBL lookups and Transaction Filtering.
  3. SpamWall - SpamWall is a daemon for Mercury/32 that tags messages as SPAM using a Bayesian filter. This program has received many good reviews from its users.
  4. DNSBLs - DNS blacklisting is a system for checking the IP address of incoming connections against various lists maintained by organizations such as Spamhaus, NJABL, and ORDB. IP addresses make it onto the list because they are open relays, open proxies, known spam sources, or whatever other criteria the list owner decides to use. When choosing DNSBLs to use, make sure you know what criteria the list uses for listing IP addresses. Some lists are very aggressive, listing wide ranges of IP addresses for little or no reason.
  5. DNSWhiteLists - The only way to override a DNSBL in MercuryS is with a prior DNS based whitelist. If you correspond with someone whose mail server is listed on a DNSBL that you use, you can list their server on your own DNS whitelist. Put the whitelist definition as the first DNS list to be checked. When the whitelist triggers, MercuryS will stop processing further DNS lists for that connection. You can also use a DNS whitelist to reduce the number of queries on the blacklists. I whitelist several mailing list servers, and the servers of a few frequent correspondents.
  6. HOSTSFileWhiteListing - If you don't want to run your own DNS Server, you can use the Windows HOSTS file to hold DNS Whitelist entries. This method is quick and easy.
  7. TransactionFiltering - Mercury/32 can perform filtering on several parts of the SMTP transaction.
4 pages link to ControllingSpam:
 . Page Name .   . Last Modified . 
 MailWiki   February 24, 2005 10:11 am 
 Mercury32   June 28, 2006 8:39 am 
 MercuryDaemons   April 11, 2006 9:10 am 
 MessageProcessingFlowChart   May 12, 2006 10:11 am