MailWasher Pro 6.5

This advanced version anti-spam program will enable you to protect an unlimited number of email accounts from spam.

MailWasher Pro supports both POP3 and IMAP accounts as well as Hotmail, MSN and AOL.

The program works exactly the same as the free edition, and involves downloading the headers of all your email messages, marking each one as 'spam' or 'legitimate'. When you then process your mail the spam is deleted, while legitimate mail is downloaded to your email program.

Spam email can be 'bounced', which means a fake 'address not found' email is sent in reply in the hope that the spammer will remove your email address from their mailing list. There is little evidence to suggest that this method actually works, however.

A 'blacklist' and a 'friends list' are provided, in which you can enter good and bad email addresses. Addresses in the blacklist are marked for deletion, while addresses in the friends list will be marked as legitimate.

You can also register with the FirstAlert service, a database of spam addresses submitted by other MailWasher users. Any addresses on this list are automatically blocked, instantly reducing the amount of spam you receive.