Is there anything more infuriating than spammers sending the same exact email dozens of times per day? For weeks the same spam message has been bypassing the Gmail spam filter and driving me crazy. Here’s the scoop.

For reference purposes, I’ve drawn this illustration of the technology behind Gmail’s spam filter so you can understand how it really works.

My Spam Problem

Every single day, multiple times per day, the same spam makes it through the Gmail filter. Even when I use the “Report Spam” button multiple times per day, they still come through!

It’s maddening. All of these made it into my inbox.

The Solution?

Unfortunately, there’s no really good solution to this issue. What I’ve done as a workaround is create a new Label in Gmail called “IHateSpammers”, and a new filter that keeps these emails out of my inbox.

First, you can use the “Filter messages like this” menu item, or just create a new filter.

Put in the text you want to match, and then click Test Search to make sure it matches.

On the next screen, the most important step is to use the Skip the Inbox checkbox, and apply the new label. You can also check the box to apply the filter to the emails still in the inbox.

Now I don’t get any of these emails in my inbox anymore, but I still have a problem: whenever Gmail’s spam filter starts working again, I don’t want it thinking that those messages are fine.

The most important step is to check the IHateSpammers label every so often, and report all of the messages as spam. It’s still annoying, but at least they aren’t hitting your inbox!

Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe if you named the label WakeTheHamster the problem would resolve itself… hmm…

Interesting Random Stuff We Found This Week

Here’s a few things that we found this week while wasting our time browsing the web:

• Mac Buyer’s Guide
  This guide by MacRumors keeps you updated on when you should or shouldn’t buy an Apple product. For instance, they say you shouldn’t buy a new iPod Touch right now because Apple is likely to come out with a new version soon. Handy!
• Office 2010 screenshots emerge
  Neowin has a brief look at the newest version of Microsoft Office. Just imagine the TPS reports you can type with it!
• TweetMyPC
  Now you can be unproductive and restart your PC remotely at the same time. I still haven’t figured out the point of Twitter.
• Students Make Atari Games Look Like Atari Again 
  Georgia Tech students created a modification to the Stella Atari emulator to make it look like you are playing on an ancient CRT TV. Now that’s retro!
• Push a Coin Through a Table 
  Yeah, it’s a silly magic trick. But can you do it with a thumb drive?
• The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2)
  This service pack is a must-install for anybody using Office 2007. There’s a massive performance boost, especially if you are using Gmail with IMAP in Outlook 2007.
• Engineering Windows 7 Graphics Performance
  The official Microsoft Win7 blog talks about how they are improving desktop and gaming graphics in Windows 7. This blog is a must-read, and I recommend you subscribe if you are interested in upcoming Windows stuff.
• View the Ecofont 
  This font adds tiny little unnoticeable holes in the letters to print using less ink, so you can help save the environment and your wallet at the same time.

Latest Reviews at How-To Geek

We’ve been making lots of progress with our official reviews of various products. We’ve branched out a bit, so we now have some official reviews even for freeware products.

The idea is that we’ll have a nicely organized location where you can take a full look at any software package before you bother buying, downloading, or installing anything.

Portable Apps The Good: Lots of powerful apps and utilities that run from a flash drive. Can add and customize a lot of other utilities not already included	Read the Full Review…
WINAMP 10th Anniversary Edition The Good: Easy to use, great audio quality, loads of fun features.	Read the Full Review…
Wondershare Video to Audio Converter The Good: Fast, good quality audio conversions from video files. Nicely laid out user interface which makes use very easy	Read the Full Review…
Norton 360 The Good: Great all-in-one AntiVirus, Internet, and data protection	Read the Full Review…

This section is still a work in progress… as we build more reviews, we’ll make it easier to browse. For now, you can always hit up the Reviews link on the site menu.

Have You Built Your Own Computer?

How many of you have built your own computer? In case you missed them, we’ve written up a full guide to building a PC from scratch.

• Part 1: Choosing Hardware
• Part 2: Putting it Together
• Part 3: Setting it Up
• Part 4: Installing Windows and Loading Drivers
• Part 5: Tweaking Your New Computer

The key thing to remember is to get feedback on the list of parts you want to use. One great place to do that is on the How-To Geek Forums.

The Daily Articles

Just in case you missed them, here’s the list of daily articles from the week.

• Enhance Productivity With Extensions For Windows
• Organize your RSS Feeds with FeedDemon
• Friday Fun: Destroy Everything with Indestructo Tank
• Translate Foreign Website Text to your Native Language
• How To Find Drives Easily with Desk Drive

And finally…

One of the Lifehacker readers wrote in with an interesting tip: he uses his password as a way to motivate himself. Silly? You decide.