Is your spam filter perfect?

No!  Spam filters are not perfect. Some are too weak, or you set them too weak, and a mass of spam is delivered. Some are too strong, and genuine emails, are wrongly identified as spam. And Murphy's law decrees that the one's that get mis-filed as junk are the urgent ones you need now.


And spam filters generally operate in two distinct arenas. Most of us have our spam filtered as it arrives in the inbox, under our control, and have the spam filed in a specially-named folder which we can peruse from time to time to ensure that genuine emails aren't mis-filed. Some of us have access to spam filtering on the mailserver, which means you can remove or "flag" the spam before it arrives in your inbox. Both are under your own control.


If you use BT or Yahoo for your email service, you probably have some of the best spam protection around. But sometimes it might be "too good."  The chances are, you have also experienced the problem where someone claims to have sent you an email but you believe that you have not received it.

The sender says "I definitely sent it to your correct address" and the recipient says "It definitely has not arrived." Before you get into a serious argument with your correspondent, understand that it is quite possible that you are both right!

I have experienced dozens and dozens of cases of this and in every single one, the reason is that the BT and/or Yahoo email spam filtering service has been a little over-zealous. The email has been delivered but it has been hidden from the recipient.

I am not criticising BT/Yahoo or any other ISP who tries to protect us from all the millions of pieces of junk that are sent by email. But it is not such a good idea for them to intercept and hide legitimate emails for you. OK, they don't actually hide them but in the real world, my experience is that plenty of BT/Yahoo customers don't know where or how to find the intercepted emails.

This morning I received rejections from a message I sent to 105 addresses about computer security. Admittedly, the content of my message did repeat selected parts of a "phishing" scam email but of the 105 addressees, only those sent to BT or Yahoo were rejected. That shows that the BT/Yahoo spam filter is doing a great job in protecting their customers from virus or phishing scam emails.


While it's a great idea in principle, there seem to be two flaws in the BT/Yahoo SpamGuard system, or the way it is implemented and/or publicised:

1. It creates too many "false positives"  - identifying legitimate, normal email as unacceptable for various reasons and
2. Customers don't know how to find the intercepted emails.

Although BT/Yahoo have advised their customers how to check their "bulk mail" folders, empirical evidence indicates that very many of them have never even heard of the facility and of those who have, many of them do not know how to use it.

Here's an example of how this can easily occur (and it's based on real events) when the sender sends a perfectly normal,  innocent email to someone who has never previously received an email from that sender:

A BT/Yahoo email user might be interested in holiday accommodation and click on a website email link to send an availability enquiry.

When the holiday company replies, this is the first time the company has ever emailed that BT/Yahoo user. Very often, that email reply will be sent to the "spam" or "bulk mail" folder for no other reason than that the recipient has never received an email from the holiday company before.

The problem is made much worse, in reality, because BT/Yahoo user can only see the Bulk Mail folder if they access their mailbox via webmail. They may not know how to use webmail, or even be aware that exists.

So the sender knows they have sent their reply to the right address, because they used "reply" in their email. And the recipient "knows" the reply has not arrived in their email. It can cause a lot of misunderstanding...

Further information on Yahoo's SpamGuard can be found here... 

Think you know your stuff?

Be careful when buying computers from Dell - and maybe other computer manufacturers. Even if you think you "know your stuff" about computers, it might be best to let the manufacturer's sales team to guide you through your purchase.


A client of mine had always bought from Dell and had always been totally satisfied with their products for many years. And so have I. This time, he was preparing to replace his ageing desktop computer and, with advice from various sources, had decided on a laptop - chosen for the convenience and sociability of being able to take into the sitting room instead of being locked away in the "office."

Although he had chosen a laptop, he also wanted a conventional keyboard, a separate mouse instead of always having to use the touchpad, and a big screen, external to the laptop. This meant that for the tidiest and simplest installation, he needed a docking station, or E-port replicator.

The number, type, and specification of Dell laptops, plus the ability to customize your purchase, means you can buy virtually any specification you wish. Dell makes it entirely obvious on their website that some of the laptops are intended for "home use" and others are meant for "business use."

My client selected a laptop, screen, bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse, and the port replicator/docking station to join them all together. The reason for a docking station is that it makes changing from a "virtual desktop" environment to portable "pure laptop" working is a simple matter of un-docking the laptop from the docking station, with the press of a button. The alternative would be to separately unplug printer/s, screen, keyboard, and mouse. Not impossible but less convenient.

The docking station/port replicator (shown above) and other peripherals arrived one day, the laptop arrived several days later. Maybe that's part of the problem that was encountered, as the order seemed to be picked and packed as two separate orders, but it could be entirely irrelevant.

Once all the components of this exciting new set-up had arrived, I set about transferring the data from the old computer to the new laptop. At the same time, we changed from ADSL-modem to ADSL wireless router. Almost the last task was to plug the laptop into the docking station. But it wouldn't and couldn't be plugged it because the Inspiron laptop was not designed to be used with a docking station.

We will now develop a workaround, probably plugging the peripherals directly into the laptop, leaving the changeover from "virtual desktop" to "pure laptop" working to be a less convenient process than envisaged.

My opinion is that Dell should not allow a single order from a single customer to comprise such obviously incompatible components.


Dell's opinion is that if the customer had spoken to a Dell salesperson before ordering, the error would not have occurred. I think they are probably right.


Buying computers is a daunting, complex task. I think it would have been helpful if Dell's on-line buying process began with a "questionnaire" about the customer's requirements, from which (with the skills and knowledge of their own products) they could suggest a selection of equipment that would meet the customer's needs.

In the absence of such an on-line system, I would now very strongly recommend that anybody buying from the excellent range of Dell computers and associated equipment should do so via the telephone sales process, where they can discuss their needs with someone who is very knowledgeable about the whole range of Dell products. I suspect that such an error that my client experienced is unlikely to occur when purchasing through that route. It happens to be the way I bought my first-of-many Dell computers.

 And the Dell website does prompt the website visitor to do exactly that... 

What a variety of websites!

My latest website build was for an NLP consultant. I'd never heard of NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming - until my work on this website for my latest client, Jenny Dey, who runs NLP-based personal and business workshops from her base in Ingatestone, Essex.

And it occurred to me that I have worked on websites for a very wide variety of industry, business, personal, and charity sectors. The subjects of the most recent websites are Business Change Workshops mentioned above, an Over 45s Social Group, Building Services, two holiday accommodations in Suffolk - Self Catering at Blythburgh, near Southwold, Suffolk, and Self Catering at Middleton, Suffolk, a Veterinary Practice in Felixstowe (the third I've built in that sector), Haughley Parish Council (my second such site), an small business providing Fencing and Gates, and finally Natural Holistic and Beauty Therapies, in Aldeburgh.

Further extent of the diversity of my client base is demonstrated on my Website Portfolio page, where you will find links to websites for Furnishings, Accommodation, Veterinary, Parish Council, Pilot Training, Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts Club, Bespoke Waistcoats, Sorrel Horse Inn, Martlesham Heath Aviation Society, Restaurant, Nursery, USAF, Cattery, Printer, another Veterinary, Freight Mangement, Bed & Breakfast, Accountant, Optician, Charity for retired horses, Local History Council, Maritime Event, Landscaping.

Web design and building is an interesting and varied line of business to be in!