I can still remember my first piece of spam. It was way back in 1996 and I just sat at my computer staring at the screen for the longest time trying to comprehend how this “person” got a hold of my sacred email address and why they were trying to sell me something I had no interest in. About four years later, I had to retire that email address because the spam became unbearable (over 500 pieces of spam a day.) But with each new address I created, spam eventually found me.

Through the years of my spam fighting career, I’ve used many different weapons in this ongoing warf. Software on my computer, server based fighters, and challenge response schemes. Really, nothing worked until I discovered the beta of SafetyBar about five or six years ago. Using software that installed in Outlook as a plug-in, it would take the community of SafetyBar users response of what was and what wasn’t spam and then “rate” those votes. The higher the rating of validity, the more likely that spam would never be in your Inbox but rather be moved to your Spam folder. My Inbox was over 90% clean of spam an achievement never yet accomplished to that point in time. It was great! I used it all these years until I came to the Mac. SafetyBar, now Cloudmark Desktop, was only for Windows and only for Outlook and Outlook Express (when I left it behind a couple of years ago.) But rejoice Mac fans, now it is here for you as well!

Today Cloudmark has announced the public beta of Cloudmark Desktop for Thunderbird on the Mac! If you’re a user of Mozilla’s freeware mail client that looks and feels much like Outlook Express, then you’ll be a happy camper to know that you can now protect yourself with one of the best spam fighting vehicles out there! You can download Cloudmark Desktop for Thunderbird (OS X) and use it free for 90 days after which you can sign up for the monthly subscription. Knowing how good Cloudmark is, I highly doubt you will even notice that this a beta while using it. I strongly encourage anyone looking for spam control to download this now and use it today!

Now my only gripe is where is the Mail.app and Entourage versions?