Degunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses [Paperback]

Before reaching the title page inside the book, the first few pages quickly cover the 12-step degunking program with a list followed by 15-minute, 30-minute, one-hour, and three-hour to half-day steps for degunking email and viruses with time limitations. This section finishes off with top 20 tasks for clearing the email cobwebs. Excellent start.

If you're overwhelmed at the thought of following a 12-step program and spending more than a day going through each step, the time limitations section should ease your mind. It's a good way to begin, baby steps. Don't stop there, however. Make it part of a long-term program and pick up some of the habits it covers.

I already use many of the tips, but that's no surprise as obsessed with organization as I am. Though I have implemented many of the suggestions, the book provides value because it offers a process for cleaning up as well as tips I hadn't considered. It took me years to come up with many of the tips covered. So don't wait years to figure it out yourself when you can get it right now with one resource, this book.

Sure, it covers the usual, "have a firewall running" and "ensure your anti-virus program is running and up to date." However, you'd be surprised how many people don't have either in place. This book would be incomplete without these recommendations.

Though a majority use Outlook or Outlook Express for managing email, Duntemann discusses other clients including The Bat!, Thunderbird, Pegasus, and Eudora. Like many things in life, everyone has different needs when it comes to email. The author discusses four email profiles and mentions them throughout the book so whichever you are, follow the advice for that profile.

Like the other books in Paraglyph's Degunking series, this one is easy to read and addresses the advantages and disadvantages of various tools. Anyone who gets the book and follows its steps will experience a leaner, cleaner email box and possibly a faster-running computer. Most users of all levels should benefit from this book. The only group that might not invest in it are those who know everything inside out about spam, viruses, malware, and adware and how to deal with them.

Spam and computer viruses are taking some of the pleasure and productivity out of using computers. Not many people have e-mail accounts that are free of spam. Every moment you are connected to the Internet, you run the risk of being infected with spyware or adware. Everyone who is sent files by e-mail is at risk for getting a computer virus.

"Debunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses" is a very friendly book with all kinds of strategies for keeping your computer from getting infected. I bought this book chiefly because I was curious how I could keep spam from flooding my e-mail account, but only half of this book's 16 chapters are devoted to spam. You will also get information about viruses, adware and spyware, and firewalls. There is also an amusing chapter about Internet scams -- "phishing" is the term -- and how to avoid them.

This is not your run-of-the-mill computer book. It is extremely well written and well organized. The writing is clear, friendly, and humorous at times. I wish more computer book publishers would take a cue from the Paraglyph Press, publishers of the book. The design is professional and a far cry from the slammed-together books you usually get in the computer field.

My only quarrel with this book is the author's enthusiasm for Bayesian spam filtering. The author devotes a chapter to Bayesian filtering, which I think is not near as effective has he thinks it is. Other than that, "Debunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses" sets a standard for computer books that I hope more computer books meet in the future.

Degunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses, by Jeff Duntemann, is a manual for people who need to spend time with their computer degunking it or want to take time to block gunk. Yes, the topic is gunk! "In the context of this book," Duntemann explains, "'gunk' means any and all unwanted items that come in to your PC by way of the Internet." The main focus is on managing email to delete and avoid gunk that arrives via email. Apple users please note: Duntemann addresses the PC world. This is not an Apple specific book; in fact, MAC in this book refers to Media Access Control.

Duntemann's Degunking is an instructional text for computer novices and experienced computer users, but not for computer experts. Chapter 1 answers the question "Why is your computer suffering from email and virus gunk?" Duntemann discusses in the next five chapters the creation of an email degunking strategy, using the right email client (he recommends using a Web mail service rather than email software), developing good email habits, reading and degunking your email from anywhere, cleaning and organizing your mailbase (your correspondence). Four chapters cover spam - how to avoid it, how to filter it, and how to deep clean spam. Another four chapters cover viruses, trojans, worms, adware, and spyware, all of which he lumps together under the label "malware." One chapter discusses "Nigerian rhapsodies, hoaxes, and other smelly phish." The final chapter outlines step by step what to do if your computer has been attacked by any malware.

Since Duntemann's book addresses PC users rather than Apple users, I recommend skipping this one if you have an Apple computer. It is not a bad book, just not appropriate for Apple users. Paraglyph Press also published Degunking Your Mac, by Joli Ballew (2004). Jane Thomas reviewed that book for the Alaskan Apple Users Group in July 2004, and the review remains available online at http://www.akappleug.org/rev/316.html/. Like Duntemann's book, Ballew's provides a 12-Step Degunking Program, though one specific for Apple computers. Thomas concludes in her review:

"Some Mac users might already do such a good job of keeping the clutter on their Mac under control that they don't need this book. But many of us, including me, sure can benefit from the easy-to-read, step-by-step degunking program described in Degunking your Mac. For most of us, this useful book is well worth $24.99. As mentioned in the Introduction, I think this book will stay close to my Mac and will be referred to frequently. I give Degunking Your Mac a rating of 5 mooses. It's terrific!"

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