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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Eliminating spam
that doesn’t come
with rice and noriDealing with e-mailed spam can waste a good chunk of the work day. Restoring computer systems infected with viruses takes a great deal longer.
Since November, a growing number of clients of hoalagreevy LLC's Pau Spam service have eliminated those e-concerns from the ol' 9 to 5.
The Pacific Basin Economic Council is among Greevy's clients.
"It's not only a spam filter, it also provides virus protection outside of the office. We have a third-party provider that filters all mail coming in for viruses, so we get the double-bonus," said Nick Jonow, manager of information technology and communication. "The other thing is, we're using our own mail server in house, but if the power goes down in here or the computer crashes, Pau Spam queues up the mail so we don't lose any. With over 1,000 members in 20 different economies, that's rather crucial," he said.
Greevy, owner of the self-named company, developed the program and tested it on his family "network" first.
"Pau Spam is completely comprehensive. It works on any operating system or e-mail client and you don't have to install anything on your computer. A lot of users are liking that," he said.
Subscribers' e-mails are filtered by Pau Spam servers and sent on their merry way after a 5- to 10-second delay.
"Pau Spam runs 15 diagnostic checks for spam and viruses," he said. Also, the program's "brain" is always learning, making it superior to manually creating filters on a desktop, or repeatedly upgrading virus detection software.
Greevy's servers don't store e-mail, so spam messages are assigned a pre-fix and sent to the subscriber's deleted mail file. If a virus is detected, "we'll quarantine it," Greevy said.
The virus screening is a huge benefit, Jonow said.
"It has intercepted several viruses. We know because we get a notification saying an e-mail was caught with virus," he said.
The monthly charge for the service depends on the number of e-mail accounts in a company, with volume discounts available for larger companies. Greevy is reachable via the Web at www.hoalagreevy.com.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
