How to configure the Windows Mail Junk E-mail settings

Please note:

This article overs the Windows Mail App for Windows Vista and Windows 7, which is no longer supported by Microsoft. It is still completely accurate, but does not apply to the Windows 10 “Mail” App.

The Outlook Express replacement for Vista – Windows Mail – includes a built in spam filter that Microsoft has called Junk E-mail. This brief tutorial will explain the various settings so that you can customize Windows Mail to your liking.

1. Start by selecting Tools from the top menu and then Junk E-mail Options… from the drop-down list
2. On the Options tab you’re presented with the different ‘levels’ of spam filtering that Windows Mail offers. The default is Low, which means that when Windows Mail isn’t totally sure if something is spam, it will ‘play it safe’ and leave the message alone (which is to say it will put the message in your Inbox rather than filter it as Junk).

   If you get a fair bit of spam and are willing to put up with the occasional legitimate email being marked as Junk (which is called a false-positive), you might want to switch to the High level of filtering. If you choose the high setting, be sure to check your Junk E-mail folder fairly often to make sure no actual messages were incorrectly flagged. See step 5 below for information on restoring legitimate email from the Junk folder. Also, it’s a very good idea not to permanently delete suspected junk e-mail instead of moving it to the junk email folder, because there’s a very good chance you’d be automatically deleting messages that are not spam.

   The final option is to only accept email from people (or domains – like gmail.com) that you specify (your safe senders list). Only use this option if you know exactly who will be sending you email messages.


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3. Select the Safe Senders tab. One default setting that you might want to change is the Automatically add people I e-mail to the Safe Senders List, which is turned off by default.


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4. And finally, select the Phishing tab. Microsoft has included anti-phishing filters as a part of Windows Mail. You may wish to place a check in the box labeled move phishing E-mail to the Junk Mail folder, but be sure to check your Junk Mail folder once in a while for false-positives.


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5. If you find that Windows Mail has incorrectly identified a message as spam, and your settings are such that Junk mail is moved to the Junk folder, use the Not Junk button to restore messages to the Inbox.