• Product: ChoiceMail 2.0
• Direct Price: $39.95 direct
• Company Info: DigiPortal Software Inc., www.digiportal.com

DigiPortal's ChoiceMail was the first app to filter spam solely through whitelisting, and pundits hailed it as the ultimate antispam tool. ChoiceMail 2.0 can be effective, but it relies too heavily on challenge messages, which may annoy friends and colleagues and can be ineffective for dealing with legitimate commercial e-mail. In fact, DigiPortal is beginning to add filters to block spam via message analysis.

On installation, the app builds a whitelist of approved senders from your address book. You can then edit the list or create a blacklist. Messages from approved senders automatically go to your in-box; blacklisted senders' mail goes into ChoiceMail's trash folder. Mail from unknown senders is quarantined and the senders get challenge messages.

Unfortunately, ChoiceMail doesn't integrate with your e-mail client. This means that checking your quarantine folder requires toggling between two windows. In addition, ChoiceMail's initial whitelist isn't as comprehensive as Qurb's, which can draw addresses from any message you've sent or saved.

On the positive side, DigiPortal now offers a separate, downloadable tool that attempts to mimic the way Qurb builds its initial whitelist. And unlike Qurb, which only works with Outlook and Outlook Express, ChoiceMail works with any POP3 e-mail client as well as several Web-based services.

ChoiceMail also has a new Permission Management subsystem that lets you block messages with certain characteristics. Predefined filters are available for download, and you can create your own.