It provides an aggressive centralized e-mail filtering system specifically designed for business that is quickly and easily implemented for an entire company. It can be used with any existing e-mail system including:

• PCs retrieving e-mail directly from an ISP or Exchange server
• UNIX retrieving e-mail from an ISP with POP3
• UNIX receiving e-mail 24/7 with SMTP

NOTE: You do not need UNIX-based e-mail to use FineLine SpamFilter - i.e. it can be added to PC-only e-mail environments like Outlook retrieving e-mail directly from the Internet. See the configuration table below for more information.

Over 80% of all e-mail on the Internet consists of "spam" - a common term for "unsolicited bulk e-mail". FineLine SpamFilter provides an effective solution for drastically reducing the amount of spam that your users receive so less time and productivity is wasted on wading through and deleting these messages - along with running the risk of missing or deleting valid messages buried in the spam.

Does it really work?

Here's what a few customers have to say about FineLine SpamFilter:

"I just wanted to let you know how thrilled and satisfied we are with the FineLine SpamFilter software.  It is one of the best pieces of software we have purchased.  I cannot believe how our junk email went from over 500 per day to almost nothing.  We also get very few false positives.  Our employees are thrilled with it, as am I.  It would be a bargain at twice the price.  Keep up the good work."
     - H Bernstein, Franshaw Inc, NY

"It took less than an hour to setup and less than 2 days to work out the subtle nuances.  It filters over 2000 spam emails a day.  That's 2000 spam emails that get through my ISP's filter!  I think it is awesome."
     - M Fera, Bulldog Office Products, PA

"I just want to thank you for this great product.  It filters all our spam - period!!  I love the whitelist because I do not have to worry about it filtering my customers.  The product actually saves us money.  I am just amazed how the filter goes through the Internet spam lists and yet does not delay the email delivery."
     - Z Katz, Seajet Trucking, NJ

What makes this filtering software unique?

FineLine SpamFilter centralizes the filtering on a UNIX server and so it has the unique advantage of knowing exactly which e-mail recipients names are valid - one thing spammers can never accurately know. This is an excellent indicator of whether or not a message is spam since the majority of spam e-mail is addressed to a combination of bogus and valid users at the same domain name.

In contrast, when e-mail is delivered directly to a single PC (how most e-mail is usually transferred), there is no way for the PC to know whether the other recipients specified in the message are valid, and so it cannot recognize whether or not the message is spam using this important and highly effective indicator (the same limitation is true for spam filtering performed by an ISP).

FineLine SpamFilter also includes a number of unique content checking options, including:

• Specifying a wildcard character in a subject to match varying spellings (ex: "Ph aramacy", "Re[#]:", "meedicaxtionn", "degr3e", etc.)
• Checking if the sender's e-mail name contains a vowel within a certain number of consecutive characters (ex: "qqzerdgwgi@abc.com)
• Specifying if the message contains an attached GIF image (combined with other requirements)
• Specifying the number of words required in the subject (combined with other requirements)
• Searching a limited number of lines in the message body for specific text or for web addresses that are checked against Internet block lists
• The custom filter table can be updated by Sound Ideas automatically via e-mail to provide timely content checking updates based on currently circulating spam
• And much more...

What functions are included?

• Filtering of mail from a POP3 server or directly from a local mailbox with automatic weekly purging of filtered e-mail by day of the week.
• Enhanced POP3 server for providing e-mail stored on UNIX to PCs or other POP3 clients. This special POP3 server can also provide a current index of all filtered messages for viewing with a PC interface, along with select access to the actual filtered files.
• A utility for interactively viewing the processing of a mailbox in real-time without affecting the mailbox contents (with the ability to view, search, save and/or print the results). Great for testing how configuration changes affect the filtering before implementation.
• An option to manually check a domain name or IP address with the Internet block lists so you can see if a particular domain has been blocked.
• An option to manually test the accessibility and performance of each selected Internet block list.
• A utility to search all current filtered messages for a particular sender or recipient address and list the matching messages along with where each is stored.
• The ability to specify a limit on the number of messages that are retrieved or listed (virtually all e-mail clients only process entire mailboxes). Very helpful for testing, or with Internet connectivity issues that require shorter connection times.
• A utility to import a text file into the local whitelist or blacklist
• Automatic returned e-mail loop detection redirects multiple returned messages encountered during a single pass of a mailbox, greatly reducing "thrashing" and system degredation from bouncing messages. (Returned e-mail loops occur when an incoming address is forwarded to an invalid or "mailbox full" external address that returns the message. Although the cause of the loop still needs to be addressed in the e-mail server/client software being used, this feature can drastically reduce the loop's impact on the system.)
• Extensive configuration options through an easy-to-use centralized UNIX interface.

What existing e-mail configurations are supported?

FineLine SpamFilter uses either the common POP3 protocol to retrieve a mailbox from the Internet (your ISP) or another server, or it can read directly from a mailbox file that is already on your UNIX server.

Even if your UNIX server does not currently process your e-mail, it is easy to add FineLine SpamFilter to your existing e-mail configuration.

Here are a few common e-mail scenerios and how FineLine SpamFilter fits in:

What steps are performed to determine whether a message is spam or not?

1. If the mailbox is for one recipient (versus company-wide) and the recipient's address is specified, the message is filtered if it is not addressed to the recipient.
2. If the sender's domain or complete e-mail address is in the local whitelist, the message is considered valid.
3. If the sender's domain or complete e-mail address is in the local blacklist, the message is filtered.
4. Entries in a custom filter table are tested against the message.  These entries can flag a message as spam or OK based on a number of criteria, including the text in the subject, from, to, received and any other header, a GIF image attachment, and checking for specific text in up to 999 lines of the message body. Numerous "built-in" entries are included upon install.
5. A comprehensive set of configurable content filtering options check the validity of the message, including looking for basic spam flags, a valid message ID, various subject controls, sender and recipient address conditions and more.
6. The message's IP addresses and sender's domain name are checked against Internet block lists (special Internet servers that maintain lists of known spammers).
7. Up to 999 lines of the body are checked for a web address (which often exists in spam since the goal is to advertise something) and all web addresses found are tested against the Internet block lists. This step usually results in a very high spam capture rate.
8. If the message passes all of the above, it is considered to be valid and placed in the specified mailbox.

Where are the filtered messages stored and how can I access them?

With FineLine SpamFilter, a message being processed is considered to be either spam or valid. Valid messages are placed in the mailbox specified in the configuration. Filtered messages are placed in special system-wide mailboxes for each day that automatically purge themselves each week (so you have up to one week to retrieve a message from the filtered mailboxes).

To access these filtered mailboxes with a PC e-mail interface (ex: Outlook), you only need to create additional user accounts in the PC e-mail software ("profiles" in Outlook; "identities" in Outlook Express) using special SpamFilter e-mail account names to access each day's filtered e-mail (a single name can be used to access the current day's filtered mail, or any day of the week can be specified). An additional special account name is also included which generates 7 messages (one for each day) listing information on the filtered messages in each spam mailbox for easier location of a misdirected message (i.e. it provides an index of the messages that have been filtered).

If you are using a UNIX-based e-mail package like our FineLine Message Manager, you can simply specify a user's UNIX folder directory as the location of the spam mailboxes and then the user only needs to change the current folder in the e-mail program to access them.

In addition, a UNIX search utility is provided for specifying a sender or recipient's address and it will list all matching messages along with the spam mailbox where each matching message resides.

How effective will this program's spam filtering be for me?

Spam varies greatly depending on what mailing lists you are on and what e-mail configuration is being employed, so the performance of FineLine SpamFilter "out of the box" will not be perfect - although it should catch the majority of spam with all options enabled. The big keys to its effectiveness are whether it can employ a receipient name check, how the headers of the message being processed were written, and whether the Internet block lists have the sender listed. If the message headers are "clean" and the sender's domain, IP addresses and web addresses are not listed, it may take a little customization of the SpamFilter options to catch particular messages.

Also, the more spam messages that are caught, the more efficient the program becomes because it maintains a list of recent domain names and IP addresses found on the Internet block lists.  This speeds up processing because this list eliminates the need to re-check information with the Internet from repeat spammers (entries can easily be found and deleted from this list, if required).

As an example of how effective FineLine SpamFilter is with company e-mail, we receive between 1,500 and 7,000 spam messages a day in our single company-wide e-mail box. After listing all of the newsletter senders in the local whitelist, we are right at 99-100% capture rate with virtually no "false positives" (valid messages that are incorrectly filtered). During a recent long weekend, we accumulated 18,920 spam messages in our mailbox - of which only 19 got through! This high rate of capture is due to SpamFilter's ability to filter messages addressed to invalid local users along with our extensive "built-in" filter table entries. In contrast, with another mailbox that contains e-mail for only a single user whose address contains the ISP's domain name (i.e. not a local domain name), the results are not as high because the software is unable to check for valid local recipient names and must rely solely on message content checks and the accuracy of Internet block lists.

Can I see how it will work without actually processing my e-mail?

FineLine SpamFilter includes a powerful option for "testing" a mailbox (POP or local) without deleting or delivering anything. This utility prompts for a mailbox defined in the software and then processes each message "live" while you watch. It's a great way to see where things might slow down (ex: checking a particular Internet block list) and how each message will be processed (i.e. valid vs spam). The program can be interrupted at any message and the results viewed, searched, saved and/or printed.

This tool is extremely valuable for seeing how your messages will be processed so the local whitelist, blacklist, filter table and content options can be modified to properly process messages for your particular system. Simply change a configuration option and re-select the mailbox to see how the change affects the filtering.

NOTE: If you are interested in evaluating this software, you only need to do the following to see how it will work for you - without affecting your existing e-mail in any way:

1. Download, install and license the software (eval license available from the download page)
2. Specify any number of local or POP3 mailboxes in the configuration
3. Specify your local domain name(s) in the configuration
4. Specify the IP address of your DNS server in the configuration
5. Run the UNIX command:   flfilter  -view

How can I see why a particular message was filtered?

Every message filtered by FineLine SpamFilter has a few lines added to the message header that specify what condition was met for it to be considered spam. This is extremely important for adjusting the software to reduce "false positives" - when a valid message is filtered. Just choose the "View message source" (or similar wording) option in your e-mail program to see the headers.

This package also includes an option to search the Internet block lists for a specified domain name or IP address, listing whether the entry was found in each list. This is a very important function for determining whether a particular domain or IP has been listed on the Internet causing messages to be filtered.

How fast is it and will I notice a slowdown in my system when it's working?

As detailed above, the software first performs a number of content checks against the message before checking information with the Internet. These simple content checks shouldn't cause any noticible decrease in system performance since only one message is processed at a time. The only delay that might be experienced is with the delivery of some messages since the software may need to wait for the Internet block lists and/or DNS server to respond to different requests, which may add a few seconds to the delivery of a message. Since the mail processing should be happening in the background, users shouldn't really notice any difference - except that the number of spam messages they receive drops dramatically!

How much effort is required to get this software working efficiently on my system?

Although it will work "out of the box" (assuming you have adapted your system to use it as explained in the table above), it may not catch all spam and may incorrectly filter valid messages until you "tune it" a little. This includes making sure that every valid local recipient name is specified in the software (UNIX users are automatically considered valid) - including all aliases (ex: sales, tech, etc); entering the domain of senders of all e-mail newsletters in the local whitelist (otherwise they will be filtered if not specifically addressed to a valid local user); adding the domain name of repeat spam senders in the local blacklist; and possibly adding some custom filters for catching certain messages by subject or body text, for example (although a large number of "built-in" filter entries are included). With the ability to view how your messages will be processed with the current configuration without actually delivering the e-mail, it's just a matter of run the viewer, change a configuration option and run it again until you are satisfied with the filtering.

What UNIX platforms are supported?

• SCO OpenServer 5 / 6
• SCO UnixWare 7
• Linux
• IBM AIX

Do you have a Windows or Macintosh version?

Being UNIX-based gives FineLine SpamFilter a substantial edge over non-UNIX-based products. With Linux being virtually free and only requiring the hardware of a basic PC, it is an inexpensive and relatively easy way to set-up a "UNIX" server (just install Linux and our software and connect it to your network).

How is this product licensed?

This product is licensed by a single UNIX server (unlimited users) as a one-time purchase (i.e. no yearly fee is required, although an optional maintenance agreement may be available in the future).

What is the pricing of this product?

Per UNIX server (unlimited users) $695

NOTE: All prices are subject to change without notice.