Spam Filters
Spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail that is perhaps the largest annoyance on the Internet. While spam can be extremely annoying, there are some things that you can do with your school e-mail account to help alleviate this annoyance.
The best way to avoid getting spam in the first place is to not send forwards with the unneeded data. In many cases, forwards contain the e-mail addresses of all the people that have ever received the message. You can usually see this information when you first open a forward. If you get a forward that you would like to send to your friends, it's a good idea to delete the unwanted data at the beginning of the message that contains addresses of other Internet users. By doing this, you will help cut down the amount of spam received as a result of forwards.
Another way you can avoid receiving spam is only giving your e-mail address to reputable companies that you trust. Additionally, look carefully at the privacy policy of the web sites that you are visiting. These privacy policies contain information on how the company will use your data. Also, some companies have check boxes that read something like "I agree to allow Name of Company to share my information with business associates." Not checking this box is a good way to avoid getting unwanted advertisements.
Okay, so you are probably saying... "Well, that information is great, but I am already receiving a large amount of spam! What can I do?!"
Many spam messages are tagged by the district mail server as "Spam" in the subject line. You can tell Outlook to move these messages to a separate folder to help reduce the amount of spam. The process of targeting spam is far from perfect, but the majority of the messages you will see marked as spam in the subject line are indeed spam.
You can setup a separate folder inside Outlook that will automatically move all your messages to this folder. There is a tutorial for this below. There are quite a few steps, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes extremely easy! The tutorial below is written for Office XP, but Office 2000 should work close to or exactly the same. If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask your Campus Technology Coordinator or myself. I would highly encourage you to take Outlook training workshops during the Summer to learn more about this powerful program.
Setting up a Spam Filter for Office XP
Step 1: If Outlook is not already open, go ahead and open it. You will see the Outlook window.
Step 2: Now you will need to setup a rule. A rule tells Outlook how to handle new e-mail. To setup a new rule, go to Tools -> Rules Wizard.
Step 3: You will see a window similar to the one below. Click New to create a new rule.
Step 4: From the next menu you will be able to select what kind of rule you wish to create. There are numerous ways to do this, but the easiest way is to select the Move messages based on content rule. Click Next to continue.
Step 5: You will see a window like the one below. You will want to check only the THIRD box that says 'with specific words in the subject'. Click the specific words hyperlink in the Rules description text box.
Step 6: Enter Spam in the first line that says Specify words or phrases to search for in the subject or body. Click the Add button. You will then be returned to the Rules Wizard. Next, click the specified hyperlink.
Step 7: Now you will be specifying where you want the filtered spam mail to go. Click on the specified hyperlink to select what folder you want to place your filtered messages in.
Step 8: If you already already have a folder in Outlook you can select it here. Otherwise, click the New button to create a new folder.
Step 9: Enter Spam as the name of the folder and click Ok. You will be returned to the Rules Wizard and your new folder will be selected. Click Ok to confirm that you want your messages stored in this folder.
Congratulations! You are all done. You will see a window like the one below that will show you the Spam rule is in effect. You can disable this rule at any time by unchecking the rule. Click the Ok button to return to the main Outlook button.
It is important to check the contents of your Spam folder. Every once in a while a message might be tagged as Spam even though it isn't. The purpose of the Spam folder is to make your Inbox cleaner and easier to sort through.
