Anti Spam Filter for Outlook: Clean Your Inbox Out!
Do you love using your Outlook to juggle tasks from planning meetings to rearranging documents to checking your email, but hate dealing with all that spam cluttering your inbox? Well, you’re not alone. Spam is the most common complaint from online users. Statistics show that spam accounts for 14.5 billion messages sent each day worldwide. Which is no surprise why spam is becoming increasingly bothersome and time-consuming. But thanks to the anti-spam plug-ins that can screen all your incoming mail and trash spam, you don’t have to worry about clicking your Outlook inbox and finding it flooded with unsolicited advertisements about male enhancements, prescriptions, phising emails, and other scams spammers send your way.
There are many good and not so good spam filters out there for Outlook. A good spam filter should not only block your unwanted mails, but should also prioritize your wanted mail. To make it easier for you to pick a spam filtering add-on for your Outlook, we have provided a list of popular spam filters, along with the pros and cons of each.
Cloudmark Desktop
Cloudmark Desktop is a great mail filtering plug-in for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. It automatically deletes unwanted mail or places it into a separate folder, with the option of deleting it later. Cloudmark Desktop doesn’t use automatic filters, but depends on the community of its users to help stop spam. That is, if you as a Cloudmark user flag a message as spam, the message will be automatically filtered out of other users' inboxes. To prevent abuse, each user is rated based on the material they flag.
Pros
- High detection rate for spam, low false positive rate
- User-friendly
- Attempts to filter out phising mails
Cons
- Possibility of abuse
- Available only for Outlook and Outlook Express
Ella for Spam Control
Ella for Spam Control is extremely useful organizer moving spam and low-priority mail into folders for later review. Ella uses “associative memory.” That is it learns from example which unwanted mail to block.
Pros
- Good at catching spam and prioritizing emails
- Easy and simple to use
- Quickly learns what to block and what to prioritize
Cons
- Can’t handle more then three categories of mail
- Can’t screen unspecified folders
SpamBayes
The SpamBayes Outlook add-on makes use of Bayesian statistics to wipe out the junk in your inbox. So, mail with a high probability of being spam lands up in your “Junk E-mail” folder, whereas mail with a medium probability of being spam ends up in your “Junk Suspect” folder.
Pros
- Good detection of spam and efficient
- SpamBayes toolbar is simple and easy to use
- Automatically keeps a lookout on all Outlook folders for spam prevention
Cons
- Can’t prioritize or arrange other mail into categories
- Manual training of SpamBayes isn’t necessary and may confuse users
Outclass
Outclass incorporates POPFile email with Outlook to provide easy use and great spam prevention. Outclass also works with Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/3/XP and supports Outlook 2000/2/3.
Pros
- Uses the POPFile spam filter
- Convenient to use
- Supports all account types
Cons
- Possibility of crashing your Outlook
- Not entirely compatible with Outlook 2003
eTrust Anti-Spam
eTrust Anti-Spam allows mail only from approved senders into your inbox. You can make a list of approved senders by using your address book and existing contacts. eTrust updates the list automatically by checking outgoing messages. All mail from unapproved senders goes into a separate folder for review or elimination.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Efficiently prevents spam and notifies you about phishing
- Allows you to quickly search emails and other Outlook or Outlook Express folders
Cons
- Spammers using an approved address can get through the filter
- Supports POP and Exchange accounts, but doesn’t work with IMAP and Hotmail
Also, visit our Spam Preventionpage for more tips on how to avoid spam and keep your inbox in top shape.
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