Filtering Unwanted E-mail

Suggested Headline: Filtering unwanted E-mail

Suggested Teaser: E-mail filtering: Trash the junk?

Suppose you had an intelligent mailbox that would preview everything the U.S. Postal Service carrier placed in it. It would look for bulk rate mail permit numbers and certain return addresses of junk mailers that you shun. It would flag envelopes addressed to "occupant." It would even read the content of letters to scan them for words like "donation," and phrases like "Make a million $$$$ per day from home doing absolutely nothing!" Most importantly, this intelligent mailbox would simply refuse delivery of such mail.

Sorry. Snail mail ("USPS") accessory suppliers have not yet invented that mailbox. However, most E-mail clients such as Microsoft's Outlook 97, Outlook Express and

Outlook 98, as well as Netscape Communicator's Netscape Messenger, and others such as Eudora do have built-in filtering functions capable of screening incoming E-mail and assigning it to pre-selected folders (including the trash bin). An "E-mail" client is a program that handles incoming and outgoing e-mail communications addressed to you at your ISP's server. Most e-mail clients also provide address book and other mail management capabilities.

In addition, there are enhanced e-mail filtering programs such as MailJail Version 2.3 by Omron Corporation that are specifically designed to work on Windows 3.x, Windows 95 or Windows NT in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook 97, Outlook 98 and the Eudora mail client. MailJail includes many built-in filtering rules, plus the top 100 "spammer" list ("spammer" refers to any individual or organization that sends unsolicited e-mail for any unauthorized purpose, and especially for unauthorized commercial purposes). In Omron Corporation's promo of its MailJail product it states, " MailJail is an easy-to-use, intelligent tool that enables e-mail users to filter and protect themselves from junk and irrelevant messages. It is smart, and can be easily taught your individual filtering preferences, and at the same time it ensures the free flow of information."

Even without adding any filtering enhancement applications such as MailJail, there a few simple things you can do to provide basic E-mail filtering to eliminate or greatly reduce unwanted E-mail through Microsoft Outlook 98 (Outlook 97 and Outlook Express provide similar filtering).

Open Outlook, then click on Inbox under your Personal Folders. Under "Tools" on the menu bar or the "Organize" icon on the Tool Bar, click on "Organize." This opens the Organize window entitled "Ways To Organize Your Inbox."

Of the four choices presented on the left side of that window, select "Junk E-Mail." A new dialogue box opens and displays two choices. The first deals with "Junk" messages and the second deals with "Adult Content" messages. Each of these choice lines provides two drop-down menu boxes. The first drop down menu allows you to choose either "move" or "color." If you select "move," then the drop down menu in the second box lists "Junk E-Mail," "Deleted Items" and "Other folder..." as choices. If you select "color," then the second drop-down menu lists available colors in which to display the incoming Junk or Adult Content E-mail. Thus, you can set up automatic settings that will either move Junk and Adult Content E-mail to a specified folder (including Deleted Items) or leave it in the Inbox but in a color(s) that identify it as Junk or Adult Content Mail.

Buttons labeled "Turn on" are located to the right of these two input lines. Once you have selected how you wish to have the program handle Junk and Adult Content mail, you must click the "Turn on" buttons to activate the feature.

Just beneath the Junk and Adult Content entry lines is the following statement:

"The Junk and Adult Content filters identify messages by looking for key words. They are not 100% accurate. For more options click here."

When you click on the underlined "click here," the following screen is displayed:

To add a sender's name to a filter, right-click a message and choose Junk E-Mail from the menu.

To view or edit the names you have added, go to Edit Junk Senders or Edit Adult Content Senders

You can improve filters by downloading updates from the Outlook Web Site

Back to Junk E-mail

The first bulleted item above is simply a reminder instruction that you can right click your mouse when an E-mail message is selected (usually in your Inbox), and then select Junk E-Mail from the menu that is displayed. This will enable you to add that particular sender to the Junk or Adult Content list so that any future mail received from that sender will be handled automatically (either moved to a specified folder or displayed in color, depending upon how you configured your system). The last bulleted item is a hyperlink that returns you to the first Junk E-Mail screen discussed above.

The second bulleted item above provides hyperlinked text that takes you to the Junk Senders or Adult Content Senders lists. Here you can Add, Edit or Delete the E-mail addresses in each list. The third bulleted item above is a hyperlink to the Office 97 Outlook Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/enhancements/junkmail.asp) that deals specifically with Junk mail enhancements (this is where you'll find the link to the MailJail application).

Next month we'll cover using the Rules Wizard under Tools on the menu bar to set up automatic handling of E-mail other than Junk or Adult Content mail.