Users of older versions of Outlook can try some simple rules, including Sue's low maintenance rules (see below), along with rules for blank senders and blank subject lines.

Rules looking for words in the header can help with spam using non-English character sets -- use the character set name as it appears in the header, for example, look for "iso-2022-jp". Of course, if you get legitimate email using this character set, this won't work, but for the average user, it works well.

If you get mostly spam to one address, create a rule to delete mail sent to the address and add exceptions to the rule for the mail from specific addresses or meeting specific conditions. If simple rules like these are not enough to control your spam, you need to get a real anti-spam filter. There are a number of excellent filters available for both Outlook and Exchange server. [One such filter, SpamBayes, is free and works quite well. -- DG]

I've listed a number of great resources below in the Product Availability and Resources section. Now, stop using rules and start using filters. You'll be happier.

Francine Otterson is the President of the San Diego Outlook User Group and a Microsoft Outlook MVP. She has been in the IT industry for over 10 years, providing technical support, software customization solutions and training in corporate settings, and as a consultant. She balances her work around her daughter and husband in sunny San Diego, California.