How to disable junk email filtering?

[BigUnk]

I want to completely disable the junk filter in OL2003. I have it set to "No
automatic filtering", yet Microsoft seems to think it knows what's good for
me better than I do, trapping mail in the junk folder that I really need to
see. My ISP does a superior job of filtering; better then MS could ever hope
for. Also, I resent the fact that despite setting OL2003 to disable an
option, it is still enabled. When does "No" mean "No"? Right here.

So...any thoughts?

 

[Donald McDaniel]

I want to completely disable the junk filter in OL2003. I have it set to "No
automatic filtering", yet Microsoft seems to think it knows what's good for
me better than I do, trapping mail in the junk folder that I really need to
see. My ISP does a superior job of filtering; better then MS could ever hope
for. Also, I resent the fact that despite setting OL2003 to disable an
option, it is still enabled. When does "No" mean "No"? Right here.

So...any thoughts?

You might try these remedies:

1) Make sure there are no names or addresses in the "Blocked Senders"
list.
2) Make sure there are no names or addresses in the "Safe Senders"
list. In addition to this, make sure "Always trust email from my
Contacts list" and "Automatically add people I e-mail to the Safe
Senders List" are BOTH unchecked.
3) Make sure there are no selections checked in either of the two
lists found in the "International" tab.
4) Make sure there are no names or addresses in the "Safe Recipients"
list.

If there are any names or addresses in any of these lists, the Junk
Mail filter will act on your email, even when it is "disabled".

These lists are all found in "Tools|Options|Junk Email button". To
access them, select each tab in turn, and remove all names and
addresses from the lists, and un-check any option found.

I am not sure this will work, but I have found that the Junk Mail
filter will not filter out anything if the above is done.

However, I use Outlook's Junk Mail filter set on "High", along with
the exception lists, instead of a third-party tool. It works as it
should, and I find that almost all spam is intercepted, and very few
false positives occur.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread
so that conversations may be kept in order
=======================================================

 

[BigUnk]

I just made the changes you suggested. There was only one name in any list.
That was the postmaster at my ISP, who sends a virus and sieve report every
day that details what mail has been trapped and why, giving me the option of
viewing it or deleting it. I also can whitelist or blacklist senders at the
ISP level. Thus, no real need for the MS "solution". Since potentially
harmful mail gets detained before it is sent to my machine, most everything
MS has caught has turned out to be a false positive.

 

[BigUnk]

No dice. Still doing the same thing. Clearly MS thinks they are the final
arbiter of what should work, regardless of what users wish. Maybe one day
they will wake up and realize they are not the be-all-end-all.

I remain open the suggestions...

 

[Donald McDaniel]

No dice. Still doing the same thing. Clearly MS thinks they are the final
arbiter of what should work, regardless of what users wish. Maybe one day
they will wake up and realize they are not the be-all-end-all.

I remain open the suggestions...

I assure you, Microsoft is ALWAYS going to be the "final arbiter of
what should work", since it is THEIR product. However, Microsoft in
many cases LISTENS to its users and implements usability changes they
ask for. I am also sure that they have many focus groups on their
Campus which decides on usability features.

My friend, FIRST you need to realize that Microsoft is NOT the enemy.
THEN you need to realize that having the Junk Mail folder is VERY
HANDY, since even the best Junk Mail filters miss it from time to
time, and produce false positives. I WANT to be able to review
Outlook's choices for Junk Mail, because sometimes (not very often)
the Junk Mail filter produces a false positive.

Usually, a third-party Junk Mail tool is not needed in Outlook, and
home-made filters for Junk Mail usually get superceeded by the
built-in filter anyway. I've used several Junk Mail tools, including
ZoneLabs', Symantec's, TrendMicro's, and BitDefender's supplied
filters. None of them work any better than Outlook's built-in filter.
(or course, none of them seem to work any WORSE than Outlook's, so
keeping them could be helpful.) However, I am currently using no
other Junk Mail filter than Outlook's, seldom have false positives,
and Junk is almost always correctly marked and handled.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread
so that conversations may be kept in order
=======================================================

 

[BigUnk]

I assure you, Microsoft is ALWAYS going to be the "final arbiter of
what should work", since it is THEIR product. However, Microsoft in
many cases LISTENS to its users and implements usability changes they
ask for. I am also sure that they have many focus groups on their
Campus which decides on usability features.

My friend, FIRST you need to realize that Microsoft is NOT the enemy.
THEN you need to realize that having the Junk Mail folder is VERY
HANDY, since even the best Junk Mail filters miss it from time to
time, and produce false positives. I WANT to be able to review
Outlook's choices for Junk Mail, because sometimes (not very often)
the Junk Mail filter produces a false positive.

Usually, a third-party Junk Mail tool is not needed in Outlook, and
home-made filters for Junk Mail usually get superceeded by the
built-in filter anyway. I've used several Junk Mail tools, including
ZoneLabs', Symantec's, TrendMicro's, and BitDefender's supplied
filters. None of them work any better than Outlook's built-in filter.
(or course, none of them seem to work any WORSE than Outlook's, so
keeping them could be helpful.) However, I am currently using no
other Junk Mail filter than Outlook's, seldom have false positives,
and Junk is almost always correctly marked and handled.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread
so that conversations may be kept in order
=======================================================

Nice reply, but you're wrong. And yes, I understand MS will be the arbiter
of how their software works, but when there is a setting to stop all
filtering, a reasonable man (or woman) would expect to see just that; NO
filtering. This is not a foreign concept, except to those who choose not to
listen to the end-users. MS is not the enemy, but they are a juggernaut,
frequently having to be bullied in the public square to get things to operate
the way the users (who, incidentally, make it possible for MS to be in
business) wish. Now, I am fully aware some users have neither the concept of
security or ability to learn it. That's their problem, not mine. I get called
to help these people on a daily basis.

Let me skip to the end of you letter by stating with absolute verifiable
accuracy that the MS junk filter is NOT accurate enough. Think about it. MS
sends out mail, and it gets caught in their filter. 'Nuff said?

 

[Jennifer]

I detest the MS junk filter and have tried removing it. It is inaccurate and
my other spam filter is better. When someone has adequate instructions for
removing it, please let me know.
Jennifer

 

[Brian Tillman]

I detest the MS junk filter and have tried removing it. It is
inaccurate and my other spam filter is better. When someone has
adequate instructions for removing it, please let me know.

To "remove" it, start using Outlook 2002. If you wish to continue using
Outlook 2003, you can't remove it, only turn it off. Actions>Junk E-mail
Options for that.

 

[Gold Country]

I appreciate your comments; however, I route mail to specific folders based
on the content as well as the sender. I know Microsoft recommends that one
views the Junk e-Maiol folder, but by using my own rules, I can either,
delete, permanently delete or keep notes as I see fit. I am using Outlool
'03 SP2 which I installed a few days ago, and so far the message handling has
not met my needs. I hope your suggestion works for me.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

YOu can also try SpamBayes, which I use with great success - it is available
from SourceForge.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Gold Country asked:

| I appreciate your comments; however, I route mail to specific folders
| based on the content as well as the sender. I know Microsoft
| recommends that one views the Junk e-Maiol folder, but by using my
| own rules, I can either, delete, permanently delete or keep notes as
| I see fit. I am using Outlool '03 SP2 which I installed a few days
| ago, and so far the message handling has not met my needs. I hope
| your suggestion works for me.
|
| "Donald McDaniel" wrote:
|
|| On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 11:42:58 -0700, BigUnk
||
||| No dice. Still doing the same thing. Clearly MS thinks they are the
||| final arbiter of what should work, regardless of what users wish.
||| Maybe one day they will wake up and realize they are not the
||| be-all-end-all.
|||
||| I remain open the suggestions...
||
|| I assure you, Microsoft is ALWAYS going to be the "final arbiter of
|| what should work", since it is THEIR product. However, Microsoft in
|| many cases LISTENS to its users and implements usability changes they
|| ask for. I am also sure that they have many focus groups on their
|| Campus which decides on usability features.
||
|| My friend, FIRST you need to realize that Microsoft is NOT the enemy.
|| THEN you need to realize that having the Junk Mail folder is VERY
|| HANDY, since even the best Junk Mail filters miss it from time to
|| time, and produce false positives. I WANT to be able to review
|| Outlook's choices for Junk Mail, because sometimes (not very often)
|| the Junk Mail filter produces a false positive.
||
|| Usually, a third-party Junk Mail tool is not needed in Outlook, and
|| home-made filters for Junk Mail usually get superceeded by the
|| built-in filter anyway. I've used several Junk Mail tools, including
|| ZoneLabs', Symantec's, TrendMicro's, and BitDefender's supplied
|| filters. None of them work any better than Outlook's built-in
|| filter. (or course, none of them seem to work any WORSE than
|| Outlook's, so keeping them could be helpful.) However, I am
|| currently using no other Junk Mail filter than Outlook's, seldom
|| have false positives, and Junk is almost always correctly marked and
|| handled.
||
|| Donald L McDaniel
|| Please reply to the original thread
|| so that conversations may be kept in order
|| =======================================================

 

[Digital Lake]

Has anyone ever resolved this problem? When I research this issue, I find
many people with this same problem, but no solutions. However, I was
wondering if perhaps an update fixed it because I see very few recent posts

 

[Pat Willener]

Sorry, from reading the partial text below, I don't understand what the
problem is. The subject says "How to disable junk email filtering?"; so
why not just disable it?

 

[Pat Willener]

I understand now. I have junk mail filtering disabled in Outlook 2003,
and I think it does indeed no filtering. However I still do sometime
find some items in the Junk Mail folder. I understand that this is done
by IMF on our mail server.

 

[cortez00]

im in the same boat.. im trying to disable this function on outlook
2003 and it does not work.. If i disable it on OWA it worrks.. So only
solution that i have found it to disable this function in all
mailboxes, question is how do i do that?

 

[GrandfatherMax]

We have a user in the same situation. Junk filter is turned off but email is
going into their junk folder. What has been done so far:

We have Groupshield 6.02 with Spamkiller feature turned on that appends
**POSSIBLE SPAM** to the email subject and moves it to the user junk email
folder.

The affected user has email from the local domain being routed as well as
other emails that are not junk but they are NOT being marked by GSE 6.02 so
it is not spamkiller.

Outlook 2003 Junkemail fileter turned off.

Tried putting affected emails in safe senders list and turning Junk filter
on but these are still getting routed to junk folder.

All Junk email filters are clear (Blocked senders etc.)

Without wiping the users account and recreating it there is nothing else we
can think of to try. As far as we know this is the only user affected by
this wierdness.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike

 

[YoheBear]

I want to completely disable the junk filter in OL2003. I have it set to "No
automatic filtering", yet Microsoft seems to think it knows what's good for
me better than I do, trapping mail in the junk folder that I really need to
see. My ISP does a superior job of filtering; better then MS could ever hope
for. Also, I resent the fact that despite setting OL2003 to disable an
option, it is still enabled. When does "No" mean "No"? Right here.

So...any thoughts?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Do you have a point to make, or is it simply fun to just quote other
people's messages?