Spamihilator

[alphab1]

Hi,

This is a problem I once mentioned here, namely, receiving huge amounts of spam mails everyday in the 'junk folder' of my outlook.com email client. Although I am moving important matters to another email I still need to monitor the outlook junk mail folder for occasional emails of importance.

I found this free spam filtering program which some considered to be good
https://www.spamihilator.com/en/docs/configclient/

I am not sure how to use this program for filtering out junk mails. I have collected all such mails in a separate folder and, I think, I have to copy them somewhere like the 'training area' but not sure how to do this copying. Maybe, I am missing something but is there a way to copy the email addresses of junk senders in bulk?

Thanks.
alpha

[Infrasonic]

Your old Outlook.com email address is already filtering out the spam and sending it to the junk folder, so is operating as it should.

You can't stop spam as they constantly change the sent from addresses, so blocking addresses is utterly pointless.

The software you have linked to is designed for desktop email clients like Outlook, Thunderbird et al, essentially duplicating what Outlook.com is already doing with its spam filters.

The best way to ensure that emails get through to your Outlook.com webmail inbox from people you want is to make sure they are in your contacts list, as that way the systems that check end to end (for spoofing etc.) will elevate email from those sources to 'trusted' (as long as the email header path is legitimate).
You can then make the inbox 'exclusive' from settings, meaning that only email from contacts can get to your inbox.

[alphab1]

Thanks Infrasonic for your prompt reply. I do see I confused spam filter with junk filter. There is however an option 'filter' at the top right corner of the junk folder which includes 'flagged' and 'sort by' as options. Can either of these be used to separate out the real junks?

When I find a mail from a trusted sender in the junk mail folder I mark it as 'not junk' and this moves it to the inbox. Is that not enough? Earlier I used to click on the email id and marked it as 'trusted' or similar. I just checked and find that Outlook no longer offers this option. All it gives is a 'send mail' box, 'contact' giving the actual email id of the sender, 'linkedin' etc but not the option of choosing it as a trusted sender.

This has become a real nuisance as important emails do sometimes appear in the junk folder quite unexpectedly.

Cheers.

[Infrasonic]

Thanks Infrasonic for your prompt reply. I do see I confused spam filter with junk filter. There is however an option 'filter' at the top right corner of the junk folder which includes 'flagged' and 'sort by' as options. Can either of these be used to separate out the real junks?

When I find a mail from a trusted sender in the junk mail folder I mark it as 'not junk' and this moves it to the inbox. Is that not enough? Earlier I used to click on the email id and marked it as 'trusted' or similar. I just checked and find that Outlook no longer offers this option. All it gives is a 'send mail' box, 'contact' giving the actual email id of the sender, 'linkedin' etc but not the option of choosing it as a trusted sender.

This has become a real nuisance as important emails do sometimes appear in the junk folder quite unexpectedly.

Cheers.

Not anymore I'm afraid, marking it trusted sender or adding to safe senders list doesn't always guarantee that it will go to the inbox next time around (been there done that). Sometimes it does (many times it doesn't). Making into contacts is the only way to make it permanent in my experience.

But the way to do it is...hover your mouse pointer over the from email address at the top and a little pop up will appear. Go to the three dots in the pop up and select 'add to contacts'. (I don't know why this has changed, but it has...)
It looks like the 'exclusive inbox' option in settings has gone too, so maybe adding to contacts does this automatically now and is the only route to guarantee delivery to the inbox.

[Infrasonic]

One further thing I do with spam in the junk folder is mark it all as 'phishing' and report it. I don't know if it makes any real difference but my hope is it gets analysed by a second layer of machine learning (and gets as many spammers as possible blocked).

[alphab1]

Thanks. I have found the three dots (so inconspicuous - as if Microsoft does not want its users to see them!). Will use it in the future. Fingers crossed.

Cheers.
alpha

[alphab1]

I read your suggestion about reporting 'phishing' after I sent my reply.
What about choosing the third option 'block' under "junk" instead? Better/stronger than clicking 'phishing' ?

[Infrasonic]

Thanks. I have found the three dots (so inconspicuous - as if Microsoft does not want its users to see them!). Will use it in the future. Fingers crossed.

I read your suggestion about reporting 'phishing' after I sent my reply.
What about choosing the third option 'block' under "junk" instead? Better/stronger than clicking 'phishing' ?

Cheers.
alpha

Yes they just could have put those two extra options under the 'more actions' menu three dots (rather than some hidden feature pop up + click).

Blocking addresses is a waste of time for spam, the sent from addresses constantly change.
I don't know why they even offer it as an option any more really, unless you want to block a 'real' address (child support, alimony? [rather than a spammer]).

[alphab1]

Blocking does not delete the message but phishing does. So I may click 'block' first and then click 'phishing' to remove it. This, together with the three dot route, may solve my nightmare of sorting through junk mails. Thank you Infrasonic.

Cheers
alpha

[Infrasonic]

Even delete doesn't really delete,and even if you empty the deleted folder you still have the option to 'recover' so don't worry too much there.

I just tend to go through the junk folder a few times a day to see if there are any emails I want move to the inbox, then select all, then hit phishing, report. That's it. Do the contacts 3 dot bit from the inbox.

You could use filters to try and divert potential legit emails to the inbox. I've done that in the past. It's a bit hit and miss though so you still end up checking the spam folder...