1. Tweak your spam settings.
If you're getting deluged with spam, make sure Outlook's junk filter (in version 2003) is set to High. From the Tools menu, select Options, click the Junk E-mail button, and make sure the High radio button is selected. If you want hard-core spam protection, select Safe Lists Only, which will block all messages except those sent from addresses you put in the Safe Senders list (also known as a whitelist). It's an extreme measure that will probably block many legitimate messages, but you'll never get spam again. Also, be sure you have the latest SP1 update of Outlook 2003; its spam filter is improved over the initial version's.

2. Shore up Outlook's spam filter.

Many add-in spam tools give you more flexibility than Outlook 2003's own filter.

If Outlook's junk-mail filter isn't doing the trick, call for reinforcements. Antispam add-ons such as Outlook Spam Filter, InBoxer, and MailFrontier Desktop use advanced Bayesian filters that analyze your legitimate e-mail and learn the types of messages you send and receive, making the junk mail easier to catch.

3. Try a challenge/response service.
Spam usually comes from an automated e-mail server, not a person (and if there are any spammers out there lovingly crafting each junk message by hand, we'd rather not meet them). Challenge/response e-mail services (such as MailBlocks, which is compatible with Outlook) target spam by checking to see if there's a real person behind an incoming message. If anyone who's not in your e-mail address whitelist sends you a message, the service automatically sends a reply that asks the sender to click a link, to enter a series of numbers, or to do some other task that proves there's an actual person sending the message. If the sender passes the test, the message goes in your Inbox. The only problem with challenge/response services is that they might block automated messages that you want, such as newsletters and autoreplies for lost passwords.

4. Use disposable passwords.
How many times have you blithely sent your e-mail address over a Web form? Too many to count? Unfortunately, spammers love grabbing e-mail addresses from online forms--and from Web pages, for that matter. Instead of handing over your real e-mail address when you're online, try using disposable addresses. E-mail services such as Yahoo Mail, Spamex and E-mailias let you create temporary e-mail aliases that you can use in Web forms. If you get a sudden influx of spam from one of the aliases, just turn off the alias and get a new one.