Minimizing Hotmail Spam

Ron Eggers

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
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If you use Hotmail, you can drastically reduce the amount of junk mail, or spam, that gets to your inbox. It takes some work and some time before you'll notice results. What you DON'T want to do is respond to the little message that invites you to "opt-out" of their mailing list. This merely confirms that your email address is active and will result in MORE junk, not less.

One option is to just delete the junk as it comes in. On a bad day, I might get 25-30 pieces of junk mail. If I happen to be traveling, this can quickly overload my Hotmail storage and result in NOTHING getting through. Plus, this stuff just pi**** me off!

The following options are available from the OPTIONS menu in Hotmail under MAIL HANDLING. </font>
  • Junk mail filter: Set to exclusive. The Junk Mail Filter is set to Exclusive. E-mail from addresses appearing in your Address Book or your Safe List will be delivered to your Inbox. All other mail will be delivered to your Junk Mail Folder. </font>
  • Junk mail deletions: Set to DELAYED DELETIONS." 'Junk' messages will be filtered to the Junk Mail folder and deleted after 7 days. This gives you a chance to retrieve messages that aren't really trash. </font>
  • If a message lands in your Junk Mail Folder and it isn't junk, you have the option to add the sender to your address book or to a "safe list" so that future messages from the sender will go to your INBOX. </font>
  • If the item in the junk folder is truly trash, you can BLOCK SENDER so that future items from that address will never even reach your junk folder. </font>
  • Some senders use minor variations in their address so that messages are not blocked by the above method. You can access the BLOCKED LIST from the OPTIONS menu and look for recurring patterns. For example, you might get identical mail from slightly different senders but with the same Subject line. Use CUSTOM filters to block all messages that contain a certain vulger word for female privates, for example. </font>
If you continue this process over a period of time, you will dramatically decrease the junk your receive.
 
After rereading my initial post, I can see where you might think that the spam isn't as bad as the process for fighting it. Let me see if I can restate this.
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  • Set your junk mail filter to exclusive. Keep your address book up-to-date and add addresses from new contacts.</font>
  • Set junk mail deletions to delayed deletions so you'll have a chance to retrieve junk that isn't really junk.</font>
  • Block any senders that send junk. Do NOT respond to them, even to ask them to remove you from the mailing list.</font>
  • Use custom filters to fine-tune the blocking of spammers that use variations of addresses to avoid normal blocking.</font>
  • One more that some of you won't like: Avoid using those free "send a card through the internet" services. About 30% of the spam I get can be traced to these services. Why do you think they're free?
    </font>
The above settings can all be accessed through the Mail Handling settings under Options.
 
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