Glossary of Spam and Spyware Terminology
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Adware - This type of spyware is used to display adverts for high profit margin products which they attempt to trick you into buying. Any decent spyware cleaner will detect and remove these.
Blacklist - A list of known spammers and spammers email addresses built into most spam blockers.
Bulk email - mass marketing emails sent unsolicited to recipients.
CAUCE - Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. A volunteer organization working towards effective legislation to resolve the spam issues.
CAN SPAM Act 2003 - Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing. An initial but ineffective move by the US Government to control spam.
Challenge Response - a method of blocking spam which requires the sender of the email to manually respond to a verification message sent to them. If they fail to reply to the verification message then they're blocked permanently.
Email - Short for Electronic Mail. A revolutionary way of sending text, pictures, audio and video over the Internet for free.
Firewall - A piece of hardware or software (or a combination of both) designed to prevent unauthorized accessing of your computer.
IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol. Similar to pop3 in that it's a set or rules for downloading email from a mail server. It does, however, offer more advanced features like keyword searching your mail before downloading it.
IP Address - Internet Protocol Address. A unique number which identifies your computer connection whilst online or on a network. IP addresses can be either fix or dynamic.
Mail Server - a computer dedicated to the sending and receiving of email and other electronic messages on a computer network.
Mailwasher - A freeware standalone spam filter.
Mailwasher Pro - A paid version of Mailwasher that can has many more features including filtering multiple email accounts.
Microsoft Exchange - Part of the Windows Server line of products Exchange is a collaborative software product which handles email, calendars and daily tasks amongst other things. Normally only used by large networks.
Open Relay - An SMTP mail server used by spammers to route their bulk email through. Open Relays allow spammers to hide their identity.
Outlook Express - an email client supplied by Microsoft with all their Operating Systems.
Outlook - an email client provided by Microsoft as part of their Microsoft Office suite. Offers far more advanced features than Outlook Express.
Pink contract - an undisclosed agreement between an ISP and a known spammer. A pink contract will allow the spammer to send bulk email through open relays on their servers.
POP3 - Post Office Protocol 3. A set of rules your email software uses to download email from a mail server.
Popup - A javascript based advert that would appear (popup) on your screen when you left a website. Can be blocked by normal popup blockers.
Popunder - A javascript based advert that would appear at the bottom of your page. Normal popup blockers can stop these.
Popover - DHTML or javascript based popups that appear when you enter or leave a website.
Protocol - A set or rules to control different aspects of computer communication; both internally and externally.
Qurb - An award winning integrated spam filter for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.
SMTP - Simple Mail transfter Protocol. This is a set of rules for sending email between mail servers.
Spam - repetitive mass marketing emails sent for profit. Also a tinned meal produced by Hormel Foods Ltd.
Spambully - An integrated spam filter for Outlook and Outlook Express.
Spamarrest - A challenge response spam filtering solution. Ideal for people who are mobile.
Spammer - the people who sent out spam. Normally 18 - 30 year old males.
Spyware - This is a generic term that described annoying software which is downloaded onto your computer - normally without your permission.
Thunderbird (Mozilla) - an opensource competitor to Outlook Express which has gained huge support since it was launched.
UBE - Unsolicited Bulk Email.
UCBE - Unsolicited Commercial Bulk Email.
Whitelist - A list of known legitimate email addresses. This is added to by you as within your spam filter or email software.