Spam is a reality of the Internet, but not all users suffer from it at the same extent. It is definitely hard for businesses to distinguish valuable messages from unsolicited emails. Software companies have come with solutions in the form of anti-spam programs meant to detect and delete over 90% of junk mail. Released by Microsoft in May 2004, the exchange spam blocker is a smart tool designed for mailbox protection. The target market for this product consists of individual users and companies that receive unsolicited commercial emails in very large numbers.

Exchange spam blocker is based on Microsoft SmartScreen technology that helps with the identification of a message that has a spam potential. Starting from this option that allows one to determine which incoming email is spam, the user may stop the access of unsolicited mail messages at the gateway or at the mailbox. Initially there were tools that pre-dated the release of Exchange spam blocker. Nevertheless, the older technologies are no longer supported by updates, as it happens with the modern variants of the email protections. The present version of the Exchange spam blocker is capable of stopping spam in the tracks, allowing for good business development.

The microsoft exchange spam blocker combines several technologies in order to separate spam from legitimate messages; thus, other than the use of the Bayes filter, the tool scans the messages for spam keywords and analyzes the spam headers. Once the identification is complete, it is up to the computer user to decide whether to keep or delete the messages. There are models of the Exchange spam blocker that actually inform a sender whether his or her message has been treated as spam despite its inherent legitimacy. Plus, the advantages of preventing spam on the server before reaching the computer are manifold: less virus attacks and no malware unauthorized installation.

To sum it up, the Exchange spam blocker can support all the small business and personal operations conducted via email. A problem of the 2003 version of the blocker consisted in the impossibility to import or export blocked e-mails or send domains. Another problem is the fact that the user does not know how much spam is blocked or how well the filters are functioning. It is important to check the settings and find out about the best mode to operate with the tool so that you can maximize the usage of your anti-spam defenses.