How to really get rid of spam
on
Meet the Spammers
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· Score: 2, Interesting
A month ago I got around 100 spams per day, every day. Now I get nothing. Haven't gotten one since I changed my filters around. I dumped the idea of using a blacklist filter and took the approach that firewalls take: assume that everything is evil and only let the good stuff in.
So now I have a whitelist with addresses of my friends, co-workers and the mailing lists that I have subscribed to. Those emails will get to my Inbox directly - the rest will get filed to a spam folder and an autoreply is sent to the sender telling them how to get through the filter. This requires the sender to read the autoreply and do what it says.
It works.
Time for some blatant self-promotion: my.procmailrc can be found from here.
I used to work for a huge multinational company and we had literally thousands of nodes that needed names. I didn't come up with this naming, but it worked well.
Say you host servers for the FooBar corporation; you would then name the servers as "fbn01e1", "fbn10e3" etc.
Many may not realize, but it's not about naming computers, it's about naming the interfaces that matters. You don't touch the computer, you log in through the interface. You don't connect the computer to a router, you plug in the cat5 to the interface.
The node numbers above btw are not sequential, they're rack/slot numbers. So the first slot on the first rack would be n01; if that computer was a 4U rackmount, the next one would be called n05. Given 40U racks, the first server on the second rack would be called fbn41e1.
What's really good about this naming convetion is that it's really easy to locate individual servers; let's say mathilda.foobar.com won't ping anymore - how the hell do you know where it is if there are 200 foobar.com -computers! And they all have at least two network interfaces... If it was fbn45e2 that's dead you'd know instantly that it's the FooBar corparation's server on the fourth slot of rack #2 AND the second ethernet interface that's won't answer anymore.
The problem with Linux suites is that there's no lack of them [...] users just install whatever suite they think is neat, which is an obstacle to interoperability.
The obstacle to interoperability is NOT the amount of Office suits (including all the betas...) Linux has, but the lack of one good standard file format. And it's not really a lack of a file format either, it's the lack of co-operation between the programmers / companies. If we'd agree (fat change) on one format, it wouldn't matter what software you were using.
Unfortunately, I'm just dreaming.
Conversely, the (perhaps only?) good thing about MS Office is that any computer with Windows is likely to also have Office
I work for a huge global company which doesn't use Office, at all (ok, so we happen to use something inferior which I hate and won't name *cough*Lotus*cough). My girfriend uses Windows every day for all her work - yet she refuses to install ANY browser plugins (no, she doesn't even have Flash). And she only uses Office97 (even thou she's a professional secretary). The fact is, you can't rely on people having "the standard applications" even if they're using Windows.
The most compelling example of this that I can think of is PowerPoint [...] I can borrow someone else's [laptop], as long as they have Office
I used to do support for a small company. They used PPT quite a lot for presentations, and I didn't object. I thought too that it was the best program for the job. Until I started hearing problems - the client had a different version of PPT, or the version was the same but it refused to load the show.... The fact is, the only computer that can show your PPT presentation right is your own. That's exactly why you see people carrying their own laptops to presentations.
Anyway, we just need to agree on file formats and Linux office world will be heaven. We already have proven standars for these so why not use them? Like Postscript for documents, HTML for presentations (works like a wonder after fighting with PPT's) etc. I can't be that hard.
I'm waiting for encrypted cellphones, like those being designed by Starium, to be available...
Try GSM. It's heavily encrypted and in use all over the world. It's been cracked, but the encryption is very hard to crack so your phonecalls are mostly safe.
Other people have pretty good comments about what you should do. However, no-one has really commented about what WM to use.
I'd suggest using IceWM. It's FAST, only requires about 1.5MB (my current usage is 1.3MB) and by default it looks and feels like Windows. You're switching from Win, right? Using a WM that looks and feels the same helps a lot. And with only 32/64 megs, you'll want something that doesn't use half of if just to give you pretty icons.
Actually, nearly all TV-shows are recoreded with BetaMax. It's the only system professionals use...
The reason Beta died from consumer side was content; there wasn't any. VHS had much worse pic quality and bigger tapes (harder to handle) BUT lots and lots of content, so that's what people bought.
If you are in any doubt as to what that dose to an economy you need look no farther than Jamaica. Right now we carry a heavy tax burden.
Are you kidding me? I'd gladly pay the taxes you just listed instead of what they rob here in Funlan..., um, Finland. And we don't even have the highest taxes in the world! So, we're close, but not yet there.... And yes, the government is still trying to figure out how to tax more.
Funny thing, every time the government tells us that they're lowering taxes, it turns out that it only works for the few rich people left here. Us normal people end up paying more. Always.
Anyway, for the record:
25% income tax I (should) pay about 40%
15% sales tax 22%, expect for some rare items
40% import duty on consumer items ( like cloths ) Hmm, me thinks this is between 0% and 10% depeinding on what you import.
20% Duty on trucks Ha! 100%
40% to 280% on cars Still the same 100%, it used to be 120% but they lowered it a few years ago.
1/2 the cost of gasoline 3/4 of the cost of gas! Which currently runs at nearly FIM 7/liter or ~$4.40/gallon. Guess why there aren't any big cars in Finland?
In fact the only sensible thing is that most computer equipment attracts only the 15% sales tax Again, 22% of VAT + roughly 3% duty.
and books and magazines of all types are tax free. This wasn't 22%, me thinks it was 12%. Don't remember, as I don't buy books.
Hm, an example: if I buy something from Amazon, it's the cost + roughly $15 for shipping + ~3% of tax + 22% of VAT which I have to pay. The funniest thing is that it's STILL cheaper than what I'd pay here in Fun..., um, Finland.
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So now I have a whitelist with addresses of my friends, co-workers and the mailing lists that I have subscribed to. Those emails will get to my Inbox directly - the rest will get filed to a spam folder and an autoreply is sent to the sender telling them how to get through the filter. This requires the sender to read the autoreply and do what it says.
It works.
Time for some blatant self-promotion: my .procmailrc can be found from here.
Say you host servers for the FooBar corporation; you would then name the servers as "fbn01e1", "fbn10e3" etc.
Looks cryptic? It's not:
fb - FooBar
n01 - Node #01
e1 - Ethernet interface #1
Many may not realize, but it's not about naming computers, it's about naming the interfaces that matters. You don't touch the computer, you log in through the interface. You don't connect the computer to a router, you plug in the cat5 to the interface.
The node numbers above btw are not sequential, they're rack/slot numbers. So the first slot on the first rack would be n01; if that computer was a 4U rackmount, the next one would be called n05. Given 40U racks, the first server on the second rack would be called fbn41e1.
What's really good about this naming convetion is that it's really easy to locate individual servers; let's say mathilda.foobar.com won't ping anymore - how the hell do you know where it is if there are 200 foobar.com -computers! And they all have at least two network interfaces... If it was fbn45e2 that's dead you'd know instantly that it's the FooBar corparation's server on the fourth slot of rack #2 AND the second ethernet interface that's won't answer anymore.
The obstacle to interoperability is NOT the amount of Office suits (including all the betas...) Linux has, but the lack of one good standard file format. And it's not really a lack of a file format either, it's the lack of co-operation between the programmers / companies. If we'd agree (fat change) on one format, it wouldn't matter what software you were using.
Unfortunately, I'm just dreaming.
Conversely, the (perhaps only?) good thing about MS Office is that any computer with Windows is likely to also have Office
I work for a huge global company which doesn't use Office, at all (ok, so we happen to use something inferior which I hate and won't name *cough*Lotus*cough). My girfriend uses Windows every day for all her work - yet she refuses to install ANY browser plugins (no, she doesn't even have Flash). And she only uses Office97 (even thou she's a professional secretary). The fact is, you can't rely on people having "the standard applications" even if they're using Windows.
The most compelling example of this that I can think of is PowerPoint [...] I can borrow someone else's [laptop], as long as they have Office
I used to do support for a small company. They used PPT quite a lot for presentations, and I didn't object. I thought too that it was the best program for the job. Until I started hearing problems - the client had a different version of PPT, or the version was the same but it refused to load the show.... The fact is, the only computer that can show your PPT presentation right is your own. That's exactly why you see people carrying their own laptops to presentations.
Anyway, we just need to agree on file formats and Linux office world will be heaven. We already have proven standars for these so why not use them? Like Postscript for documents, HTML for presentations (works like a wonder after fighting with PPT's) etc. I can't be that hard.
Uh.... must.... resist... writing... more... and... get.... back.... coding....
Try GSM. It's heavily encrypted and in use all over the world. It's been cracked, but the encryption is very hard to crack so your phonecalls are mostly safe.
I'd suggest using IceWM. It's FAST, only requires about 1.5MB (my current usage is 1.3MB) and by default it looks and feels like Windows. You're switching from Win, right? Using a WM that looks and feels the same helps a lot. And with only 32/64 megs, you'll want something that doesn't use half of if just to give you pretty icons.
Actually, nearly all TV-shows are recoreded with BetaMax. It's the only system professionals use...
The reason Beta died from consumer side was content; there wasn't any. VHS had much worse pic quality and bigger tapes (harder to handle) BUT lots and lots of content, so that's what people bought.
If you are in any doubt as to what that dose to an economy you need look no farther than Jamaica. Right now we carry a heavy tax burden.
Are you kidding me? I'd gladly pay the taxes you just listed instead of what they rob here in Funlan..., um, Finland. And we don't even have the highest taxes in the world! So, we're close, but not yet there.... And yes, the government is still trying to figure out how to tax more.
Funny thing, every time the government tells us that they're lowering taxes, it turns out that it only works for the few rich people left here. Us normal people end up paying more. Always.
Anyway, for the record:
25% income tax
I (should) pay about 40%
15% sales tax
22%, expect for some rare items
40% import duty on consumer items ( like cloths )
Hmm, me thinks this is between 0% and 10% depeinding on what you import.
20% Duty on trucks
Ha! 100%
40% to 280% on cars
Still the same 100%, it used to be 120% but they lowered it a few years ago.
1/2 the cost of gasoline
3/4 of the cost of gas! Which currently runs at nearly FIM 7/liter or ~$4.40/gallon. Guess why there aren't any big cars in Finland?
In fact the only sensible thing is that most computer equipment attracts only the 15% sales tax
Again, 22% of VAT + roughly 3% duty.
and books and magazines of all types are tax free.
This wasn't 22%, me thinks it was 12%. Don't remember, as I don't buy books.
Hm, an example: if I buy something from Amazon, it's the cost + roughly $15 for shipping + ~3% of tax + 22% of VAT which I have to pay. The funniest thing is that it's STILL cheaper than what I'd pay here in Fun..., um, Finland.
So, how much money did you make?
And just because I'm such a nice guy (ask the girls, they know), I don't even want to know the exact amount. +/- $1M will do just fine.