Chances are that you get spam in your e-mail inbox. One of the fundamental tools everyone should have is a spam filter. Many ISPs (Internet service providers) already filter e-mail for you. But it's hard to tell how effective they are when you receive dozens or hundreds of junk messages each day.

You can reduce the junk by adding a filter. There are many anti-spam tools online. I've sorted through dozens to find some that you can use with minimal effort. They're all free. So you can try each without spending a dime.

The following tools work with e-mail programs like Outlook, Thunderbird and Eudora that use POP3 (post office protocol) e-mail, the most common standard.

MailWasher
MailWasher lets you set up your own spam filters, like most e-mail programs. But it also allows you to inspect messages before they're downloaded to your computer. Your messages remain on the e-mail server so that malicious attachments can't get to you. Then you can download and save the messages you want as you normally would.

POPFile
POPFile is a basic Bayesian filter. The longer you use it, the better it gets at sending spam to the junk folder. To distinguish itself, this program claims to learn to sort mail to multiple folders based on your habits. I haven't tried this feature myself. But it's an interesting way to use a Bayesian filter for added convenience on top of spam control.