What You Don't Get

User profiles

MiserMail can eliminate spam for certain user profiles due to the
assumptions that can be made about correspondence, thus reducing the
chance of misidentifications to a level that can be easily handled by
appropriate recontact requests that work well for each type of user.
MiserMail is recommended for a few other types who seek features other
than spam removal. The recommended profiles include:

* 1. Home or small offices.

* 2. Large offices where each operator keeps their own email
separate.

* 3. Those mainly conducting personal correspondence.

* 4. Children in care of adults who will set MiserMail to remove
pornography.

* 5. Those for whom spam removal overrides other considerations.

* 6. Those for whom fail-safe virus protection overrides other
considerations.

* 7. Those for whom time spent on email activites overrides
other considerations.

* 8. Those new to email who mainly seek simplicity (regardless
of spam removal).

* 9. Businesses seeking customized message handling. An example
would be filtering web forms with certain responses, or putting
responses in the subject, etc.

Profiles for whom MiserMail is not recommended include: Most computer
experts, web programmers, ISPs and other web professionals, anti-spam
professionals, students/teachers of HTML courses, those invested in
HTML or Java programming, and others who routinely receive legitimate
spam samples or legitimate spam-like mail in first-contacts from
new senders only.

Power users / email experts

You may like this! MiserMail is a program you can install on a
beginner's (or "experimenter's") system and walk away without worrying
that you will need to return a week later to recover the C drive. It
is quite "fascist" about possible viruses including all file extenders
at OE level 1 plus a few we added ourselves. It encourages the user to
delete them as received, and there is a big warning before any such
attachments can be viewed in the default browser (executable content
within messages cannot be accessed from MiserMail in any case). Three
additional security features are provided for operators who cannot be
expected to observe warnings, e.g. children. The warnings and features
cannot be changed by clicking the wrong thing by mistake or out of
frustration, but require reading the end of Help and editing a config
file.

Inconveniences?

Most spam filters start with the assumption that you will use Outlook
Express or another popular POP3 client, then remove as much spam as
possible. But they cannot be very effective because these clients were
designed before spam was much of a problem, and are not well designed
to work with filters. And few people really want to eliminate spam
enough to accept much redesign of familiar programs.

MiserMail starts with the assumption that you will not accept spam,
porn, or viruses in your email, period. Whatever is required to
accomplish that, it does. It turns out that POP3 email is required,
but that's the most convenient method anyway. The main inconvenience
is learning to use a new POP3 client. Once learned, it is generally
just as convenient as any other. In fact, if you do business email it
is more convenient. If you do personal email, there is one minor
difference that you may or may not consider an inconvenience. That is
mainly required to eliminate viruses, a major problem with traditional
designs. To find out more about this, click below:
Doing email with MiserMail

Features you don't get

The MiserMail feature set is designed to satisfy the needs of the
above recommended user profiles, which do not include the following
features:

IMAP Protocol

This email method keeps messages on the ISP server without
receiving them at your computer. To eliminate spam reliably over time
requires that you have full control over your email by receiving it at
your own computer with a POP3 client, the standard and most common
email method that collects mail to your computer.

Secure password authentication / free ISPs and email services

Some free ISPs (the service you use to connect to the internet)
will not allow you to use a standard POP3 account, but require you to
use their own email client, usually to be sure you don't filter their
spam or the spam people pay them to pass thru their filters. MiserMail
won't work with these services. So far in our experience this applies
only to Juno, Earthlink in some rural areas, and msn.com in most
circumstances, though one user reports using MiserMail with an msn.com
POP3 account. If in doubt, ask your ISP if they will allow you to use
your own "POP3" email client.

Public Key Encryption

Does not use public keys (authentication by third parties required)
for message encryption or encrypted digital signatures. Does not
support advanced encryption schemes for file attachments. Individual
message encryption based on simple passwords, and message database
encryption is provided.

Importing from other email programs

MiserMail will import address books from Outlook Express and other
programs that can export to a comma-separated (aka "delimited") file.
But it does not currently import messages. This means you will need to
run your old program to look up any messages received before the date
MiserMail starts to collect messages.

Not a client/server database

MiserMail is not suitable for large offices where multiple users
need to access the same messages at the same time on different
computers. However it is suitable for large offices where each person
keeps their own email separate (the usual case).

Broadcasts

Misermail only broadcasts in one way - the way you want to
broadcast anyway. Each recipient in your broadcast gets their message
as if you sent it to them individually. This prevents your broadcast
from looking like spam (i.e. To: line missing or inaccurate) which
could cause a recipient's spam filter to remove it, and prevents
disclosing all recipient's addresses to every recipient, as often
happens (unintentionally). Recipients will appreciate it, and it helps
to fight spam.

English only

Our apologies to our friends in far away places! Removing spam is
mostly a language event on a very subtle level, and we only know how
to speak English (well, we know how to say "The burro is very
intelligent" in Spanish). MiserMail will work best in the US and
Canada, but will work nearly as well in other English speaking places
(we're working on this).

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