What are the emails you get with the subject line reading

[Skidmore]

"(RE)then some text here?" I delete them without opening them, but I'd like to know if they are associated with a particular virus.

[TornadoTN]

1. Generally Speaking

They are usually spam programs that find ways to get around spam filters and blocking software. By putting together semi-coherent, random words it usually bypasses the filters people have in place.

I get a lot at work that get past our filters. I haven't run across any that are associated with a virus, just pure spam.

[Skidmore]

2. So is the "Re" something that is added to them or is the subject

title set up that way by the sender? Is there any way to block them by using that "Re"?

[TornadoTN]

4. Usually set up by the bulk sender

That "Re" line is a clever way to fool the filters into thinking you sent an e-mail to this address before. I'm not a technical wizard, but what we have been doing is flagging all of the e-mail like that as spam so our spam filter heuristics "learn" that this type of message is indeed spam.

What type of e-mail system are you using? Most e-mail systems have a built in "flag as spam" or "report as spam" option so that it can learn that these messages are spam. It takes a long time to get relief from it and some still get through. It's a clever play by the spammers out there, as they seem to always stay a step ahead.

Beyond that, I would have to defer to someone a bit wiser in this subject than myself.

[Brazenly Liberal]

6. The spammer/sender types it in that way.

It looks like what an email program puts on a reply, but it's an original. Just like all those spams that parade as "undeliverable mail"

If you try to block it using the "re:" you may find you are blocking a lot of genuine replies to emails you are sending out. Better to block by key phrases and words in the mails that you don't normally get in other mails. For example, I've blocked "Rolex" because I get so many spams selling fake Rolexes. Once a day or whenever I get around to it, I check my spam filter and retrieve any legitimate emails that got snagged.

[TornadoTN]

8. Good advice, just be careful

Make sure that you only block words that you KNOW are spam, otherwise you will inadvertently delete a lot of legit mail. The best way to do it is to get a program like Mozilla Thunderbird that has spam heuristics to handle your e-mail. You can train it to learn what is spam and I have found it has done a stand up job on my home pc.

[Skidmore]

11. I quite often read my mail at my ISPs website before opening

my Outlook Express program and downloading it on my hard drive. At least, that's what I think I'm doing. Sometimes you learn that what you think you're accomplishing isn't so though.

[Brazenly Liberal]

14. To avoid deleting legitimate mail,

you just need to set your spam filter to save spams in a folder rather than automatically deleting them. Good anti-spam programs will provide this option.

I have three levels of anti-spam protection and while several hundred spams are sent to me every day, it's rare that more than 2 or 3 reach my inbox. After tinkering with the settings, I rarely find legitimate emails stuck in the spam folder.

IMO, Postini is the Gold Standard for anti-spam. After Postini's done with it, my ISP filters it, then Pegasus filters it again. I had gotten to the point where I was ready to just sign off for good. The spam was so egregious, it made checking my mail a pain in the ass every day. Serious anti-spam filtering has made the internet a good thing once again.

[Brazenly Liberal]

10. Also,

this is another reason I strongly recommend Pegasus mail. (not spam, no personal connection)

With Pegasus, you can look at the full headers of an email without opening it. When the odd suspicious looking email gets past my three layers of spam filters, I just look at the full headers before opening it. I know I'm not in correspondence with any Romanians at present, I'm not involved in anything that would legitimately precipitate email from someone with a return addy like [e-mail], etc.

[TornadoTN]

13. I forgot about Pegasus

That's a good program too, as it does let you screen mail a little more closely.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Surely

it's simply where someone has forwarded an email, the sender had already received from elsewhere, to you ? I mean jokes etc.

[John1956PA]

5. I had been getting emails which "pumped" penney stocks.

Those emails have subsided in the past few weeks, possibly due to the fact that my internet service provider has been working on a filter to screen them out. What has been happening is that con artists are buying stakes in certain penney stocks and then spamming internet users with emails touting them. If even a small percentage of email recipients bite on the "hot stock tip" the con artists could realize a big gain on their investment. This scam is known as "pumping." Typically, the emails have overseas URL address; the ones I received usually originated from Europe.

It could be that the emails which you are receiving have some angle other that that which I have just described, but I wanted to inform you of my experience.

[TornadoTN]

7. I'm still getting a lot of those

Plus a lot with random sentences that when opened, are a clever advertisement for Viagra and Cialis.

We haven't been able to do much about the "penny stock" scams, as we handle a lot of financial transactions here in our office and its difficult to flag them without also flagging legitimate messages.

[FlaGranny]

15. I gave up on spam filters

My ISP does a decent job and I don't get tons of them. I found it more trouble to check my spam mailbox for legitimate messages than to just delete spam as it came in. If a sender has been VERY clever with the subject line and I have any question I just look at the sender's address and then delete. I automatically delete subjects that have "ur" instead of "your" or "RU" instead of "are you," etc. I don't communicate with anyone who writes like that and certainly no legitimate business is going to use shorthand like that.

[Fuzz]

9. I've started to get a LOT of those lately

Annoying

[Rosemary2205]

12. If I don't know the sender, I don't open. nt