You can configure Outlook to move spam into the Junk Mail folder in your mailbox. This option lets you check messages at your leisure and detect any false positives (i.e., messages that aren't spam). You can then change your settings accordingly to allow more accurate filtering. Note that the Junk E-mail Filter ignores messages sent within the same Exchange organization because rarely would someone send internal spam.
The SCL is a numeric value that indicates the likelihood that a message is spam. The filtering mechanism uses certain criteria to judge whether a message might be spam and gives each message a weighted value--the SCL. The higher the SCL, the more likely that the message is spam. The Exchange 2003 Store contains an SCL processor that can suppress spam before it's delivered to users' Inboxes, but you first need to use some application (e.g., the Exchange IMF) to set an SCL threshold value that the Store SCL processor uses to determine which messages to suppress. The tool sometimes suppresses messages from people with whom you want to correspond, so the Junk E-mail Filter lets you create a Safe Senders list, which Figure 3 shows. The list specifies people from whom you want to receive mail no matter the message contents.
The Other Stuff
I lump Outlook 2003's other new features into the category of other stuff. Features such as the new reading pane and search folders are useful enhancements, but they haven't made the same difference to the way I work with Outlook that the other improvements have made. The ability to move a reading pane to the right or bottom of the screen is a nice touch, but I can review messages faster by using the autopreview feature, which displays the first couple of lines from each message in the Inbox. Search folders let you set criteria for which you want Outlook to filter messages. Outlook 2003 includes several built-in folders. For example, the For Follow Up folder shows all flagged messages. I organize my mailbox folder structure such that I can usually find the messages I need, so I haven't added any search folders to my mailbox, but other users might find them useful.
Some readers won't agree with my placement of RPC over HTTP--a feature that lets you connect a local Outlook 2003 client to a remote Exchange 2003 server via a Web browser--in the other stuff category. I counter by saying that although RPC over HTTP is useful, it's useful only when you can implement it, and right now (even with the changes in Exchange 2003 Service Pack 1--SP1), administrators often have to expend too much effort to implement RPC over HTTP in production environments. If you want to learn more about this functionality, read "Troubleshooting RPC over HTTP Connections," August 2004, InstantDoc ID 42887 or "Exchange 2003 RPC over HTTP Access," September 2003, InstantDoc ID 39770.
Making the Move
Although Microsoft has tied Outlook 2003 closely to Exchange 2003, you can still benefit from a client upgrade while you plan your server upgrade to Exchange 2003. Certain features depend on Exchange 2003 (or even Windows 2003, as in the case of RPC over HTTP), but some of the most important features, such as Cached Exchange mode and the Junk E-mail Filter, work with Exchange Server 5.5 or later versions. Web Table 1 (http://www.windowsitpro.com/microsoftexchangeoutlook, InstantDoc ID 43545) lists Outlook 2003 features and which versions of Exchange they work with.
For me, the two main reasons to upgrade to Outlook 2003 are its networking enhancements and its spam-fighting capabilities. Outlook 2003 offers many other features, some of which will be more important to you than they are to me, but at the end of the day, the features that help you do your job are the most important.
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