Filtering in Microsoft's Outlook Express 4.x

If you use Microsoft's Internet explorer as your web browser, you most likey also use Outlook Express (OE) as your mail and news reader. OE's filtering system is rather rudimetric, but it get's the job done.

Table of Contents:

  1. Find the author's name or email address
  2. Select Tools->Newsgroup Filters
  3. Push the 'Add' button
  4. Select Scope
  5. Enter name or address in the "From:" box then Hit OK
  6. Hot 'OK' again

OE Killfile Dialog Box The heart of OE's filtering mechanism is the add/edit filter dialog box. Here, you Specify the filter parameters. In the "Where to Filter: Group(s)" box, you can select the scope of the filter. OE filters apparently have 3 scopes

Group Level
The filter will only be active on a single newsgroup.
Server Level
The filter will work on all newsgroups from a single server.
All Servers
The filter is active for all newsgroups from all servers.
The remaining options specify the details of the filter. You can filter out messages from a specific person, subject, size, date, or any combination. It's all pretty self explaitory.

How to set up a filter by name/address

  1. Find the author's name or email address

    OE always shows you the authors name in the message lists window, so finding it is not a problem. However, if you want to filter by email address, you're going ot have to find it first.
    Start by selecting a message written by the person you want to filter out. Then hit the "Reply To Author" button on the toolbar. In the new window that pops up, you'll find the email address in the "To:" box. If for some reason it's not there, then you'll need to look through the headers.
    Headers are lines at the beginning of the message that tell servers and newsreaders about the message like who it's from, when it was sent, etc. These lines are normally hidden from the viewer, but you can view them by doing the following.
    Select a message from the author you want to filter out. Right click on it and select properties. Hit the "Details" tab and look for a line that starts with "From:" (i've marked it for you in the picture). On that line is the email address of the scumbag you want to get rid of.

  2. Select Tools->Newsgroup Filters

    Pretty Self Explanitory. This opens up the "Newsgroup Filters" dialog box. This window lists all the filters you have created. Here, we wish to ass a new filter. SO, to do that, we ...

  3. Push the 'Add' button

    ... and the add filter dialog box pops up. Here's we enter in all the details for the filter

    OE Killfile Dialog Box

  4. Select Scope

    Here, you use the drop-down box to select what group(s) and server(s) this filter will apply to. This is mostly a matter of preference. Some people are jerks in only one newsgroup; others spread their jerkiness all over. In most cases, you'll want to limit the scope of the filter to just one newsgroup as I have done here. Set the way I've shown, the filter will elminate posts from that author only in the newsgroup alt.binaries.images.underwater on the Newscene server. If you're at all confused by what i've said, just leave it at "All Servers" and don't worry about it.

  5. Enter name or address

    Enter the name or email address of the author (int this case, [email protected]) into the "From" box. Then Hit the "OK" button.

  6. Hot 'OK' again

    We're back to the Newsgroup Filters window. Now, at the bottom of the list, you should see the filter you just explained.

Congradualtions, you've eliminated one more idiot from you view of Usenet. No more will you be bothered with his insipid nonsence. Here's a quick summary:

    How to set up a filter by name/address
  1. Find the author's name or email address
  2. Select Tools->Newsgroup Filters
  3. Push the 'Add' button
  4. Select Scope
  5. Enter name or address in the "From:" box then Hit OK
  6. Hot 'OK' again
oeextra.png - 11412 Bytes EXTRA: Viewing filtered messages.

Sometimes, you may want to see the messages that you normally filter out. This can be done simply by selecting the menu option View->Current View ->Filtered Messages.