A common complaint of frequent email users is receiving too much unsolicited mail (spam). Outlook Express has several features that let you deal with this problem, the simplest of which is message rules. Message rules let you set up Outlook Express so that it automatically takes a specific action whenever a certain type of message arrives. For example, you can set up a message rule to automatically delete any message sent to you from a specific email address. Or you can have Outlook Express automatically move any message that contains specific text in the subject line to a folder that you've created.

A message rule consists of two parts. The first part -- called a condition -- identifies the specific email messages that the rule applies to. You can specify more than one condition for a rule. For example, you can set up a rule to handle all messages that contain the word Picture in the Subject line and are larger than 10K. The second part of the rule is the action, which indicates what you want Outlook Express to do with messages that meet the criteria for the rule's condition(s). For example, you can shunt the identified message into a specified folder, highlight it in a pretty color, or prevent it being downloaded from the server, among other options.

When you choose Tools, Message Rules from the main Outlook Express window, the New Rule dialog box appears, and you can fill in the blanks for creating a rule from there. If you've already created rules, the Message Rules dialog box appears, in which case click the New button to add a new one.

In Eudora, what you are looking for is "filters" instead of "rules".

When you choose Tools, Filters from the main Eudora window, the filters dialogue box opens. In it you will see the selection criteria for the filters you have already created. To the right of that column you will see the window in which you can edit your filters. Click on the New button at the bottom left and select whether the filter is to apply to incoming or outgoing mail. Next choose how the message is to be selected. You can use up to two criteria. Then select up to five actions that are to be taken. Each action can be selected from a long list. You can even have Eudora alert you to particular messages by playing a sound!

Often, however, the "unsolicited" mail results from "registering" with a website. The best way of dealing with this is to take a Spammotel or similar disposable email address and use it whenever you register with a website, keeping your "normal" email address for personal correspondence. As one of your disposable addresses gets clogged with spam, cancel it and take a new one. (For more information, see "Complete solution".)

If you buy Eudora 6.0 or later, you also get an integrated anti-spam program called SpamWatch. This learns what is junk and what isn't. After a period of training, it will rid you of almost all unsolicited mail by transferring it to the Junk mailbox. Check the box occasionally to ensure that no legitimate mail has been transferred to it. No anti-spam software is perfect and studies have shown that people are missing wrongly classified emails, simply because they don't check the Junk mailbox.