Please help me rid my hotmail account of spam.

October 29, 2012 11:31 AM

Any suggestions for helping me get rid of annoying spam emails that show up constantly in my hotmail account?

This has been a source of frustration for some time, but I've had no success in resolving it; hoping mefites might have some suggestions. I've been getting spam messages in my hotmail inbox for months now. They are offers for everything you'd expect. Free credit scores, insurance, diabetes supplies, free pizza, new iphones, you name it. They all have addresses that follow a similar format:

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

I just flag them as spam but Hotmail seems powerless to stop them and the URLs are always different. It's curious that they all have an "a" after the @; maybe this helps them make it to my inbox? Wondering if maybe I could just set up a filter where any sender that follows the [e-mail] format is sent to trash. Not a life threatening problem, just any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

posted by fatedblue to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Step 1: set up a new free e-mail account over at Gmail, which has superior spam filters.

Step 2: Let everyone know you've changed your e-mail address and forward your hotmail to gmail, using these instructions.

Step 3: fine tune your gmail filters as necessary.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 11:47 AM on October 29, 2012 [4 favorites]

Yeah, hotmail has the worst spam filters I've ever seen, and I have have used over a dozen services.
posted by eas98 at 12:05 PM on October 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I must remark that gmail is not so good at filtering spam. I have filtered and filtered and sent in unsubscribe notices, but still get between 40 and 100 spam a day in my main gmail account. Gmail also allowed a person with a name like mine to enroll with 'first.name', but gmail does not see the dot, so I get some of her mail too.
posted by Cranberry at 12:07 PM on October 29, 2012

Best answer: I used to use Hotmail and had trouble with spam. Eventually I ended up turning on filtering so that only people in my address book got through to my inbox and everything else was filtered into the spam. I then went through the spam box regularly and added safe people to my address book or safelist so that they would get through. It kept me sane... until I switched to Gmail. I have no problems with spam on Gmail ever.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:23 PM on October 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

I've had my hotmail account for over ten years and it's set to exclusive. I get very little junk mail now in my inbox. Most spam goes to my junk folder, which I quickly check each day for things that might get sent there because they aren't on my list.

I also have a gmail account. I rarely give out my gmail account for commercial use, so I receive very little junk mail there. For contests (hgtv dream house, foodnetwork, hobbies, win a Prius, newsletters, etc.) or anything that might put my name on some list that might in turn get sold or shared I use the hotmail account. I protect the gmail account by not giving it out if it might generate junk mail.
posted by shoesietart at 1:05 PM on October 29, 2012

Response by poster: I should have stated that I already have a gmail account and I use that as my primary account with hardly any spam trouble at all. My hotmail account is primarily for newsletters and other stuff that isn't of critical importance. But the useful/semi-important stuff is being drowned out by the spam. I guess I will turn on the filtering option. Thanks!
posted by fatedblue at 2:11 PM on October 29, 2012

I just filter every e-mail containing the word "unsubscribe" or the phrase "your e-mail preferences" into a "Bulk Mail" folder. Seems to get just about all the spam that Gmail lets through.
posted by nicwolff at 3:30 PM on October 29, 2012

Cranberry: gmail is not so good at filtering spam...I sent in unsubscribe notices

You realize that sending unsubscribe notices just tells spammers that there is an actual human behind the account, right? Then they send you MORE spam. Just use the Report Spam button, which looks like a stop sign with an exclamation point. That's how gmail's filtering algorithm gets cleverer.
posted by rockindata at 6:10 AM on October 30, 2012