Delete spam automatically in Thunderbird

Spam is an ever-increasing problem online and there doesn't seem to be any end in site. An automated way of stripping out these nuisance emails is essential.

Outlook Express doesn't come with a spam filter so this is one of the most compelling reasons for upgrading to the Thunderbird browser. Thunderbird scans emails as they arrive to see if they look like spam and it has several clever features to make sure it doesn't mark genuine emails as spam.

The settings for removing junk mail are in two places in Thunderbird. There are general settings that refer to all the email accounts that are downloaded to Thunderbird, as well as specific settings for each account.

The general settings can be found by clicking on the Tools menu and then on Options. Click on the Privacy tab and then the Junk tab. Make sure the top option 'When I mark messages as junk' is selected as well as the one below 'Move them to the account's "Junk" folder'.

Simply deleting them presents a problem if Thunderbird accidentally marks a real email as spam. We also recommend selecting the option 'Mark messages determined to be Junk as read' as this will keep the Inbox indicator down. Click on OK.

To set up the anti-spam filter on a specific account click on the Tools menu again and then on Account Settings. Click on Junk Setting in the left-hand column and then click in the box labelled 'Enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account'.

It is also a good idea to select the option below 'Do not mark mail as Junk if the sender is in Personal Address Book' this is a good way of preventing forwarded emails being marked as spam. Select the fourth option 'Move new junk messages to:' and the default '"Junk" folder on Local Folders'. Click on OK.

Now we need to tell Thunderbird to search for spam. Click on the Tools menu and then Run Junk Mail Controls on Folder. Once the folder has been scanned, a small flame icon will appear next to any email that Thunderbird identifies as spam.

If you want to mark an email as junk when Thunderbird has missed it, click on the email and then on the Junk icon in the toolbar. This icon changes when a spam email is selected to Not Junk in case a genuine email has been marked by mistake.