Review: Clearmymail utility software

Spam email is a problem we all encounter at some point, and Clearmymail claims to be able to rid your inbox of it.

The service works entirely online using the company's own server to filter out emails from unknown senders before they reach your inbox. To do this, you need to change the settings in your mail program to ones that are provided upon registration.

Rather than blocking specified addresses, Clearmymail begins by blocking all emails. To allow emails through, senders' addresses must be added to the Allowed list which can be imported from your address book. This prevents the need to block individual spammers, which is an endless and frustrating task. You can still access emails that have been filtered, though, by logging into the Clearmymail site. If messages in there have been wrongly convicted, it's possible to add the addresses to your Allowed list from there.

Once properly set up, Clearmymail filtered over 500 emails, letting us quickly download only those from trusted addresses. Our test account that was besieged with daily spam then became usable from Outlook Express, saving a lot of effort. It won't work with webmail accounts, but for Outlook or Outlook Express users (as well as those of other mail programs) it's a good idea.

Vista compatible: Yes