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Set Up Filters

First, try to manage the influx. Most e-mail programs allow you to set up filters that will scan an incoming message's domain name, subject heading, text, and other elements. Cooley says that he has set up Netscape Communicator 4.0 to automatically direct any incoming mail containing 'XXX' in the body of the message into a folder called Junk Mail. With that filter, Cooley says, he's able to weed out pornographic spam.

"Most of the time," Cooley adds, "filtering works well. At the end of the day, I look in the Junk Mail folder before deleting the contents to make sure a legitimate e-mail didn't accidentally wind up there." Cooley says a message from his mother-in-law to his wife once went into the Junk Mail folder because it contained a string of Xs at the end--in this case, signifying kisses.

"I've also found that an effective way to filter is by subject headings," Cooley says. "I've set up Communicator to filter e-mail with subject headings such as Perfectly Legal, Make Money Fast, and so on. That gets rid of a lot of junk."

To create filters in Communicator 4.0, go to the Message Center and select Edit, Mail Filters, New. Type in a name for the new filter, such as hot porn; enter the keywords you want to check for (in this case, hot porn); select the action you want the filter to perform on new messages (such as move them to a particular folder). Then click OK to close the dialog box.

Microsoft Explorer 4.0 is automatically set up to use Outlook 97 as an e-mail reader. To filter incoming mail, go to Outlook's Tools menu, select Inbox Assistant, click Add, type the criteria you want incoming messages to match (such as XXX), then click the folder where you want the matching incoming messages sent.

If you use the e-mail package Eudora, see @Home Office in our March issue.