Category:	Anti-Spam Filter
Skill Level Required:	Beginner
Minimum System Requirements	Windows 98 SE, 2000, Me, XP 300 Mhz processor 20 MB hard drive space 128 MB RAM Supports Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora or any POP3 e-mail account (not currently for use with Web-based e-mail accounts)
Available for immediate download?	Yes
Link To Purchase & Download:	Webroot Web Site   Try Spam Shredder for 30 Days - Free

Spam Shredder was the second program from Webroot Software we found. Spam Shredder's cousin, Spy Sweeper, impressed us greatly when we had a problem with an infested laptop. The laptop was running an internet protection program from one of the major software developers and was behind a firewall, with a total of three anti-spyware & anti-adware programs. After we ran all three of the installed programs, we downloaded the free trial of Spy Sweeper. A few minutes later Spy Sweeper found 127 traces of spyware the other three had missed and our laptop returned to zipping along. We figured we'd better check Webroot's other programs.

Spam Shredder was the next one we tried. Our home and small office clients were always complaining about spam. We tried several programs from the big names. The only one that was reasonably accurate in identifying spam was too complicated for many of our users. Spam Shredder solved that problem. It is easy to install and will automatically configure Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora email accounts. For other email programs, it takes just a few minutes to manually set it up [Spam Shredder works only with POP3 email accounts - it does not work with web based mail programs]. Spam Shredder isn't an immediate cure for spam. When you first install it, it, it blocks the most obvious spam, but lets lots of questionable email through to your inbox - to make sure it isn't deleting something you need. By highlighting the spam messages and clicking on a button to tell Spam Shredder that the message is spam, Spy Sweeper 'learns' what to allow through and what to delete. In a couple of days, it is very good, and by the second week it has learned enough to excell at blocking spam.

When you install Spam Shredder, you'll find the controls easy-to-use and they allow you to specify your desired level of protection, and the size and what types of messages to scan. You have the option about how to deal with email identified as spam. You can automatically delete it, or Spam Shredder can store it in a special 'quarantine' folder allowing you to review the junk at your convenience to make sure nothing important was blocked accidentally.

To protect against accidentally deleting a message you want - like when your brother-in-law sends you a joke including the word 'Viagra' - Spam Shredder has a 'Whitelist' feature. For those people that you'd like to read everything they send, you add them to the Whitelist and Spam Shredder lets all of their messages through. Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora users can add instantly add all of their contacts to their Whitelist. Spy Sweeper also has the opposite - a Blacklist that deletes everything from senders on the list.

To stay ahead of new spam on the net, Webroot is constantly updating their database of spam and spammers. You can easily set Spam Shredder to check for these updates automatically.

Our experience with Webroot's tech support has always been positive. We've needed to contact them only a few times, and each time our question was promptly - and correctly answered.

Overall rating: Excellent program at a reasonable price. We're very happy with Spam Shredder, it does an excellent job of blocking spam and is easy to configure and use for beginning computer users.

Webroot Spam Shredder is available for immediate download and installation here.