Spam is the junk mail of the 21st century. Spam sent to your pop3 emails accounts can be managed using junk mail filter, rules, and trash with Outlook 2003 or 2007 for Windows and Entourage for Mac.
Outlook has a featured called "Junk E-mail" then "Junk E-mail Options..." which can be found under the "Actions" menu. This can also be found from the "Tools" menu then "Options" then "Preferences" then the "Junk E-mail" button. There are 4 cards with various settings for your junk mail including options, safe senders list, safe recipients list, and blocked senders list.
Each time you retrieve email, look through your trash for emails you want to keep. Identify the email address as good by choosing "Add Recipient to Safe Recipients List" which will cause your system to remember this sender. Next time you receive email from this sender, it will not go to your trash.
Outlook Express is the free version so it does not have the same functions as the full version of Outlook. It has rules under the Tools menu, then Message Rules. Here you will find Mail..., News..., and Blocked Senders List... You can also block individual email messages by clicking on the message then choosing the Message menu, then Block Sender.
Entourage have a featured called "Junk Mail Filter", which can be found under the "Tools" menu. Enable your junk mail filter and set the sensitivity to High. Now, all the email that arrives from unknown senders will be automatically marked as junk.
Entourage has "Rules" can also be found under the Tools menu. Rules require a name, criteria, and an action. Set a rule to send all junk mail directly to your trash. i.e. if Category is Junk, then Move message to Delete Items. You can also set rules to send good emails to folders you create.
Each time you retrieve email, look through your trash for emails you want to keep. Click the "This is not junk mail" link in the email, then choose from the options provided. Choosing "Classify all messages sent from the sender's domain as not junk" will cause your system to remember this sender. Next time you receive email from this sender, it will not go to your trash.
When browsing emails in the trash, have "Preview Pane" (found under the View menu) turned off. Why? Well some spam contains small images. When you view the email, the image is called up from the server and the spammers know you have read the message. They are then encouraged to send more spam. Plus, if you delete the spam without having viewed the email, you are not subject to images you would rather not see.
If you are unsure if a particular email is spam, use View - Source to view the source code. If it is good email, then use the preview pane to mark it as not junk.
Turning off images is another way to stop sending a message to the junk mail server that the email message has been read.
Tools menu, select Options, Security, Change Automatic Download Settings...
Tools menu, select Options, Security, Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail.
You can choose a color for the spam from "Categories" in the main mail window. Chose red to make it easy to spot the email to not open!
Using your primary email address for listserv lists is a sure way to get on hundreds of email lists. Instead, setup a new account and use an address that you do not care to save. For example: use listserv1@domainname. This way you can delete this email address and start a new one (listserv2@domain) whenever appropriate.
Beware of email indicating that your bank account, paypal account, or any other account has been compromised. Learn more about phishing...
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