Outlook Express features powerful mail filtering capabilities that
can be used to filter incoming mail. With this, you can filter your e-mail not
only by Sender (usually ineffective for spammers) but by Subject and/or
specific text in the message body as well.
One of the most effective message rules you can set up is to move any
mail that is not specifically addressed to you to a Junk Mail folder for
later review. Once you've established a pattern for a particular spam
message, you can set up additional rules that either delete it automatically or move
it to the Junk Mail folder you set up by following these instructions.
(Note: In versions 4.00 and 4.01 of Outlook Express for Windows,
the mail-filtering feature is called the "Inbox Assistant" but functions
similarly.)
In Outlook Express, click on Tools,Message
Rules, and Mail...
1. Select your filtering criteria. In this case,
we're going to choose the option Where the To or CC line contains people.
2. Select the action you want Outlook Express to
take. We're going to choose
Move it to the specified folder.
3. Click on the contains people section of the
Description. Here, you need to specify the e-mail address you're filtering for.
Note: The Options button allows you to be more elaborate and specific in your
rule; for example, you may create exceptions to the application of your
rule. We're going to use the options so that Outlook Express
filters for any message that doesn't match the specified e-mail address.
Click OK all the way back to the New Mail Rule screen.
4. Click on the specified section of the Description.
Here, you need to specify the folder for e-mail messages which match
the rule
will be moved to.
We're going to create a Junk Mail folder under the
Inbox. Click on Inbox in the list of folders so that it is
highlighted, then click the New Folder button. We'll call the new folder Junk
Mail
Make sure that the Junk Mail folder is highlighted and click OK.
We're done! Make sure you give the new rule a
descriptive name so you'll recognize it later, and then click OK.
Once some rules have been defined the rules
window will look similar to the screenshot below.
Click OK all the way out of the dialog boxes back to the main
Outlook Express window.
Now, if you click on the little plus sign (+) next to Inbox,
you'll have a Junk Mail folder.
Periodically, you'll want to look at the stuff that
accumulates in here and delete the things you don't want to read.
Outlook Express also has an option to automatically delete messages which
match the criteria in your rules. We usually recommend that, at a minimum, until you're
confident your rule isn't catching things you might want you should use this method of
manual cleanup.
RESIDENTIAL
