You can still use your favorite browser, Internet Explorer or whatever, but swith your mail to Netscape which includes a SPAM blocker.

You can set it up to reject mail that looks suspicious (which goes into a "JUNK" folder, after one click.) You have it set so anyone you write to is OK. After a few weeks, it will be dumping the junk mail into JUNK and deleting it after three days or whatever you decide, so you can glance and see if something you want is in there.

Here's one advantage. You don't have to click on a message, which opens it, to delete it, like IE does.

I'm still using SBC which is Yahoo Mail and they filter messages with a SPAM control, so I don't even get those. The few that slip through are dumped into JUNK. (SBC, Pacbell, Ameritec, AT&T, and a bunch of others are all using Yahoo mail, which has built in, online spam guards)

Check if your service provider has SPAM controls, maybe you already have something and just haven't got it activated?

Another option is disposable mailboxes. I use one for this BB and others. If I start getting a flood of spam, I just change the account and the old one dies off. It also tells me where the spam is coming from, since each one is linked to one website.

Many service providers offer multiple email accounts with your main account. Use a second one for "serious" emails and one for general, the spam will all go to the general box.

Another option, free email, which isn't going to download to your computer, but will be online. Netscape gives you a free account when you install it. Yahoo offers free web based email. Gmail is pretty good. The idea is use a disposable account for all the places that might harvest an adddress and save your real account from getting added to lists.