MAIL - JUNK MAIL CONTROLS

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Junk Mail Controls enable your email reader to automatically (almost) recognize and remove junk mail (also known as spam) from your email Inbox. It is “almost automatic” because a small amount of preparation is required; after you log in to your email account, do the following:

First: Enable junk mail controls.


Second: Train Mozilla to recognize junk mail.


Third: Maintenance to keep junk mail control current.



First: Enable Junk Mail Controls

From the Menu Bar, select Tools > Junk Mail Controls...



Junk mail controls

Recommended settings for the Junk Mail Controls menu are shown below. Make sure the eight settings marked below are set. Now click on OK to save your settings.



Junk mail controls

Second: Train Mozilla to Recognize Junk Mail

Now you need to teach Mozilla to recognize messages you consider to be junk. You do this by clicking on the junk icon next to each message that you consider junk. In this way, Mozilla learns to recognize patterns that identify mail as junk. Initially, you may find that Mozilla will incorrectly identify a good message as junk; when this happens, simply click on the junk icon to flag the message as “not junk” (this will also help Mozilla learn the proper patterns).

When you first begin training Mozilla to recognize junk mail, you will need to check your junk mail folder to recover false positives (good messages marked as junk). When there are no more false positives (or very few), you will know that your junk mail controls have been properly trained. The training period typically takes a few days, but it may be shorter or longer depending upon how much mail your receive, and how much of it is junk.



Junk mail controls

Third: Maintenance

Once your junk mail controls are working, you will need to continue to perform the following regular checks:

  • Check your junk mail folder for false positives.

  • If you find legitimate mail marked as junk, click on the junk icon to mark it as good mail, and drag it to the Inbox folder .

  • Mark any new junk messages in your Inbox as junk, to keep your junk mail controls up to date.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to just train your junk mail controls and then forget about them. This is because the junk mail senders are continually coming up with new tricks to get around the junk mail controls. In practice, however, you will find that the junk mail controls will catch most junk mail, with very few false positives.