Microsoft Issues First Outlook Anti-Spam Update

Microsoft has quietly provided its first anti-spam filter update for Outlook 2003, the company's newest e-mail client.

Now available from the Office Update Web site, or via download from this page of the general Microsoft site, the update is the first of a regular refresh of the anti-spam capabilities of Outlook. According to Microsoft, updates will be posted every few months.

Outlook 2003 relies on Microsoft's SmartScreen technology to sniff out spam and deflect it to a special folder within the client. Updates to the filter will, said Microsoft, capture more spam and give fewer false positives.

The SmartScreen technology is also part and parcel of an add-on to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, which will be released early next year, as well as the foundation for the anti-spam filtering used by MSN, the company's Internet service, and Hotmail, its Web-based e-mail service.