Ian Blackburn

July 2004 Entries

Spam filtering in Exchange 2003

I have tried various spam filters for my email, but the best I have used is in fact the one that comes with Outlook 2003.  However it was always a bit of a pain that this happens in the Outlook client rather than the server.  But that has just changed.  Microsoft have released the free Intelligent Message Filter for Exchange 2003 (http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2003/imf/default.asp).  You install it on the server then configure it with two levels of filtering.  The first is to configure a level of spam confidence, above which you want to archive or delete messages directly on the server.  You then configure a second spam confidence level at which the Outlook 2003 client will treat the mail as spam.  I currently run the first level at 6 and the second at 3, and this seems to be a nice balance for me.  90% of spam is caught on the server, and the rest ends up in my junk mail folder in Outlook- with few errors.

To help you fine tune your settings there are a couple of useful tips I have found: