| What to do |
How to do it |
| 1 |
Determine your preferred minimum spam "score." |
- Examine assigned scores of e-mail messages (both legitimate and spam) in your inbox.
- With Eudora open, double-click a message, and look at the X-Spam-Level: line just below the Subject line.
- Make a note of the number of asterisks (*) in this line. Spam messages may have several asterisks; legitimate messages may have one or none. Check a few messages to compare scores.
- Determine the level at which you feel comfortable filtering. (4 or 5 is a good place to start.)
- Anything with a score higher than your cutoff will be tagged as spam. The lower the score, the less spam you will receive in your inbox.
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Note: A low score increases the chance that legitimate mail is sorted into the spam mailbox you will create below.
- You can change the settings later, if the filters are too strict or let in too much spam.
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| 2 |
Begin creating a spam filter.
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- Click the Tools pull-down menu, and select Filters.
- In the Filters window, click New.
- In the Match section of the window, select the Incoming and Manual check boxes.
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| 3 |
Tell the filter what to look for.
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- In the Header text box, click the arrow to open the pull-down menu. Select <>.
- Leave the next text box at the default contains setting.
- In the text box to the right of contains, type the number of asterisks (*) you wish to set as your cutoff level (see Step 1).
- Leave the next text box at the default ignore setting.
- Leave the second Header section blank.
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| 4 |
Tell the filter what to do with spam.
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- In the Action section, open the pull-down menu in the first None text box.
- Select Transfer To from the pop-up menu.
- Click In to the right of Transfer To, and select New.
- In the New Mailbox window, type Spam, and then click OK.
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Note: Always check the contents of your spam folder before deleting the contents. Sometimes legitimate mail is tagged as spam, and this way you'll find it before you delete it permanently. If messages from a specific sender are frequently tagged as spam, you may wish to create an exception to the filter.
- To create an exception to the spam filter, skip the next instruction and follow the directions in Step 5. You can create exceptions at any time, as needed.
- If you don't need to create exceptions, close the Filters window. Save the filter when prompted. Go to Step 7.
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| 5 |
Create an exception.
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- An exception makes a hole in the filter to let certain messages through, no matter what the spam score is (e.g., if most messages from your friend, gblufin@hotmail.com, are unintentionally intercepted, an exception tells the filter to skip those messages.
- If you haven't already done so, click the Tools pull-down menu and select Filters.
- In the Match section of the Filters window, click New. Select the Incoming and Manual checkboxes.
- In the Header text box, click the arrow to open the pull-down menu. Select From. Leave the next text box at the default contains setting.
- In the text box to the right of contains, type the e-mail address of the sender whose mail you want to receive (e.g., gblufin@hotmail.com).
- Leave the next text box at the default ignore setting. Leave the second Header section blank.
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| 6 |
Continue creating your exception. |
- In the Action section of the Filters window, open the pull-down menu in the first None text box.
- Select Skip Rest from the pull-down menu. This instructs the filter to ignore e-mail from the specified address.
- The filter you just created has not been saved yet and is called Untitled. From the list of filters to the left of the Filters window, click on Untitled. Hold down the mouse button, and drag the filter from the bottom of the list to the position just above your spam filter (<> *****).
- Release the mouse button. Untitled will rename itself as the e-mail address you entered.
- Click the red button at the top right of the Filters window.
- Save the filter when prompted.
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| 7 |
Filter existing spam out of your inbox.
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- Click on any message in your inbox.
- Press Ctrl-A (hold down the Ctrl and A keys on your keyboard at the same time) to select all messages.
- Open the Special menu at the top of your screen and select Filter Messages.
- When the filtering process has finished, open the Mailbox menu at the top of your screen and select Spam.
- Remember to check for legitimate mail before you delete the contents of the folder.
- You will not need to repeat this step. Once you set up filters, Eudora will sort all incoming mail.
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| 8 |
Pay attention to filtered spam. |
- Incoming e-mail that appears to be spam will automatically be moved to the new folder you created.
- It's possible for legitimate e-mail to be marked as spam. Periodically check the contents of the Spam folder to ensure that this has not occurred before deleting its contents.
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