• On TV.com: Sexy summer bodies photo gallery
March 21, 2008 12:01 AM PDT

Block spam, phishing attempts in Outlook

by Dennis O'Reilly

The battle for your in-box shows no signs of waning.

Despite the efforts of software companies large and small, spammers and phishers continue to find and exploit weaknesses in junk-mail filters at the server and client levels. After years of foil and parry between these two forces, you would think that Microsoft Outlook, the most widely used e-mail program in the world, would be a paragon of in-box defenses.

Then again, this is Microsoft we're talking about, a company not noted for being the paragon of anything more than profitability.

A few years back, Service Pack 2 for Office 2003 added phishing filters for Outlook that move suspicious messages to your Junk E-mail folder automatically and turn off links in the messages. Outlook 2007 was released about a year-and-a-half later with only a few new junk-mail defenses. In fact, the Junk E-mail Options screens of the two versions are nearly identical.

Microsoft Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Options dialog box

The junk e-mail options in Outlook 2003 don't offer many options.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Outlook 2007 Junk E-mail Options dialog box

The only difference between the Junk E-mail Options in Outlook 2007 and its predecessor are the bottom two options.

(Credit: Microsoft)

In the past, I have created a series of Outlook rules to stem the flow of junk to my in-box. The process is straightforward though somewhat time-consuming: Click Tools > Rules and Alerts > New Rule, and step through the Rules Wizard. You can also right-click a message you want to base the rule on and choose Create Rule, and then either make your selections, or click Advanced Options to open the Rules Wizard.

If you find yourself spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with junk e-mail, your best solution is a third-party spam and phishing filter. There are lots of free versions available for download, but the freebies either require too much work on your part to make them effective, or they work with only a single mail account, place text ads on your outgoing messages, or come up short in some other way.

Your best bet may be to bite the bullet and pay for a commercial junk-mail filter. My favorite is one that has been around for a long time: Cloudmark Desktop, which comes in versions for Outlook and Outlook Express, as well as for Mozilla Thunderbird. The program is available for a 15-day free trial. A one-year subscription for two PCs costs $40 (multiple licenses and volume discounts are available).

Cloudmark adds a toolbar to Outlook that lets you scan a folder for junk with a couple of clicks. It places spam and phishing attempts in a Spam folder and lets you block and unblock mail from specific senders. The program works quickly: It scanned a folder with more than 2,000 messages in just a couple of minutes, and I didn't notice any slowdown when I sent and received mail.

Cloudmark Desktop toolbar for Microsoft Outlook

The Cloudmark Desktop junk-mail filter adds a toolbar to Outlook that lets you scan a folder for spam, and block or unblock specific senders.

(Credit: Cloudmark)

You get more control over how junk mail is treated via the program's Options menus, which let you scan for junk selectively rather than automatically, and change the location of your junk-mail folder. You can choose to delete the junk immediately, after a week, or after a month. Your Outlook contacts can be added to your trusted list with a single click, and you can see how many messages have been checked, how many were identified as spam automatically, and how many spam and phishing messages you've blocked.

Cloudmark Desktop for Microsoft Outlook options dialog box

Cloudmark Desktop's options let you change the folder your junk mail is stored in, and decide when to delete the junk.

(Credit: Cloudmark)

When you're ready to get serious about locking spammers and phishers out of your Outlook in-box, Cloudmark is ready to do the heavy lifting.

Monday: simple ways to speed up Windows shutdowns.

Dennis O'Reilly has covered PCs and other technologies in print and online since 1985. Along with more than a decade as editor for Ziff-Davis's Computer Select, Dennis edited PC World's award-winning Here's How section for more than seven years. He is a member of the CNET blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET.
Recent posts from Workers' Edge
Prevent your search default from being changed
Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services fix a CD drive
Three approaches to free encrypted online storage
Restore a lost administrator account in Vista
Extend the life of your notebook computer
Simple ways to shine up Google's Chrome browser
Browser security and privacy tips
Three productivity-enhancing Firefox add-ons
Add a Comment (Log in or register)
by caywen123 March 21, 2008 9:53 AM PDT
Cloudmark Desktop really works smoothly, especially on Outlook. It's really fast and accurate, and worth the money. I would turn on the "Delete spam afte 1 week" feature, because my Spam folder filled up with ten thousand spams within a couple of months, which wastes a ton of space. This spam filter rocks!!
Reply to this comment
by Milly Staples March 21, 2008 11:06 AM PDT
I use SpamBayes and have for years - I get maybe one or two spam messages in my in-box in a month and no false positives. My junk mail folder fills quite nicely and the right click->delete junk mail is perhaps my favorite context menu action.
Reply to this comment
advertisement

Making sense of Windows 7 upgrades

faq The basics and the fine print on Microsoft's options for those eyeing the next operating system from Redmond.
• Full Windows 7 coverage

Road Trip 2009: Big Sky Country

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman takes his car full of gadgets to the Rockies and the Great Plains in search of tech, science, nature, and more.
• America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain

About Workers' Edge

Dennis O'Reilly has covered PCs and other technologies in print and online since 1985. Along with more than a decade as editor for Ziff-Davis's Computer Select, Dennis edited PC World's award-winning Here's How section for more than seven years. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Workers' Edge topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right