This is a VBScript program to scan the E-mail in your Outlook Inbox and delete messages that appear to be spam. After using this program you should review the messages in your "Deleted Items" folder before emptying it.

The program treats any message with html source code as suspect. If a message with html source code has an executable attachment (*.exe), the message is deleted. In addition, if a message has html source code that has references to sites on the Internet, the message is deemed to be spam and deleted. Many such messages are very dangerous. They are not just annoying, they can infect your computer, steal personal information, or direct you to harmful web sites.

I have found that this program deletes many spam messages. It also deletes many virus infected messages. Years ago it deleted most messages with the Swen virus. I got thousands of such messages, which prompted me to develop this solution. A few spam messages are not deleted. These are messages that do not attempt to download images or run programs from the Internet. However, I feel that these messages, while annoying, at least are not dangerous. They will not infect the user, will not attempt to steal user information, and will not direct the user to web sites that can either infect or steal information. The user will have to manually delete such messages, unless your email provider does a better job of flagging spam.

Of greater concern is that this program will delete messages from companies you do business with, but employ marketing techniques in their messages that require code that references the Internet. You could argue that these messages are still spam, but since they are from organizations you do business with, you might want to move them from the "Deleted Items" folder into another folder. I would suggest you move them into a personal folder of your choosing, rather than the Inbox folder. This way, the messages will not be deleted as spam by a future scan.

In addition, I have found that this program deletes some messages I receive from real people. These people compose messages in html format, rather than text, and refer to sites or documents on the Internet. I would refrain from this practice, as I believe it adds no substance to a communication. However, many technically savvy people believe this makes their messages more attractive. Be aware that messages composed in html format might be recognized by this program as spam if there are any Internet references. I don't know of any way to prevent this without making the program extremely complicated and difficult to maintain.

There are email filtering programs that use complex algorithms to detect spam. I found that these are less reliable than the VBScript program linked on this page. Your experience might differ. In any case, I post this program because I find it useful. I save more time with this program than I do using most filtering programs I've tried. Also, the code might help someone else figure out a more reliable algorithm to detect spam. Please use it with caution.

DeleteSpam.txt <<-- Click here to view or download the program