Spamfire for Windows announced; virtually eliminates email spam from inboxes.

Matterform Media (www.matterform.com), a cross-platform developer of anti-spam software, has announced the October 1 release of its new Spamfire for Windows, designed to prevent virtually all unwanted email from reaching end users' inboxes. The announcement was made at the TechXNY conference in New York City.

Last month's SoBig.F virus infection, delivered by email and described by experts as the fastest-spreading computer virus ever, points out the need for computer users of all sizes to protect themselves against the increasingly malicious use of "spam," or unsolicited commercial email. Business Week magazine cites estimates that the SoBig.F virus may have cost businesses as much as $1 billion in lost productivity, sales and hours wasted.

Spamfire for Windows, sold through distributors and directly from the Matterform web site, is specifically designed to enable users to reduce the amount of spam that reaches their email boxes by as much as 95 per cent, or more.

"While Spamfire is not anti-virus software, it is an integral part of a complete defense against the kind of damage virus writers can wreak," said Michael Herrick, Matterform's president. "Messages bearing executable attachments that never make it to your inbox cannot be opened. In that respect, Spamfire provides an additional level of protection, as well as getting rid of the other forms of spam that can be a tremendous nuisance." The introduction of Spamfire for Windows follows the last year's successful release of Spamfire for Macintosh users. In the last 18 months, Spamfire users have successfully prevented more than 100 million undesired email messages from reaching their inboxes.

Matterform Media's Spamfire for Windows is available at a suggested retail price of $39.95, which includes one year of automatic filter updates at no additional charge, and is available for immediate download from the company's website, www.matterform.com.