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How to Can Spam Effectively with the Outlook Junk Mail Filter

By Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com

Dam the spam, dump the junk!

For a more useful and less frustrating email experience, Outlook comes with a pretty — dare I say surprisingly? — effective spam filter.

The Outlook junk mail filter is even turned on by default. It is not operating at its highest efficiency, though, by default. Here's how to correct this and get the most out of Outlook's anti-spam arsenal.

Can Spam Effectively with the Outlook Junk Mail Filter

To filter spam effectively in Outlook:

  • Select Tools | Options... from the menu.
  • Go to the Preferences tab.
  • Click the Junk E-mail... button.
  • Make sure High is selected under Choose the level of junk e-mail protection you want:.
  • Click OK.
  • Click OK again.

When it determines an incoming message to be spam, Outlook automatically places it in the Junk E-mail folder — out of the way of your Inbox, but ready to be reviewed and recovered easily.

In addition to Outlook's built-in junk mail filter, you can also use a number of third-party spam filtering add-ons.

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