Spam email is an intrusion into our lives. We don’t want it, we don’t ask for it, and yet it comes right into our house to bother us. Some spam is very offensive. Some of the spam is X-rated and kids may be looking over their shoulder. Spam can take a long time to deal with and can seem almost overwhelming. Most of the software programs we use to read email and many Internet service providers offer effective ways to deal with spam. The drawback is that it requires a small investment of time and study to learn how to apply the spam filters that we have at our disposal.
There are two ways to filter spam: on the server and in our desktop email program. Since I previously wrote about setting up server-level spam filters on a hosting account, I’ll talk about spam filtering that works within POP email accounts.
Filter settings with Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook 2010 has a very simple spam filtering system that will help reduce the amount of spam you have to deal with. To get started, right-click on the spam in question. Go to the option titled “Trash” near the bottom of the menu. You will see options to “Block sender”, “Never block sender”, “Never block sender domain”, etc. If you choose Block Sender, you will never receive email from anyone at that address again.
There is an option called “Spam Options”. If you choose that, you’ll get a wizard where you can turn on spam filtering for your account. Your options are No Filtering, Low Filtering, High Filtering, and Safe Lists Only. Below the low and high filter options is a line that describes the meaning of each option. “Safe lists only” means that you will need to manually create a safe list. Then only email from addresses on your Safe List reaches your inbox. The rest of the mail is then deleted. At the top of the Spam Options wizard is a tab called Blocked Senders. The Blocked senders option prevents mail from all blocked addresses from reaching your inbox and directs it to the Trash. You can populate the list of blocked senders by right-clicking on any spam email and choosing to block that sender.
Another important setting is the one that will permanently remove spam. If you choose this option, all spam is permanently deleted. This option is not recommended for many users since the Trash gives us a second chance to recover improperly deleted mail.
If you choose High Filtering, your email must meet a very high standard to avoid the spam folder. These filters aren’t perfect, and you might miss a unwanted email from time to time. If you’re expecting an email and you don’t receive it, you can go to your spam folder and check if it’s there. To find the Junk Email Folder, simply double-click the Inbox folder icon. Now the whole folder directory in Inbox will open and you will see Junk Folder. Double click on the spam folder and you will see the messages it contains. Go to your friend’s message and right click on it. Choose “Trash” near the bottom of the menu. Then click “Never block sender”. Now you won’t lose mail from that sender.
Outlook filters aren’t perfect
The built-in spam filters in Microsoft Office aren’t perfect, but they do offer some level of protection. Spammers are cunning, creative and very persistent. You will find that some spam will make it to your mailbox despite filters. I recommended that you set up spam filters with your Internet Service Provider to work in conjunction with Outlook filters. Feel free to make some adjustments to your Outlook filters. If you do not receive email sent by a friend; don’t forget to check your spam folder. Microsoft’s website offers more information about Outlook email filters.
Configuring spam filters for Mozilla Thunderbird
Thunderbird is a free, open source email program offered by the Mozilla Foundations, which also produces the Firefox web browser. Thunderbird is one of the best alternatives to Microsoft Outlook. Firefox offers a very strong spam filter system. We’ll take a look at setting up spam filters in Thunderbird.
When you have set up your email account in Thunderbird (you can have multiple email accounts within the program), you will see an icon in the left sidebar of the program. Highlight your account and you will see a list of options in the larger right column. Click “View settings for this account.” Click “Trash Settings” on the left of the popup that appears. The first option that is available is “Enable adaptive spam settings for this account.” Check that box. The following option grants all addresses in your Personal Address Book exemption from the filtering process. Check that as it approves all those senders.
The next option to “Trust spam headers set by SpamAssassin” is very powerful. SpamAssassin is a highly accurate spam scoring system that is run on many hosting servers and internet service providers. If you have SpamAssassin on your hosting account or the ISP where your email originates, you can use this option. By using this option, you give Thunderbird permission to delete spam when the SpamAssassin program marks it as junk or spam. This means that once you have configured SpamAssassin at the server or ISP level, your email will receive a spam rating before it reaches your inbox. Thunderbird will read this score and move all mail with a high enough score to the spam folder when it arrives on your computer. This is very effective. Your only concern is if the punctuation is too strict and sometimes good email goes to the spam folder. If this happens, you can put that email address in your address book and you will receive all mail from that person.
Finally, you know where to put the spam. You can choose the Junk Email Folder for this particular account or another folder of your choice. Pick the one under this account and you’ll know where to look if you lose some good mail. That’s it; Junk filters are now configured in Thunderbird.
Setting up junk or spam filters may seem a bit complex at first. It may take a bit of study and trial and error at first. These filters will give you great relief once they are in place. It will be worth the effort if you hate spam as much as I do.