It is hard to write the code, so it will show. Anyway, I messed up on the Bold and italics...they both needed a closing tag...which would be the on the italics and on the bold

look in the email program menu items for message rules make a rule that says... block pesty email.

Andy, I think there are a few email services that operate the way I believe you'd like. Bluebottle.com is one. PrivacyHarbor.com is another. The latter has something they call "SnapGuard." When someone signs up for the service (which has free and premium options), ALL new main will end up in SnapGuard. The user chooses whether to accept or discard the individual emails or, thirdly, to mark them as Spam. Once you accept an email (address), that person's emails go directly into your inbox from then on. If you discard it, the individual email is discarded, but the next email from that person will again end up in SnapGuard until it (the person's email address) is either Accepted or marked as Spam. Once a message is marked Spam, that sender's emails are automatically sent to the spam folder and marked as 'read' so you will never be bothered with them again. And from Bluebottle's site: Bluebottle Spam-Free Email is easy to use. When Bluebottle receives a message from an email address or domain not on your "Allowed" list, it emails the sender a "verification request". This asks the sender to verify themselves by clicking on a link. Once verified, the system automatically adds the sender's email address to your "Allowed" list and the message is sent through. Future messages are automatically let through until you remove the senders email address from your "Allowed" list. These two services -- and there are surely others -- work by being suspicious of everyone's emails coming to you and only allowing through to your inbox the ones you specifically designate as safe. :-)

First off don't just delete them instead with out opening them send them to the junk mail folder that is how your email program learns what you think is junk, by simply deleting them it is not teaching that this is to be considered junk mail. Definitely if you have your email set so you have a preview pane visible you need to change that, in the settings, it is dangerous to use this. Do you get and send emails with lists of people's email addresses showing? If so you just answered why you get tons of spam mail. Each of those emails with all those addresses get harvested by the spanner, and they know it is an active email address, so they sell it to other spammers.