Making AOL Uncluttered

Pondering Dropping AOL E-mail?
If you've ever pondered the idea of dropping your AOL email because you're sick of the junk in the box, but not sure if you want to try another provider, there is a way to control the influx of crap to your in-box and suddenly make your AOL email semi-useful once again!

What I've Done:
I have a particular email address I've set up that is specifically designed for interaction with 5 email addresses only and it's wonderful. No junk, no spam, (Ain't that the same?) no unsolicited offers to enhance my male talents or my wallet or my career.

Just plain old fashion communication with the persons and entities I choose. Ahh. It's good, and it does have it's drawbacks, but the empty in-box sure is nice to see.

How'd I Do That?
This method is direct from the E-mail interface, but I'm sure you can find this same option under the AOL application. That's how I initially set this up, via that 'application'.

Once you're signed in on the Email Web Interface,

Near the Upper Right corner,

  • Click on Settings
  • Find Spam Controls on the left side,
  • There's an option called Spam Filters by Address.
  • I've chosen the Custom option.
    • In Custom, I've added specific email addresses to only receive email from.
    • Type in an address and click on the '+'.
Walla!

This function does work. I've had it set up under one particular address for the last year and only received 1 email all year long. The email I want. With this setting, nothing gets put in your spam folder either. All but your permissioned email addresses get bounced.

Is There A Downside?
Hell yea! It's AOL. Everything has a downside these days doesn't it? More to the point, you need to know the email addresses of people or entities that will be sending you email and you'll have to interact with your email settings folder every time. If you don't have many of either, it's a low maintenance way of controlling the noise in your in-box. I love it.

Is This A Reason To Stay With AOL?
Hell no! I've converted to Gmail's unique system of E-mail organization and I love it. Everyone that's taken a gander at it that I've sent there has also touted it as a godsend. If you have a lot of email from various sources, GMAIL is the best way to tackle and track it all.

At first, I didn't like it because it was "different" and people in general don't like different. But in this case, different is not only good, it's dang efficient in how it handles email strings, sorting, labeling (As opposed to folders) and retention methods. Not to mention Google's Gmail gives you a ridiculous amount of disk space to use for your email.

Right now I've used 103 Mb of my 7,047 available MB's. You do the math.
http://mail.google.com

Remember, I've set up several AOL accounts for my junk or specific purposes. And maybe they haven't noticed, but anything of any importance gets forwarded to my Gmail account. Ha!

Not to mention right now, I get error messages EVERY TIME I log into AOL. Sigh. It's almost like they want us to go away.

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