Confirming blocked senders list restrictions

[PC Pete]

I noted that it was mentioned that there is a restriction on the number of
entries in the blocked senders list as implemented in Outlook 2003 (and
earlier, I assume).

Is this true? If so, how do we bypass this silly limit?

Pardon my French, but using the default spam filters in Outlook is worse
than useless for a typical user like myself: my business irregularly receives
email from all over the world, from people in many domains, that the default
filter settings in Outlook either adds to the junk email inbox - together
with the 100-150 or so spam emails it correctly filters - or, if it's set to
allow email from non-specified domains, I get totally swamped with garbage.
I've set up permitted senders and some blocked senders that Outlook's rules
don't seem to work on, but dealing with someone unknown, from any domain,
makes the other workarounds suggested over the years impossible in the real
world.

Either way, the Outlook "mechanism" doesn't work properly - all it does is
adds another layer of pointing and clicking I have to do every few hours to
see how much (not if!) any legitimate email has fallen through Outlook's
cracks.

It would be far, far, far better (i.e. simpler, faster, and much more
practical) for me to be able to use a published list of dodgy domains (such
as are regularly available from reputable anti-spam sites) that I can import
into Outlook, and rely on my (admittedly limited) intelligence to filter out
the 1-2% that still make it through.

But it seems I'm not permitted to do that in Outlook 2003, because every
time I try and import a reasonable list, it just isn't possible. There's no
error message, no dialog box to tell me I'm exceeding some arbitrary limit,
it just doesn't import anything!

So I assume, after months of searching, that this behaviour is due to a
limit within Outlook 2003, and I wanted to confirm that this is the case, and
if there are any real-world alternatives to this limitation.

I don't have access to an Exchange server (although I've got the Exchange
server kit with my Office 2003 developer's kit, it's a long and bitter road
to setting up my own exchange server, just to see if it might permit better
spam filtering from my pop account!).

If anyone can offer practical suggestions, alternatives (including
programmatic alternatives), or ideas, I'd be much obliged.

Thanks in advance,

PC Pete

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If Outlook's built-in spam filter doesn't fit the mail flow of your business, then use something else. Managing a blocked senders list is generally a waste of time. A better solution would be to try a tool like SpamBayes that can be trained using your own data.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[PC Pete]

G'day Sue,

I understand what you're saying... and it's absolutely valid, since much new
fraud is perpetrated by the vacuous baboons* using spoofed email headers
anyway, so fraudulent domains lists will become a thing of the past. That
kind of implies that there has to be a much smarter way of identifying fraud,
but sadly Outlook and most other simple tools can't cut the mustard.

Anyway, I took your advice, and I can happily say I've now turned off all of
Outlook's junk mail stuff, as it took less than 3 days for the SpamBayes tool
to better Outlook's efforts in every way. So a big thanks for the suggestion!

Now, if I can just figure out a way to get Outlook to audibly notify me of
legitimate mail, instead of it calling the NewMailNotification function
BEFORE the messages are filtered... But that's a question for another thread.

Once again, thank you so much for the suggestion. I've been searching for a
good Bayes plugin for months now, and all the ones I tried didn't do what was
needed. So I feel almost... happy?

Kind regards,

PC Pete

* : my apologies to all baboons, everywhere, for the insult to their
intelligence
--
Data is not Information; Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not
Wisdom.

If Outlook's built-in spam filter doesn't fit the mail flow of your business, then use something else. Managing a blocked senders list is generally a waste of time. A better solution would be to try a tool like SpamBayes that can be trained using your own data.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers