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Training Thunderbird's junk filterBefore using Thunderbird's Junk Mail Controls, it is necessary to "train" the filter to recognize and distinguish the spam you get from the legitimate e-mail you get. To do this, simply click on the dot in the Junk column of your Inbox for every junk message you receive. NOTE: It is important that you unmark any legitimate e-mail you receive that Thunderbird may erroneously think is junk! After a message is marked, you can delete it as you normally would; alternatively, if you have a large amount of junk in your Inbox, you can click on Tools[menu] > Delete Mail Marked as Junk in Folder to send all of your spam to the Trash, then empty your trash (File[menu] > Empty Trash). Turning up the heat: Automatically filter junk to the Junk folderAfter a few days of training, Thunderbird will be marking spam with almost 100% accuracy, with next to 0 false positives (legitimate mail marked as junk); now it is time to streamline the process of getting rid of unwanted spam.Click on Tools[menu] > Junk Mail Controls... You will see a new window that looks similar to this one.  Change your settings to match these (you may want to additionally check "Automatically delete junk messages older than ___ days from this folder"), then click "OK." New incoming spam will now be automatically flagged and filtered into your Junk folder. It is a good idea to check this folder periodically, unmarking and recovering any legitimate emails that mistakenly get thrown out with the bath water, and then trashing the junk messages to keep it from getting too full (we recommend using Tools[menu] > Delete Mail Marked as Junk in Folder). Don't forget to empty the trash! As always, if you have any questions, you can give us a call at 474-7346 and we'll be happy to help. |