Spam blocking in Outlook

[mynah]

Not quite on topic but related: In Microsoft Outlook I have rules turned on to automatically delete messages with certain words in the subject line or message body. Why, then, do those scam messages purporting to be from my bank keep coming through - and why do messages from some people get deleted consistently, even though I haven't blocked them?

[Buffy]

Its amazing how some of those "certain words" are right there in e-mails from your friends that you *want* to get e-mails from.

Content based filters are *very* difficult to build and maintain and require a lot of experience before they actually work. I know, I've tried, and I've become an expert.

I do not recommend content based filters unless you really know what you're doing.

What version of Outlook are you using? Outlook Express is worthless, 2003 and 2007 have fairly good automatic filters that do a better job than what I've got running on many of the servers I use!

Cool Cucumber Avacado Sandwiches, (sic)
Buffy

[alexander]

yes, word of advice, sign up for postini :P

[mynah]

I still have Outlook 2000, it seems!

I probably can't do much about it, but can anyone tell me how the phishing scam messages manage to bypass the filters every time? (Well, at least often enough...) I keep on getting messages titled "Important security notification from X Bank" which, in spite of the fact that the subject line shows few variations, seem to have no difficulty in getting past my server as well as my own blocks.

[Buffy]

Outlook 2k is like swiss cheese. If you can't afford anything, switch to Thunderbird. Otherwise upgrade: 2003 and 2007 are better, and if you really want some extra filtering Kaspersky used on top of them can really catch most of the garbage. Actually Kaspersky 8.0 is supposed to include a Thunderbird plug-in...

But I agree with alex: get a Postini-enabled MSP...

Why's it takin' such a long time for me to hear from that boy of mine,
Buffy