Free Software: Inbox           

When spam becomes too overwhelming, it's time to beef up the security of your mail with  reliable protection.  Before deciding to break the bank on a ridiculously priced filter, you may want to consider trying one of the many anti-spam solutions that comes absolutely free.

Introduction

Inbox will provide you with the protection needed to keep those unwanted emails out of your life.  This powerful utility effectively manages your POP email and filters out spam before it reaches your inbox.  It has the ability to pull your messages from multiple email accounts, collate messages from numerous email accounts into a single account, filter various accounts before your preferred mail client makes a connection and filter mail directly on the server.  Inbox also smoothly integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and many other popular mail applications.  This free software includes an auto-respond feature that answers messages while you're away and can redirect mail to multiple addresses.

Product Overview

Inbox actively works in between incoming messages and your preferred mail client.  It has the ability to retrieve, collate and review your mail before it's opened and downloaded to another application.  The software offers optional filtering, a feature that allows you to aggressively manage spam while saving loads of time, storage space and valuable bandwidth.  This is a huge advantage to those working from a dial-up connection.  With Inbox, you no longer have to wait impatiently as your mail program downloads hundreds of unsolicited messages.

Inbox collects your message by connecting to each uplink account.  It then downloads the mail and stores it in one of two confidential folders for each account.  The program allows you to define what type of mail you want to reject as well.  This can be done based on several variables such as specific content in the body or header of the message. Any email that you choose to reject is completely deleted right on the uplink server and is never downloaded to your mail client or hard drive.  When mail is downloaded, the messages you have accepted are stored in a special folder and forwarded to your email client.  If mail is neither accepted or denied, it is placed into a quarantine folder.  From there you can browse the messages, accordingly adjust your filters and then decide it's legitimacy.    

Two of Inbox's biggest attractions are the Auto Reply and Redirection features.  Whenever you're away from the computer, your account can be easily configured so that your inbox replies with a customized, automated message.  The redirection option is perfect for the user who has multiple email domains forwarded to a single email account.  This allows you to manage all of your important messages from a centralized location. 

Conclusion: Protecting against Spam...Too Well

Inbox is a worthy product that does it's job at filtering out spam.  The downside is that a few consumers have reported that this program sometimes works too well.  If you're not careful, Inbox may completely erase your email without any way to recover it.  For this reason, you should always check the quarantine folder and remain cautious around that DELETE button.