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E-mail blacklists guarantee that the user will not receive e-mail from a certain party who is or is suspected to be a spammer. Blacklists work with various kinds of spam guards, and some block more throughly than others. The user decides who to blacklist, and unless the user is blacklisted, the software can never ban a message entirely, but send the doubtful message to a bulk folder.

However, a whitelist can refuse to allow someone entry if he or she does not enter the code correctly. Nevertheless, most are allowed another attempt and are not blacklisted unless the user initiates the action. The exception to this rule is when known spammers are barred from using internet and e-mail service from the provider. This is used as a protection for all e-mail users.

In spam filters, black lists work by allowing the user to block certain e-mail addresses or keywords in e-mails. Most e-mails that spam filters suspect as spam because they contain keywords common to spam e-mails, are filed in the bulk folder for the user to review.

Periodically, this bulk folder is automatically emptied unless the user want to keep the message. Whether the spam appears in the bulk folder or somehow makes it past the filter into the inbox, the user can mark the suspected e-mail as spam, and blacklist that sender.

Spam blockers offer a higher degree of protection, and like spam filters, place all suspected spam in a quarantine folder. With spam blockers, almost all e-mails are presumed to be potential spam until the user approves certain e-mails. Like spam filters, once an address is blacklisted, the e-mails no longer appear even in the bulk folder, but the messages are bounce back to the sender.

Whitelists require all potential senders to register first by typing in a partially obscured code that cannot be detected by spam software. If someone fails to gain entry, they cannot send their e-mail, but they are not blacklisted unless the user specifies that this address should be blacklisted.

While blacklists are necessary for spam protection, there can be serious problems that result form blacklisting in cases where one’s computer is being used as a spam zombie. Spammers want to escape recognition, and many have the technical knowhow to use spyware to obtain private information about a client and data bout his or her PC.

If your PC is unprotected, you are making yourself vulnerable to spyware, which can allow hackers to infect your computer with a virus or to obtain your information to use your computer as a spam zombie, forcing your PC to send out unsolicited spam to hundreds or thousands of people.

Many innocent people have been barred from e-mail providers, lost their internet connections, have been blacklisted by countless people and have faced fines or even jail time. Once a person has been blacklisted, it is difficult to regain one’s former status, and this happens often to people who are victims of spammers and whose PCs become spam zombies.

However, since this problem is becoming more widespread, there are possibilities for mending one’s status after having been blacklisted as the result of becoming a spam zombie. The process takes time, but sometimes the blacklist status is reversible.

E-mail whitelists are the ultimate in spam protection, and go beyond the safeguards used by spam filters and spam blockers to almost completely eliminate the possibility of receiving spam. Whitelists work like fortresses to completely protect the user against invasion.

Before e-mail from a new address can be allowed into the inbox, the user must answer questions or type in a partially obscured code that is recognizable on normal computers, but cannot be detected by the kind of software spammers often use.

The result is a combination of computer technology and a user’s own judgement to decide which users will be allowed to send e-mail to the account or not. Once the potential sender is approved, he or she can send e-mail to the account without having to re-register.

Many people prefer whitelists to spam filters and spam blockers. Spam filters are often free with any e-mail provider, and use probability formulas to calculate the likelihood that e-mails containing certain keywords will be spam.

The problem with this approach is that many spammers can get around these filters by using words not associated with spam and by intentionally misspelling keywords to fool the filter. Although filters are effective, there is usually a 10% to 20% failure rate. This may be acceptable to some, but for business owners who receive hundreds of e-mails a day, this means that at least 100 spam e-mails a day end up in the inbox.

Spam blockers offer a higher degree of protection, but also have their drawbacks. Spam blockers must be downloaded and require registration to send e-mails. All unfamiliar e-mails are sent to another file for the user to approve. Spam blockers, unlike filters, are entirely user driven, but have the disadvantage that sometime the user can be fooled concerning what is spam. Spammers often spoof e-mails that are familiar to the user to encourage the user to accept the e-mails.

Whitelists combine the best of technological ability and user judgement. The user approves a message, but the person registering is required to type in a code that would not be recognizable to those with spamming software. Blocking is not merely left to the judgement of the user or to the computer’s ability to find spammers, but the combination of the two make whitelists the most effective choice for spam blocking.

Some may find whitelists to be a bit strict and inconvenient, and fear that some legitimate senders might be put off by the registration process. Others would rather take this risk than to accept spam. Once a person is registered, his or her e-mail is accepted on the site, so there is no more red tape. Another objection is that sometimes the code is difficult to read even for legitimate senders. However, a sender can always try to register again unless he or she has been blacklisted.

Although some believe that whitelists threaten to take some of the spontaneity out of e-mail, others believe that this spontaneity is not worth all of the spam. Business owners use whitelist to ensure that no valuable time is wasted sorting through hundreds of spam messages a day, and this also saves money in the long run.