Keep Email Inbox Organized: Alternative to unroll.me Using EmailPet (UNROLL.ME SUCKS!!)

Due to Unroll.me lying to users and selling info to uber which leads to MORE junk email, many users are dumping unroll.me like a hot potato and rightfully so. This product is a great tool however the “free” price tag comes with a cost to our privacy. With Unroll.me not looking like they will quit this “share your data” bad habit any time soon, privacy conscious users are left out in the cold looking for an alternative. After a good many hours seeking an alternative that can A) auto organize incoming emails and B) automate the unsubscribing or removal of spam for our clogged inboxes, I found 1 tool that rose to the top of my list and it looks like the best and cleanest competition to unroll.me and a great alternative to the biggest player in the email management space Sanebox. This tool is EmailPet! and below is some config settings I have used to start my use of EmailPet.

Below are my beginer settings for EmaiPet, and with a price of 5$ per Month for 5 email addresses its a small price to pay when compared to SaneBox. Plus to be quite honest, EmailPet is more easy to use than SaneBox and from my point of view its is less intrusive to my gmail/pop3 email client. With a clean Dashboared to manage lists/filters and the ability to ala-carte  add custom lists/filters, EmailPet can be a great alternative to Unroll.me, SaneBox and almost any other Email management tool.

All of the below settings are OTB minus a Receipts List/Filter that I added. This is another awesome feature of this tool: extensibility allows users to create their own Filter/Lists. By following the configuration of the existing OTB BlackList Filter/Lists, I created my own custom Filter/Lists for Receipts. In my case I created a List first and then the Filter (made of 2 parts) this is then used by EmailPet to “Learn” over time. Its not really learning, it just uses a growing association construct meaning emails Senders added to my Receipts folder are added to a list and then when any NEW emails arrive that match an item in that list the NEW email gets auto moved to the Receipts folder. Very clean and cool!

BTW I tried some other alternatives, that ranged from Open Source Auto UnSubscription to a nice proprietary free (form now) UnSubscribe tool to some very lavish email clients/management frameworks like mailstrom ect which were over kill for my major requirements: 1) Replace the functionality of unroll.me with 2) low cost 3) across several email accounts.

Config of my email Account:

Create a standard folder structure, not required by EmailPet, just a good practice in my opinion, this is used by the various EmailPet ala-carte filters, I created a standard because I have 4 email accounts, so with a standard folder (label) layout I can easily port the emailpet config across all my email accounts:

Filters:

Custom Filter (made up of 2 parts)

Part 1

Part 2

Lists:

SetUp Limited Windows User Profile: Block, Lock & Restict Apps, Folder and Files

These procedures can be used to create a locked down enviornment, e.g:  Child Computer, Limited Admin, Adult Content Filter Protections and File Security

download and install:

1. Filtering Apps: K9 and Stop Filter

2. File Lock Utility

this is one of the only tools I found that locks folders, files and apps. It is simple, intuitive and stable. I have tried several others but none are as good as File Lock

3. Service Lock Utility:

Allows setting security DACL’s on Windows Services, prevents user from stopping services

4. MIsc Apps:

Keep Running Apps

ReStart Script

Configure:

1. Run Service Lock Utility: restrict User from stopping services:

2. Run File Lock Utility lock files

Lock
             pornFilter
             K9 files
             gpedit.msc

Set PWD

3. Local Policy Editor: gpedit.msc

Apps:
App Locker: Lock/Software Protections
                 "C:\Work\Tools\AntiVirus\KidFilter\Free\LockService\ServiceSecurityEditor.exe"
Lock System
                 Microsoft.UserAccounts
                 regedit

RESTRICT access to regedit!

4. Misc GPO

Disable Task Manager

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\DisableTaskMgr 

Hide Policy Editor:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Management Console\Restricted/Permitted snap-ins\Group Policy\Group Policy Object Editor

Disable Any Control Panel Applet

Disable Windows Services Applet

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC\{58221C66-EA27-11CF-ADCF-00AA00A80033} and locate Restrict_Run registry key

5. If User is not Administrator:

Configuring Windows 7 for a Limited User Account
else 

6. If User is Admin but want to limit some apps:

a) Create 2nd Admin User Admin2

b) Set ServiceLock user “Manage Service” DACL  to this user.  Set everyone else Deny “Stop Service”

7.  Assign revoke Terminate_Process DACL  Refs:
         https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5380018/deny-access-to-kiosk-program-process
         https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3121746/prevent-c-sharp-app-from-process-kill
         http://csharptest.net/1043/how-to-prevent-users-from-killing-your-service-process/index.html
         http://ethertubes.com/make-a-program-run-as-a-windows-service-on-boot/
         https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/30985/create-a-unterminable-process-in-windows
         https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms684880(v=vs.85).aspx
         https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27858649/Protect-An-Application-From-Being-Killed-With-Task-Manager-Delphi.html
        
     Options to implement Process to Keep Filters running:
    
         1) Un-Killable Process: Set ACE to AccessDenied for ProcessAccessRights PROCESS_TERMINATE,
             http://csharptest.net/1043/how-to-prevent-users-from-killing-your-service-process/index.html
             K9filter.exe to
             hlth.ex
             movie.exe
            
         2) Create Boot process:
             a) Service that is a Service Driver
             b) kernel hacking, as mdm said, or diving into rootkit territory. Which I would suggest you avoid.
             c) Winlogon notification package.
            
         2) Create watcher proess:
             a) create app to run at boot
             b) Set to un-killable
             c) Process will watch K9filter.exe , hlth.exe ect
             d) for each process:
                 if process is dead: restart
                 else do nothing
        

Send Email Messages in the Future

Use these tools to setup future emails or coorespondances on a schedule:

https://sendrecurring.appspot.com/
https://www.futureme.org/
http://www.lettermelater.com/
http://whensend.com/
http://futureemailer.com/
http://lettertomyfutureself.net/
http://www.rightinbox.com/