Degunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses

by Jeff Duntemann

Duntemann, co-author of the bestselling book ""Degunking Windows,"" shows readers how to keep annoying email clutter at bay, how to quickly organize email so they can find what they need, how to eradicate and prevent spam and pop-ups, how to protect yourself from Internet scams, hackers, and dangerous viruses, and much more.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 193211193X
• ISBN13: 9781932111934
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Paraglyph Press
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Internet Gunk 101 and then some

This is the third book on email, spam and viruses and such that I've read in the last couple of weeks, and it is the best. One of the other two, Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Spammers in the Internet Age (2004) by John Biggs, covers much of the same material as covered here but not in as much depth, while the other, Spam Kings (2005) by Brian McWilliams, is more a narrative about the personalities in the spam world than a how-to. (Nonetheless both books are good.) Duntemann's book has a kind of "Dummies..." or "Idiots..." feel to it with lots of sidebars and photos of computer screens and tips and hints and numbered lists, and even some "Gunkbuster's Notebook" pages; but Duntemann's treatment is more comprehensive than usually found in an introductory book. He goes into considerable detail not only on how to "degunk" your email, but explains how email filters work and how spam, viruses and worms propagate, and what you can do about them. He also looks at various scams and the scary subject of identity theft and advises on how to not fall victim. This book will work for beginners and the experienced alike. It will be noted that Duntemann doesn't directly address the problems that plague users of the big Internet Service Providers like Yahoo! and AOL, mainly because some of the very measures he recommends are currently being used by the big providers. One of my email addresses is at Yahoo! (Duntemann recommends that you have at least two email addresses) and it gets a lot of spam. But I don't see any of it because Yahoo! has a spam filter that puts it in my bulk folder which I almost never open. I didn't think much of this until I learned how email filters work. I used to think that somehow the ISP identified spam by the number of identical emails sent to its customers (and they may do that); but after reading Duntemann's explanation I now realize that filters usually work on key words and other bits of evidence in the actual email. Certain words like "free" and "mortgage" and especially "unsubscribe" (a near-certain indicator of spam since spammers hope you'll click on that to prove that your email address is a live one) trigger the filters. Another technique, Duntemann explains is so-called Bayesian filtering which uses a "statistical analysis of message length and the distribution of words present in a message" to arrive at a probability of the message being spam. But this made me wonder if--and Duntemann warns about this possibility--if some legitimate emails were being caught as spam. So I checked my Yahoo! bulk filter and didn't find any. My guess is that the latest filtering tools used by the big ISPs like Yahoo! and AOL are even more sophisticated than those that Duntemann describes in this book. Duntemann also warns against spam control methods that don't work. Surprisingly, one of these, in his opinion, is making spam illegal. I've always liked that idea, but after reading Duntemann's argument, I'm convinced that i

Excellent coverage of a timely topic

Spam and computer viruses are taking some of the pleasure and productivity out of using computers. Not many people have e-mail accounts that are free of spam. Every moment you are connected to the Internet, you run the risk of being infected with spyware or adware. Everyone who is sent files by e-mail is at risk for getting a computer virus. "Debunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses" is a very friendly book with all kinds of strategies for keeping your computer from getting infected. I bought this book chiefly because I was curious how I could keep spam from flooding my e-mail account, but only half of this book's 16 chapters are devoted to spam. You will also get information about viruses, adware and spyware, and firewalls. There is also an amusing chapter about Internet scams -- "phishing" is the term -- and how to avoid them. This is not your run-of-the-mill computer book. It is extremely well written and well organized. The writing is clear, friendly, and humorous at times. I wish more computer book publishers would take a cue from the Paraglyph Press, publishers of the book. The design is professional and a far cry from the slammed-together books you usually get in the computer field. My only quarrel with this book is the author's enthusiasm for Bayesian spam filtering. The author devotes a chapter to Bayesian filtering, which I think is not near as effective has he thinks it is. Other than that, "Debunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses" sets a standard for computer books that I hope more computer books meet in the future.

Great resource focuses the most on email

Before reaching the title page inside the book, the first few pages quickly cover the 12-step degunking program with a list followed by 15-minute, 30-minute, one-hour, and three-hour to half-day steps for degunking email and viruses with time limitations. This section finishes off with top 20 tasks for clearing the email cobwebs. Excellent start. If you're overwhelmed at the thought of following a 12-step program and spending more than a day going through each step, the time limitations section should ease your mind. It's a good way to begin, baby steps. Don't stop there, however. Make it part of a long-term program and pick up some of the habits it covers. I already use many of the tips, but that's no surprise as obsessed with organization as I am. Though I have implemented many of the suggestions, the book provides value because it offers a process for cleaning up as well as tips I hadn't considered. It took me years to come up with many of the tips covered. So don't wait years to figure it out yourself when you can get it right now with one resource, this book. Sure, it covers the usual, "have a firewall running" and "ensure your anti-virus program is running and up to date." However, you'd be surprised how many people don't have either in place. This book would be incomplete without these recommendations. Though a majority use Outlook or Outlook Express for managing email, Duntemann discusses other clients including The Bat!, Thunderbird, Pegasus, and Eudora. Like many things in life, everyone has different needs when it comes to email. The author discusses four email profiles and mentions them throughout the book so whichever you are, follow the advice for that profile. Like the other books in Paraglyph's Degunking series, this one is easy to read and addresses the advantages and disadvantages of various tools. Anyone who gets the book and follows its steps will experience a leaner, cleaner email box and possibly a faster-running computer. Most users of all levels should benefit from this book. The only group that might not invest in it are those who know everything inside out about spam, viruses, malware, and adware and how to deal with them.

Worth it for the Adware/Spyware chapter alone

I'm a big Jeff Duntemann fan, and I already knew about him because I bought Degunking Windows, which was a lifesaver. So when I saw that Jeff had written Degunking Email, I knew I had to get it too. My PC has been running glacially slow, and someone suggested adware or spyware as the culprit. Chapter 13 covers just that. I followed Jeff's advice and everything's back to normal - running just fine, thank you. I discovered a couple dozen spyware threats that (obviously) were slowing me down. Jeff covers the whole gamut of email problems in this book: from spam to viruses to internet hoaxes to security. He even talks about the idiotic things we do to sabotage ourselves as we're surfing the net. For anyone who has email problems - and I think that's just about everyone these days - buy this book.

Excellent strategies and wisdom for fighting the spam war

I'm extremely impressed with this book. Instead of provided quick fixes for spam the author instead provides long term strategies to help you manage your email, fight spam and defeat viruses. In reality, there are no quick fixes. And people looking for them, both in the software world, and in this book, will be disappointed. The book spends most of it's 320 pages on mail, both managing it and fighting spam. Managing mail is extremely important. Many of us live on mail but don't spend the time organizing it and creating a workflow to manage it. This book gives you those organizing skills by presenting the sage advice that took many of us years to learn. The spam fighting material is also excellent. He starts by laying down basic spam fighting procedures (obscuring your address, having throwaway addresses, etc.) then adds on various products and services that will help you. The virus section is relatively small in comparison to the spam coverage, but that fits it's relation to the problem. You can stop and defeat viruses, but email and spam is something that you have to handle on a daily basis. For those looking for a quick fix set of solutions, this is not your book, but you don't have the right approach to the problem in the first place. For those willing to learn skills that will allow you to manage email successfully this is a fine place to start.