AOL Adds New Spam Filters

America Online on Tuesday introduced new spam filters for members using AOL 8.0 Plus.

The filters will be delivered in the coming months to members using AOL versions 8.0, 7.0, and 6.0, as well as AOL for Mac OS X.

The automatic delivery of these spam filters will be "seamless to members using earlier versions of the AOL software for Windows or AOL for Mac OS X, and they will quickly see a noticeable difference in the number of spam e-mails they receive," said David Gang, executive vice president of AOL Products.

New and Improved

Previously available only to members using AOL 9.0 Optimized, the latest version of the AOL and AOL for Broadband services, these spam filters "learn" and adapt to the type of e-mail that each member considers to be spam.

The filters require no additional software and no action on the part of members to install.

AOL receives reports of up to 10 million unwanted mail messages per day, mainly through the use of the Report Spam button that's available with AOL 8.0, AOL 8.0 Plus, and AOL 9.0 Optimized.

Reporting spam to AOL helps the software's spam filters get smarter as members use them, while enabling AOL's proprietary server-side antispam filters to adapt in real time to the growing epidemic of junk e-mail from the Internet, the company said.

Note: PCWorld.com has a partnership agreement to provide content to America Online.