iHateSpam Review
iHateSpam is a Windows based spam blocking solution for PCs which works with your Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Hotmail. It's one of the oldest spam filtering programs on the market and it's lasted a long time for good reason - it works - it boasts a 95%+ spam blocking rate.
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Installing iHateSpam is very straightforward process of entering some personal details and choosing an installation location. A quick restart of your PC and you're ready to go.
When you first launch the program you get a Welcome screen which gives you a basic introduction to the product itself. You're then prompted to add any friendly e-mail addresses to the program to allow you to pre-filter your e-mail from your first use of iHateSpam. Pretty neat.
Step number three is to set up the application to block any e-mail that is sent you in a foreign language or e-mail which contains foreign characters. This single feature alone is almost priceless.
Your final step is choosing a spam "security" setting. This setting dictates how thorough iHateSpam will be in rooting out junk e-mail. The settings available here are: Some Spam, Explicit Spam, Default, Most Spam and All Spam.
Once you've completed the basic setup of the application you just click on Finish and allow your PC to reboot.
Stability
iHateSpam has proven to be very stable in continued use on both Outlook and Outlook Express providing months of reliable spam blocking.
Ease Of Use
This is where the beautiful simplictity of iHateSpam becomes apparent. If you're used to using Outlook then iHateSpam will be second nature to you. Why? Simply because it adds itself to the Outlook toolbar as an add-on. This is illustrated here:
Your options here are:
Is Spam - clicking on this identifies the selected e-mail as spam. It is then moved to your Deleted Items folder.
Not Spam - clicking on this identifies the selected e-mail as being "friendly". It is added to a "friendly" list.
Bounce - This attempts to bounce the e-mail back to the sender. The idea here is if the e-mail is bounced back to the sender then they might assume your e-mail address is no longer working.
Report - You can file a direct spam abuse report to SpamAbuse.org and to the offending spammers ISP via this button.
Add Friend - You can add a friendly e-mail address to your list via this button.
Add Enemy - You can add somebody to your spammer list via this button.
Support
Support is the one area where iHateSpam fails miserably. Support is web based and comprises of an online help area. The support feature has the Top 20 most frequently asked technical questions plus a searchable knowledgebase to back that up. If all else fails you can ask a question directly of the iHateSpam support team via an online form. However don't expect to receive any reply as our own tests had shown that despite repeated emails, none were ever answered.
Conclusion: We do not recommend iHateSpam, unless you do not anticipate needing any support (highly unlikely)
See also a related article on iHateSpam, Anti-Spam Blocker by Sunbelt Software.