Beat Spam and regain control of your inbox
The problem:
Around August 09 I noticed a large increase in the number of spam emails that were flooding into my inbox.
I was becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume of unwanted mail and was in danger of deleting valid mail in the rush to clear out the dross.
Something had to be done
In the past I had tried some Outlook add-ons but found them either too agressive or too passive.
I wanted a free, simple, flexible solution.
The solution
Outlook 2003 has built in 'Rules' that can filter incoming mail, then moving to a folder or deleting them.
Once you understand how it works you can gain control of your Inbox, but it does take a level of dedication to set this up and fine-tune.
Here's how it's done
1) First create three folders in your Outlook Personal folders. "Spam in header" - "Spam from known" & "Spam test"
2) Under the top tool bar select 'Tools' then 'Rules and Alerts'. Click 'Create New rule' - Tick 'Start from a blank rule' and select 'Check messages when they arrive'.
First we will target emails with spam phrases in the header except for those in my address book
Email Example to target
From: US Internal Revenue Service [us.service@eod.us-irs.com]
To: me@e-cc.org
Subject: IRS TaxRefund!
Body text ..... After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive 544.83$ tax refund under section 501(c) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code....
3) In your 'Messageheader' new rule
Step one;
tick 'on this machine only'
tick 'with specific words in the header' then add 'taxrefund!' , and also 'Internal Revenue Service' and for good measure 'IRS'
4) Click next 'Select actions'
tick stop processing more rules
tick move it to specified folder - select the 'Spam in header' folder you created earlier
5) Select next 'Select exceptions'
leave this blank for now - but you could tick 'except if sender is in a specified address book' more on this later
6) Finish rule
specify a name for this rule 'Messageheader'
To test - click 'Run rules now' - 'run in inbox' - 'apply to all' [or to be quicker 'to unread messages']
7) In the future - Click to edit a rule and add more phrases or tweak the options
Next we will target emails with spam phrases in the body or subject line except for those in my address book
Email Example to target
From: some random person [some@randomname.com]
To: me@e-cc.org
Subject: Intelligent people buy affordable luxuries Your Rolex watch will be admired at any part of the world
Body text ..... A fashionable watch at a low price - it's a real bargain. Even if your finances sing romances you can still seem rich with watches like this. .....
3) In your 'Body-Subject but not my contacts' new rule
Step one; tick 'on this machine only' tick 'with specific words in the subject or body' then add 'watches' , and also 'Rolex' and for good measure with 'R0lex' and 'Rolex!'
Best to omit 'watch' from body text as is is a could easily be found in - did you 'watch' the game last night etc
4) Click next 'Select actions' tick stop processing more rules tick move it to specified folder - select the 'Spam from known' folder you created earlier
5) Select next 'Select exceptions' tick 'except if sender is in a specified address book' and select your contacts address book
6) Finish rule
specify a name for this rule 'Body-Subject but not my contacts' To test - click 'Run rules now' - 'run in inbox' - 'apply to all' [or to be quicker 'to unread messages']
7) In the future - Click to edit a rule and add more phrases or tweak the options
Next we will target emails with spam phrases in the body or subject line even if in my address book
As this applies to even those in your address book it's important to keep this list short and regularly check the 'Spam Test' folder for errors
Email Example to target
From: some random person [some@randomname.com]
To: me@e-cc.org
Subject: Lose your weight and become more energized!
Body text ..... .....
3) For your 'Body-Subject from ANYONE' new rule
Step one; tick 'on this machine only' tick 'with specific words in the subject or body' then add 'lose your weight' , and also 'energized!'
4) Click next 'Select actions' tick stop processing more rules tick move it to specified folder - select the 'Spam Test' folder you created earlier
5) Select next 'Select exceptions' and leave this blank so it targets everyone
6) Finish rule
specify a name for this rule 'Body-Subject from ANYONE' To test - click 'Run rules now' - 'run in inbox' - 'apply to all' [or to be quicker 'to unread messages']
7) In the future - Click to edit a rule and add more phrases or tweak the options
Top Tips
1) Print this page [it will open in a print friendly page] so you can keep your screen clear whilst following these instructions
2) the Test rule
The reason we last of all created a 'Test folder' that targets anyone is to add just a few phrases at a time and see if it picks up valid emails that we do not want to filter. Check this for errors and if all is well move the phrase to your main rules
For example by adding 'Canada' [to target those pesky Canadian Pharmacy emails] I inadvertantly targeted my Istockphoto.com [based in Canada!] invoice messages as spam
To remedy that I simply added the Istock email address to my address book and ensured that 'Canada' was in the 'except if sender is in a specified address book' rule
3) Your address book
Clean up your address book - deleting everyone you don't know will increase the effectiveness of your rules body or subject line except for those in my address book
4) Make up your own
Read the dialogue when tabbing through the 'Rules' where you will discover many other options to tick.
Choose unusual words that are out of the norm for regular emails - or descriptive text such as FREE!
Experiment with your test rule first!
Ken Hansard - E-CC Creative Director