Further to my recent postings I have now proved to my own satisfaction that most of my spam comes in on an address that has *only* appeared in that exact format on the Rootsweb archives. I say exact format because the archives show my old address of W/gen@johngareth.freeserve.co.uk as gen@johngareth.freeserve.co.uk --- nowhere else have I seen it in that curtailed form. When I analysed my incoming spam I found that 67% came in on the gen@ version. I changed it to Roots@johngareth.freeserve.co.uk last December, and the other day in one download session I only had 2 spam on that address but 37 on the gen@ address. I have failed so far to find out exactly when Rootsweb encrypted the archive addresses, they are too busy with server problems, no matter. I think I can confidently say that my own spam problem relates to the Rw archives -- the pre-encryption period in particular. On the same evidence the Rw archives encryption looks effective anyway. So, what I have done is set up Mailwasher's filter to delete and hide anything on the gen@ address, works well. I also have a filter rule that stops the deleting of W/gen@ etc just in case it's still in someone's address book. I recommend to anyone who gets a lot of spam to change their email address immediately. Easy enough with the freeserve sort, just change what comes before the @ to whatever you like because the user name comes after the @. But my other address type tirbach@clara.co.uk would require changing online at clara's site, easy to do though, and this type has the added advantage that mails to the old address format would then be bounced by clara themselves. Obviously you would need to tell people of the change, and unsub/resub the lists of course ! Bear in mind that the Lookup Exchange sites I run have encrypted addresses now, so no ongoing worries there if you tell me of the changed address. I hope this advice helps at least some of you cope better with this wretched problem. Gareth List administrator for DYFED, CGN & PEM Genuki Wales http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/ Lookup Exchange http://home.clara.net/tirbach/lookup.html Help Page http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html .