Message Rules in OE 6

[gromit77]

Hi,

I've started getting quite a bit of spam, around 10 or more message a day, all relating to prescription drugs etc, very annoying as I'm sure you all know.

I only get them on my email address that relates to my website, and through my domain control panel I have Spam Assassin running. It has no configuration options you can just have it either on or off. It seems to catch every single spam message and turns the email into an attachment and in the message body explains that it's spam with a passage such as this -

"This mail is probably spam. The original message has been attached
along with this report, so you can recognize or block similar unwanted
mail in future. See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details."

In Outlook Express I create a message rule to delete from server any message that contains the phrase "http://spamassassin.org/tag/" or "spam" but they still come through?!?!? I also have it set up to block words like Viagra which seems to be the common drug used in these spam adds.

I was just wondering why Outlook fails and if it can be tweaked or indeed what action everyone else takes with the Spam problem? :think:

Thanks folks!

Neil

[Nightly Reader]

Does your rule include" stop processing more rules" as the last action of the rule? If not, it should.

EDIT: If the rule pertains to the message body, then it won't work.

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/tips/rules.htm

[sixpac]

I highly recommend MailWasher (http://www.mailwasher.net/) you can configure to block domains,or anybody you want and never see those prescription drugs and Viagra e-mails again.

[SSteve]

Neil
I agree with Sixpac completely mailwasher is great

[Deke]

Neil

Have you tried shutting off the Spam Assassin and see if OE will process your rule.
SA might be overriding your rule and sending the message as an attachment as you stated. I take it you want to stop the email with the attachment also.

You rule for stopping it by something in the text should work. The 3rd rule down in the "New Message Rule" window is "Where the message body contains certain words.

Take Care
Deke

[sixpac]

Good point Deke,I totally overlooked that

[Nightly Reader]

This is from
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/tips/rules.htm


Deleting messages without downloading


Caution should be used when creating rules that delete messages from the server without downloading them. If your rule is too broad you will likely delete some legitimate mail, and there is no way to recover it.



Also care must be taken not to create a 'delete' rule based on conditions that require the message be downloaded in order to test against the rule. Those conditions are "where the message body contains text", "where the message has an attachment" and "where the message is secure". The same restriction applies if you use the action "do not download".



Rules that delete message from the server MUST be at the top of the rules list or they might not work as expected. If your very first rule includes a condition requiring that the message be downloaded, then no 'delete' rule will ever do anything at all.

[Deke]

Good info NR. I usually tell people to just make one with everybody in their address book and block anything else. Neil has a website so I guess that would be a nono.

I personaly don't use them as I am pretty protective with my main address.