How can i block obscene spam?

[growbag]

Hi, I have spam filters plus protection on my pc so that my kids (and me!) don't get exposed to stuff we don't want. I do get a lot of spam but it does get filtered out. This is mostly of the trying to flog Viagra variety. However, just recently I have been getting spam which has included in the main body of the text photos of men's genitalia. This is in the main email, not in an attachement. I don't open the email but because Outlook has a preview pane then I do see it. I find it quite disturbing that this stuff is emailed to me without me wanting it. However, I am really concerned that my children might see it. Is there any way I can block it ? Also, I know Spammers get our addresses from all sort of places, but I don't belong to any newsgroups/chatrooms/online forums and as far as I know my email address isn't on any website, so how do these peopel get hold of it? I am seriously thinking of changing my email address, but I guess it would just happen again?
Any advice gratefully apreciated! Thanks

[Chattirbank]

stop sending them to yourself.

[Ice.Maiden]

Goodness Chattirbank - that was SO funny.

[sir.prize]

typical unhelpful, unfunny response from a clone/imposter in the 'green' mode

[lmao]

In outlook highlight the message, DON'T LOOK AT THE PICTURE.
By file, edit, view ( top left ) is a message drop down menu click on that, there should be an option to block sender.

HTW

[growbag]

Thanks, Imao, I didn't realise I could block certain senders. It's driving me up the wall as I just worry that my children will see stuff that is very inappropriate. Thanks for your advice
Growbag

[Bigeye74]

I've never had such extreme spam. How old r your children? Are they old enough to surf porn? If so, I'd look at changing email address. Next i'd look at using Ubuntu as an O/S.
Try a search for your email address on google.
Either way, change it, check your history for misuse and don't reply to anything even to remove your address from their list.
Finally check out www.download.com for their security software.

[rojash]

Turn off the preview pane. That way you can delete the e-mail without ever seeing its content. Having turned off the preview pane, you will need to double-click an e-mail in order for it to be opened in a separate window.

[wildwood]

You can never stop spam completely. Spammers keep changing their email address so no filter can stop it all.

rojash's preview pane is a good one.
To make this easier to switch on and off you can
Outlook Express>View>Layout in the Basic press the 'customise toolbar" button and from there you can select various quick action button for your top toolbar. add the preview and folder list icons.
Now you can view and hide the preview pane in an instant.

[growbag]

Hi, thanks to everyone who made helpful suggestions. We do already have tight parental controls on the computer, and as I'm the only person in the house who knows the password to override them, then I'm fairly confident that no-one has been accessing dodgy websites. Plus my kids are at the age where they are far more interested in downloading the latest lego game than in looking at anything that might remotely have to do with sex. Or so I've thought.... We do have Outlook set to block any pictures anyway - for example, when I get emails from John Lewis and M&S alerting me to sales, all the pictures are blocked. But this new spam has the pictures in the email without them being inserts or attachments, if that makes sense, so they don't get blocked. I don't open these emails and delete them straight away, but bits of them are shown in the preview pane. I'll take your advice about switching the preview pane on and off. I guess Spammerrs always have ways of getting round things though. My son (aged 11) is asking for his own email address, but I will be saying no if he is at risk of getting this sort of stuff.
Thanks for your help,
Growbag

[fo3nix]

Gmail has excellent spam filters.

I'd recommend you use them (it's free).

You can use it over IMAP with outlook too.

If you need to keep your current email address, then you can set Gmail to check that account for you. You can also set Gmail to act as that account, so that other don't see that you've changed your email system, but you get a better, spam-free system.

(The spam will always be there, just in the spam folder where you can leave it for a few weeks and check it periodically.)