I’ve got my own private war going on with spammers.

I use Postfix on Linux with multiple Realtime Black Lists (RBLs) to reject spammers as soon as they connect. That way they use minimal system resources and I don’t have to have their rubbish getting onto my system.

Six months ago, some spam started slipping through.

I implemented TMDA. Tagged Mail Delivery Agent. It’s a great system but can cause pain to all email senders not just spammers. It works by challenging first time email senders to my system. Once they respond correctly, they get whitelisted and don’t ever see a challenge again.

Of course this means spam can make it on to my mailhost and I still have to filter it.

That’s the same issue I have with Spamassassin. I installed it about 3 months ago and it identifies spam very, very well. But the spam still makes it onto my system.

I wanted a way to reject it BEFORE it makes it onto my box. Just like the RBL’s do.

Yesterday I found it!

Amavisd-new integrates nicely with most MTA’s. The Postfix install was extremely simple. It passes off inbound emails to Spamassassin and F-Prot (anti-virus) and has the ability to reject before accept if the email is identified as spam or virus.

I think it’s fantastic. In the last 24 hours, only one spam made it through - and that was completely in Spanish.

For a free product that can be installed on a Pentium 133/64mb PC, we’re talking about something that provides a service of inestimable value for pennies.

Ah Perl… is there anything it can’t do?