How do I set up an "Incoming mail filter"

[Emerogork]

I have seen a sort of white list for all incoming mail. Either the sender is in my contacts list or they receive a verification notice on which to click in order to be accepted into my in-box. This totally prevents all junk mail.

How do I set this up?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Click on the Junk button when viewing the Inbox. Chose Junk Email Options.
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/rules/using-outlooks-junk-mail-filter/

 

[Emerogork]

Click on the Junk button when viewing the Inbox. Chose Junk Email Options.
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/rules/using-outlooks-junk-mail-filter/

Maybe you don't get much junk mail.

Been there, tried that. It is a royal circus as junk mailers have clever ways to keep making minor changes to addresses just to get around that (now obsolete) feature. I need something much more aggressive.



I have seen this in action. I send a first time e-mail message to an account. Automatically, I receive a verification notice of which I have to return in order to get beyond the junk mail filter. Now my e-mail address is proven to be valid. At the other end, everything that does not pass the verification, gets placed in a spam/junk folder automatically, unceremoniously, and without notice. He used to have a chime go off when junk happens but he had to turn it off as it became another "Netscape Navigator Cannon"

He doesn't have to maintain/modify any lists. As a matter of fact, he has no notice that the folder contains anything other than a tally mark next to the Spam/junk folder. He can go into the list and "unjunk" entries. Unfortunately, someone set it up for him and he doesn't know how it was done.

"It is a total dream"

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I get a lot of junk mail on one account and use the high setting for it, my other accounts are filtered at the server level and the junkiest of the junk is removed. Adding names to the blocked list is the worst way to filter mail. Set Outlook's junk filter on high and add trusted sender to the safe list.

Honestly, those confirmation mails are a PITA. (Technically, it is spamming too. ) It's done by a 3rd party, not Outlook and I don't have any names off hand, sorry. I'm actually not sure who all is still in business, it's really not a feature that is encouraged by administrators.

 

[Emerogork]

"Adding names to the blocked list is the worst way to filter mail."

Is not blacklisting the way Junk Mail filter works in Outlook?. You have to click and block every individual ad e-mail message you get. Then they have an automated method to send out the same garbage ad again but with a slightly different code getting around the filter making you click it again. I really don't have time or energy to waste like that. Personally, I would rather delete everything unless the sender clicks at least once to get through the filter. After all, is that not the way the majority of forum sign ups happen? Whitelisting is the way to go and maybe someone will offer a fix for Outlook.

I am now going through the tedious process of dropping of a second e-mail address due to incredibly large amounts of junk/spam mail still getting through any setting in Outlook.

"...it's really not a feature that is encouraged by administrators." is usually because they have someone e-mail filtering for them. I don't have that luxury.

 

[Michael Bauer]

I Agree to what Diane says, I never confirm my address to any confirmation email for the mentioned reason. And guess what, all the senders do get my emails anyway.

 

[Emerogork]

I Agree to what Diane says, I never confirm my address to any confirmation email for the mentioned reason. And guess what, all the senders do get my emails anyway.

But you go through all the extra steps when you receive e-mail from NoReply messages? What is the difference? You are clicking on potentially dangerous URLs, no?

BTW: Those that use Confirmation e-mail security do have the option to browse and accept regardless of whether or not you confirm.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

"Adding names to the blocked list is the worst way to filter mail."

Is not blacklisting the way Junk Mail filter works in Outlook?. You have to click and block every individual ad e-mail message you get. Then they have an automated method to send out the same garbage ad again but with a slightly different code getting around the filter making you click it again. I really don't have time or energy to waste like that. Personally, I would rather delete everything unless the sender clicks at least once to get through the filter. After all, is that not the way the majority of forum sign ups happen? Whitelisting is the way to go and maybe someone will offer a fix for Outlook.

When you add an address to the blocked sender list, only that address is blocked. You can add the domain instead (from Junk Email Options dialog) but true spammers change addresses and domains often - that address you added to the blocked list may never be used again. While you may think "who cares?", keep in mind that the blocked and safe senders lists have a combined maximum size - fill the lists with single use addresses and you won't have room for legit addresses. More information: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/rules/understanding-the-safe-and-blocked-senders-lists/

If the message is in the junk folder, Outlook figured it out on it's own, using the junk filter. Blocking the address won't make it work better.

If you prefer to make the sender click a link, go for it, and check the spam trap frequently. A lot of people will decide it's not worth the hassle to click the link. (Nothing irritates me more than people emailing for help but not whitelisting my address before sending me the email. I don't click the links on principle and if I'm in a bad mood, I might not reply when you finally find my message in the spam trap.)

The quickest way to deal with spam is using the Del key. The junk filter on Low will get the worst spam, High will get a lot of newsletters and ads too, plus some personal mail. Using the option to send everything to junk if not in the address book means you need to check the junk folder more often and add addresses to the junk filter - I personally don't like to fill my address book with bulk addresses, but more importantly, this method costs me time because i need to check the junk folder more often. The time I spend looking in the junk folder is more than the Del key costs me.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

"...it's really not a feature that is encouraged by administrators." is usually because they have someone e-mail filtering for them. I don't have that luxury.

It's not encouraged because it creates more email. A spammer uses an invalid address to spam you. Your verification system sends them an email that bounces. That's 2 extra emails. You or your admin will get the NDR, the other system's admin may get an NDR notification. When the spammer uses real addresses in the from field, the real owner of that address is getting hammered with NDRs already.

The best antispam is enabling a filter on the mailbox that gets the worst spam before it hits your email client - the system I use with some accounts is anything with spamminess of 6 or higher goes to junk mail, above 9 and its deleted immediately. Some use higher point systems - maybe anything over 50 is junk, over 70 is almost certainly spam and deleted immediately. Many ISPs use spam assassin- if yours does, enable it.

 

[Emerogork]

My DEL key is now worn out enough to be a button with no lettering. I am sure that there are just as many reasons to use Confirmation e-mail as there are reasons to not. Big Brother should not be the one that decides.

Hey, I just got informed that some of the traction belts are going to come off this afternoon. Maybe now my world will expand from just Fora, E-mail and daytime TV..... (-: (-: I just might be able to get rid of that $%$# catheter. )-: )-:

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Oh, and BTW, if your email account has a Spam button when you read it using web mail, don't use it with legitimate mail that has unsub links (like ads from legit companies or newsletters you signed up for). The sender gets a message and needs to unsub your address manually. The unsub link is much faster and guarantees your address is removed. Naturally, you don't want to click links if the message is really spam, but clicking the link for every message you no longer want just makes more work for someone else.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

My DEL key is now worn out enough to be a button with no lettering.

As long as I know where it is... My desktop, laptop, and ultrabook each use a different layout for the special keys and it annoys me to no end. Some have Del at the top right, others put it down by the right Alt. I just wish they would standardize the location on smaller keyboards like they have for full size boards.

 

[Emerogork]

Standardized keyboard need to get rid of, or make awkward to use, the Caps Lock and INS keys.
I now have a keyboard that moved the 6 buttons (INS-Home-PGup, DEL-END-PGdn) down and installed Sleep-Wakeup-Power. I pulled all three caps off the first time I went to pg-up and shut the computer off. (What idiots designed that one?)

Thankfully, SmartKey allows me to reassign keys.

I stopped using any unSubscribe option about 5 years ago now. There is no guarantee that they will unsubscribe and if it is spam, you let them know that they have a legitimate e-mail address and they sell it.

Unsubscribe begets subscriptions.

It is the same thing when you have an automated phone call that says "Press 5 to be removed from our call list. You will increase junk call rates because they sell your now-proven-to-be-legit phone number.