Anti-spam software is a type of software that's been specifically developed to stop the spread of unsolicited junk email, otherwise known as spam. There are two kinds of this email-filtering program. The first type of anti-spam application stops spam email from coming through care of an email reader. An email reader is capable of analyzing the header of a message—which is the part of the email that lists who the sender is—as well as the content of the email itself. It then removes any correspondences that the user has indicated as possible spam by comparing the material found within the email with a list of known spammers' addresses, phrases, keywords, and the like.

 

The second type of anti-spam software deals with scanning a mail (typically SMTP) server before the emails can even get to you; as such, you're protected from spam scams or spam with attachments containing exploits or viruses without even setting up an email reader to catch keywords or content for you. This anti-spam filter works best in a corporate environment, because it's quite literally capable of blocking hundreds of thousands or even millions of spam a day, while a personal email account of any one individual can be adequately safeguarded by a simple email reader "word filter" of sorts.

 

One advantage that the email reader filter has over the mail server filter is the fact that it provides the user a lot more control. However, for people who'd rather not deal with spam altogether, the mail server option is the most logical choice for them.Whenever spam is spotted by the email reader anti-spam filter, it simply puts it in a special folder which the user can browse or ignore at his behest. If left alone, the spam folder automatically deletes its contents after a certain period of time. In turn, anti-spam software using the mail server filtering method should be used carefully because such programs are known to auto-delete even legitimate mail that's been erroneously labeled as spam.