How do I deal with Junk Email?

What is junk email?

Everyone who uses email eventually has to deal with unwanted email or junk email (oftentimes called spam). Junk email refers to promotional or advertising messages sent by businesses to large lists of email addresses through usually-automated processes. It's called junk email because, just like junk mail one might receive through the postal service, these messages are usually unsolicited, not directed to anyone in particular (e.g. "current resident"), and may be sent to people who have no relationship at all with the business in question.

Unfortunately, junk email can be more than just a nuisance. Sometimes malicious actors try to use junk email to commit financial fraud, identity theft, or spread malicious programs. So it's important to handle junk email with care.

What can I do about junk I receive at MSU Denver?

If you receive junk email in your MSU Denver email account, you can report it using Microsoft's internal reporting tool. This will automatically update Microsoft's junk filters, and should begin redirecting any messages of that sort (especially from that sender) to your Junk E-mail folder. The exact method of reporting will vary depending on how you access your email:

• Outlook Web App (email.msudenver.edu):
  1. Right-click the offending email
  2. Select “Report”
  3. Select “Report junk”
• Outlook Mobile App
  1. Highlight the offending email
  2. Tap the three dots in the upper-right
  3. Select “Report Junk”
  4. Select “Junk”
• Outlook Desktop App (Windows or Mac)
• Note: If you do not have these reporting options on the desktop app, please see How do I install the Report Message Add-In for Outlook?
  1. Open the offending email (double-click to open in a new window)
  2. Click the Report Message button in the top ribbon
     • OR
  3. Open the offending email's context menu (right-click or double-click)
  4. Select "Junk" (Windows) / "Report" (Mac)
  5. Select a reporting option as appropriate

What can I do about junk email generally?

Most email services these days try to automatically move junk to its own folder in your account. However, these automatic filters will only move messages based on what they've been told to filter out. If you want to minimize the amount of time you spend manually reporting messages, you can try using a second email address from a free email service when signing up on websites, answering online surveys, or posting to news groups or blogs. You can abandon the second account if it becomes deluged with junk. Many Internet providers give you the option to create an "email alias" for such a purpose.

Currently, it's not possible to eliminate all junk email. Junk email is going to stay with us for some time to come. There are a few simple precautions you can take to help protect your email address and your computer from junk.

• Be cautious when giving out your email address. Know who you are giving your email address to, why they need it and what it will be used for.
• Ask companies about their privacy policy and opt-out policy.
• Ask your Internet provider if they offer a junk filtering service.
• Set your email program to not display images (pictures) when they are embedded inside email messages.
• Disable JavaScript and ActiveX in email messages.
• Enable "view email as plain text only" mode, re-enable when needed.
• Always be very cautious of e-mail attachments. Generally you should not open an email attachment unless all of the following are true:
  • You know the sender and have received legitimate email from them in the past.
  • The subject line makes sense to you.
  • The text of the message makes sense to you.
  • You were expecting the sender to send you a file attachment.
  • You know what the file attachment contains and why it was sent to you.
  • You have a good quality, up to date anti-virus scanner installed and running on your computer.
  • Never reply to junk email. Never click on any links in junk email. And never call any phone numbers found in junk email.
• Train yourself to recognize junk email in your Inbox and delete it without opening it.