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SPAM FREE EMAIL

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Here's a tip to eliminate SPAM email for those of you using Outlook Express 6. This procedure requires that you establish a Mail Rule to filter out unwanted email.

Basically, the Mail Rule says, only accept email from people in your address book. You will still get the email, but it will be sent to a SPAM folder instead of your Inbox. Any email sent to the SPAM folder will generate a letter that is automatically sent back to the sender explaining what happened.

The procedure is simple to set up and easy to maintain.

Explanation:

At first an occasional email that you really want in your Inbox will end up in your SPAM folder. An example would be any email address like customerservice@qvc.com. You probably get email from various subscriptions, memberships and financial websites. Since you would rarely have a need to reply to email of this kind, these addresses are probably not in your address book. Remember, the rule says, if it's not in your address book, send it to the SPAM folder. The solution is, when you see an email that was sent to the SPAM folder that you really wanted in your Inbox, add the address to the Mail Rule and next time it will go to your Inbox.

In a couple of week, you'll have all the SPAM going to the SPAM folder and only good email in your Inbox. At that point, if you wish, it is possible to change the rule to delete the SPAM instead of putting it in a SPAM folder.

Next, the automatic reply portion of the Mail Rule sends a message to anyone whose email was sent to your SPAM folder.

It will say:

Dear Sender,

I just want to let you know that I did receive your email but it was screened as possible SPAM. This happened because I set up a special mail rule that puts mail from people who aren't in my address book in a SPAM folder.

I have probably already read your letter, but please call and let me know that you received this message so I can add your info to my address book. This will insure that your future emails go directly to my Inbox where I will read them without delay.

I apologize for this inconvenience, but now when I look at my Inbox, I recognize the sender's name on every letter.

Thanks,

(Your Name Goes Here)

The reason this letter works so well is that almost all of the spam you receive has a bad reply address. Since the reply address is bad, spammers will never get this letter. The only people who will get the letter are real humans with good reply addresses. Anyone you want mail from probably has your phone number at hand and can easily call to request an addition to your address book.

So, if you're interested in doing away with your SPAM, here are the step-by-step instructions:

Step1. Start Outlook Express and as shown below, click on Tools and Message Rules then Mail.

Step 2. Check the boxes shown below.

Step 3. In this same window, in section 2, scroll down and check the boxes shown.

Step 4. In Section 3, click on the blue words contains people. When the
Select People box appears, click on the Address Book button.

Step 5. When the Rule Addresses window appears, highlight all of your contacts
and click on the From button.

Step 6. You will see all of your contacts move to the right box. Then, click on OK.

Step 7. When the Select People window appears, click on Options.

Step 8. The Rule Condition Options window will appear. When the box appears, the first and fourth buttons will be selected. Click on the second button as shown below so that the second and fourth buttons are selected. Then, click on OK twice. Once for this window and once for the Select People window under it.

Step 9. We are back to the New Mail Rule window. In Section 3, click on the blue word "specified". When the Move windows appears, click on the New Folder button. When the New Folder window appears, type the word "SPAM" and click on OK twice. Once for this window and once for the Move window under it.

Step 10. Again, we are back to the New Mail Rule window. Stop here for a moment and run the WordPad program so that you can write and save your reply letter. WordPad is usually found by clicking the Start button, then clicking on the Programs or All Programs menu and then the Accessories menu.

When WordPad is up an running, compose the following letter. (You can cut and paste the text below, then add your name at the bottom.)

Dear Sender,

I apologize for this inconvenience, but now when I look at my Inbox, I recognize the sender's name on every letter.

Thanks,

(Your Name Goes Here)

Step 11. Save the letter by naming it "spam.txt" and save it in your My Documents folder. Before you click on the Save button, change the Save as type to Text Document as show below.

Step 12. Back to the New Mail Rule window. In section 3, click on the blue word message, go to your My Documents folder and select the spam.txt document that you just created then click Open.

You are finally done. What took you so long? Sorry, it was a little more involved than I thought. Even so, this rule will save you hours and hours of time and frustration over the long run. All that's left to do now is click on OK and start using your new SPAM filtering rule.

Remember, if you need to add a new address to the rule, first add it to your address book, then use the instructions in Step 5 to add the new address to the Mail Rule. The only difference is that instead of adding all your contacts, only add the new contact.

Call 832.248.8708. if you have questions. Ask for Michael.