Outlook horror stories
Published: 24 Sep 2004
Spam overload
A common complaint: 'What did I do to deserve this? Spammers dump a daily dose of filth in my Inbox, and my colleagues are starting to wonder about me. I've turned on Outlook's spam filter and set it to High, yet the junk just keeps coming. Make it stop!'
As much as Outlook's spam filter has improved in the latest version, plenty of junk mail still slips through the cracks. And if you're using an older version of Outlook, your daily spam delivery can easily outnumber the legitimate messages you get.
Can this nightmare be banished? Here are some tips and utilities:
1. Tweak your spam settings
If you're getting deluged with spam, make sure Outlook's junk filter (in version 2003) is set to High. From the Tools menu, select Options, click the Junk E-mail button, and make sure the High radio button is selected. If you want hard-core spam protection, select Safe Lists Only, which will block all messages except those sent from addresses you put in the Safe Senders list (also known as a whitelist). It's an extreme measure that will probably block many legitimate messages, but you'll never get spam again. Also, be sure you have the latest SP1 update of Outlook 2003; its spam filter is improved over the initial version's.
2. Shore up Outlook's spam filter
If Outlook's junk-mail filter isn't doing the trick, call for reinforcements. Anti-spam add-ons such as Outlook Spam Filter, InBoxer and MailFrontier Desktop use advanced Bayesian filters that analyse your legitimate email and learn the types of messages you send and receive, making the junk mail easier to catch.
Spam usually comes from an automated email server, not a person (and if there are any spammers out there lovingly crafting each junk message by hand, we'd rather not meet them). Challenge/response email services (such as MailBlocks, which is compatible with Outlook) target spam by checking to see if there's a real person behind an incoming message. If anyone who's not in your email address whitelist sends you a message, the service automatically sends a reply that asks the sender to click a link, to enter a series of numbers, or to do some other task that proves there's an actual person sending the message. If the sender passes the test, the message goes in your Inbox. The only problem with challenge/response services is that they might block automated messages that you want, such as newsletters and autoreplies for lost passwords.
How many times have you blithely sent your email address over a Web form? Too many to count? Unfortunately, spammers love grabbing email addresses from online forms -- and from Web pages, for that matter. Instead of handing over your real email address when you're online, try using disposable addresses. Email services such as Yahoo Mail, Spamex and E-mailias let you create temporary email aliases that you can use in Web forms. If you get a sudden influx of spam from one of the aliases, just turn off the alias and get a new one.
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