Change the level of junk email protection

By default, the Junk Email Filter protection level is set to No Automatic Filtering. You can make the filter more aggressive so that it catches more junk messages. The higher you set the protection level, the greater the risk of some legitimate messages being identified as junk and moved to the Junk E-mail folder.

1. Click Home > Delete group > Junk > Junk E-mail Options.
2. Choose the level of protection you want.
   • No Automatic Filtering     Although this turns off the automatic Junk Email Filter, messages are still evaluated by using the domain names and email addresses in your Blocked Senders List.

     Note: If you want to turn off the Junk Email Filter, you must also remove names from the Junk Email Filter lists

   • Low     If you don’t receive many junk messages, or want to filter only the messages that are the most obvious junk, select this option
   • High     If you receive lots of junk messages, but don’t want to restrict messages from senders on your safe lists, select this option. We recommend you occasionally check the Junk E-mail folder to make sure that a message you wanted isn’t moved in error
   • Safe Lists Only     This is the most restrictive option. Any message that isn’t from someone on your Safe Senders List or isn’t to a mailing list on your Safe Recipients List, is classified as junk.

Hotmail Junk Filter Not Working

You can tell Outlook to delete all suspected junk messages instead of moving them to the Junk E-mail folder. This takes away your ability to review messages for possible false positives, so consider the risks of using this option.

1. In Mail, click Home > Junk > Junk E-mail Options.
2. On the Options tab, check the Permanently delete suspected junk email instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder box.

Why is my Hotmail not filtering spam?

1. By default, Hotmail is set to no automatic filtering, so you may want to change your protection to High, which should do a better job of catching the spam. If you’re fed up of deleting the messages in your Junk folder, you can easily set it to automatically delete anything suspected as spam.

2. Verify that your address is not on the Safe Sender or Safe Recipient list. These two lists override the Blocked Sender list and the junk mail filter.

3. If you set up a filter for incoming mail to have that mail starred or marked as important, but the filter is broad enough to catch some spam, that spam will be marked in your inbox rather than sent to the junk folder.

4. Microsoft advises you can gain access to all the email settings by clicking the “gear icon” at the top of the page and then choosing “View all Outlook settings.” Select the “Junk email” tab to gain access to those options.