Junk e-mail, or spam, seems to be becoming a bigger problem with each passing day. I recently spoke to some state legislators who said their offices were becoming paralyzed by the amount of junk e-mail coming in 24 hours a day. So much so that work isn't getting done. Unfortunately, there's little of practical use that can be done to effectively cut down on spam. One way, to use filters, is not a good idea, as "good" mail can often end up with the bad. So what's a person to do in addition to just getting mad? Obviously, my most common piece of advice -- don't get mad, just hit delete -- doesn't really help.

Here's one product that some people are finding really useful. It's called ChoiceMail and several thousand people are using it. It is a piece of software that a small company, DigiPortal Software, sells for $39.95 and, given the right system, can cut your junk mail almost down to zero.

It works by asking you to create a list of pre-approved addresses from which you don't mind getting mail. This would be friends, acquaintances, colleagues, customers, even some relatives. Then if someone writes to you from a new address, they get an automatic bounceback that asks them to fill out basic information, including WHY they want to get in touch with you. This is a one-time process. You see the request, approve it, and then in the future, he or she can always write to you. Reject this request and they get blocked.

It's a neat, simple strategy which puts an end to automated mailings, which are a main source of spam.

This works with any POP3 mail system, including those that require authentication such as most Internet service providers (dial-up/cable/DSL) as well as supporting MSN. If you have a mail program such as Eudora, Outlook or Outlook Express, you should be able to use ChoiceMail.

David Jameson, the company's founder, says DigiPortal is looking to, or working on, versions for corporate use with Microsoft Exchange and IMAP, Linux and Macintosh, as well as versions for Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL.

If you are unsure if this is for you, you should review the detailed information on the DigiPortal Web site and the free, 14-day, fully-functional trial available there.

If you are in a business where you solicit messages from a wide variety of people, this is probably not for you. But for many other folks, this is exactly the kind of program we were waiting for.

Go to DigiPortal.com for more information and a trial run.

Write to techguru@sree.net and let me know your thoughts.

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