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Looking for Remote Challenge/Response Email system

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Looking for Remote Challenge/Response Email system
Hi All

I've been looking at challenge-response email tools to help cut down on spam.

A lot of systems have to be installed on the servers, but I'm looking for one that I can install on my local win box that will review the waiting email on the server, filter it, split off the spam items to a spambox on the server (or maybe even delete them right off the bat if desired), and then allow me to preview the rest before downloading.

Would anyone know of such a system?

Or, is there a challenge-response system that can be installed on the server at the virtual level (without tons of issues)?

I found A-S-K, which can be installed under virtual accounts, but A-S-K uses like 2.2 or 2.3 python. The Cpanel for our site uses python 1.52 I think, and it can't be upgraded.

http://www.paganini.net/ask/

Just found this comparison list of some spam tools:

http://spampal.spxs.net/comparison-chart.html

Thanks Smile

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Last edited by:

DogTags: Mar 23, 2004, 6:35 AM
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Re: [DogTags] Looking for Remote Challenge/Response Email system In reply to
Hi,

I generally think these are a bad idea (do you know how many pieces of mail I get a day asking me to validate a message I never sent, ugh, just as bad as the spam itself).

That said, have a look at:

http://tmda.net/

Cheers,

Alex
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Gossamer Threads Inc.
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Re: [Alex] Looking for Remote Challenge/Response Email system In reply to
Thanks, Alex. I've been checking out TMDA, too. They even have a web-based tool which looks pretty neat:

http://www.tmda.net/tmda-cgi/

One issue that I've run into with TMDA and ASK is that they are written in python and require something like version 2.2 or 2.3. The problem is that if you have CPanel or Ensim, which both use python 1.5x I believe, you can't upgrade the python to get either the TMDA or ASK running.

Last I checked, however, Plesk is not dependant on python. However, unless you have some kind of ability to ensure at least python 2.2/3, neither TMDA nor ASK will work. ASK won't even install.

One solution that I'm considering is moving to a VPS (Virtual Private Server). It's where you get a partition on a drive that acts very closely to a fully dedicated machine, but you save on the expense of a true dedicated machine, while you get root access and can upgrade python (and do lots more). We'll see.....

Thanks, again, Alex Smile

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Re: [DogTags] Looking for Remote Challenge/Response Email system In reply to
You can host with us:

[root@ns1 root]# python -V
Python 2.2.1
[root@ns1 root]#

As both our shared and dedicated come with a current version of python. =) Alternatively you should be able to install a copy locally.

Cheers,

Alex
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Gossamer Threads Inc.