How do I filter or block unwanted emails?

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I have some acquaintances that are constantly bombarding me with emails. I’ve gotten to the point when I say to myself : No More !!! These messages reach the email inbox directly and I have to spend considerable time trying to weed them out. Is there a way to filter or block unwanted emails? Thank you in advance.
George [xxxx@hotmail.com]

An email message sent to your account will typically be delivered directly to the inbox. However, there are a couple of ways to change this default action at your Hotmail account.

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The first is to filter the unwanted emails and move them automatically to another folder. Though the account continues to receive these useless emails, they can be made to skip the inbox so that time can be spent on more important work. Read how to automatically sort email using filters at your Hotmail email account.

The second option is to completely block unwanted emails by creating a blacklist of senders. This puts a stop to all messages from the specified senders including ones that may be worth your while. Let me explain these two features in detail.

Filter unwanted email automatically

Most, if not all, popular email programs and services offer users the ability to filter incoming messages. These Email Filters, sometimes also known as Messages Rules are like instructions that consist of a condition and an action.

The condition identifies emails based on the specified parameters while the action determines what happens to those messages. Setting up a filter is quite an easy job and once it’s done no further intervention from your side is required… it’s all automated from there on.

For instance, to filter unwanted emails, simply instruct the program / service to detect particular senders (by specifying their email addresses) and then move messages from them to a designated folder.

How to block unwanted email

The astute amongst you would have realized that message filters can be used to block emails from the inbox by transferring them to the Junk or Deleted items folders. This is indeed correct… somewhat! But, such filters can only make the messages skip the inbox… the emails may still be received at your account. And that’s not genuine ‘blocking’, if you know what I mean.

Note: In some email programs like Outlook Express, filters can be created that will delete the emails before they are downloaded.

To truly block unwanted emails, use the blacklist feature which is a better option and a tad simpler to implement. You only need to specify the senders email addresses in the blacklist. This will guarantee that messages never reach your email account. Please note, that blocking senders will stop all messages even those that can be of some value to you!

Block and filter email messages in Hotmail

At the time of writing, to stop unwanted emails at a Hotmail account, one can use filters to have the messages either deleted or moved to a designated folder. The Blocked senders list feature is also quite versatile through which emails from specific addresses as well as entire domains can be blocked.

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