Spam Reader

There is nothing more annoying than having your inbox flooded with spam messages. You could be working, playing a game or enjoying a movie and when you receive a new message notification, you have to put everything on hold, only to see an advertisement for cosmetic products. If you are using MS Outlook, you can try using Spam Reader. Due to its powerful filtering algorithm and learning capabilities, it is one of the best solutions for blocking spam messages. It does not come with an interface of its own, but it integrates with MS Outlook, so you can use your mail client as usual, without having to switch to a different application.

The setup file is almost 2 Mb large and you can install it like any other lightweight application. After agreeing to the terms and conditions and selecting a destination folder, the installation process will begin and it will be complete in a few seconds. Spam Reader is freeware and it is compatible with Outlook XP and all editions, from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2010.

After installing the application, you can launch MS Outlook as usual. You will find new options on its interface, placed on a separate toolbar, as well as a new menu, on the window's top edge. The application features a Bayesian spam filter which determines if an email is spam or not, according to certain words or phrases. This filter uses a large database, created by the statistical analysis of over 20.000 spam messages.

When you launch MS Outlook, with the newly installed plug-in, all your spam messages will be moved to the Spam folder automatically. A message, in the lower right corner of the screen, will notify you of the total number of messages that are moved to the Spam folder. You can mark individual messages as good or junk emails, with the new options on Outlook's toolbar. According to how you mark your emails, the application will learn how to treat your new messages.

Spam Reader's main settings panel contains various options for adding addresses to white or black lists or compiling a list of trusted recipients. Ticking an option, under the Phrase Filter tab, will make the application distrust emails with images downloaded from the Internet. It is also possible to select a series of actions to be performed after marking a message. When the application marks an email, it can update the Bayesian spam filter, add the sender's address and domain to the white or black list, move the message to the Inbox or Spam folder and apply the same actions to all messages that were sent by the same person.