UK marketers sent over 1.7 billion emails in the first half of 2010 and email marketing volumes increased from around 64 million in January 2010 to around 75 million in June 2010. With this volume of email around, it's good to know that Outlook 2010 can help you sort the select from the SPAM - and even unblock messages you want to read.

A recent marketing survey discovered that most UK consumers regard email as the preferred way to receive sales and special offer advertisements. This might come as a surprise to those of us who constantly sift through unwanted and unsolicited messages that arrive in our In box. The increase of SPAM and unwanted email has meant that organisations need to have a clear strategy for sending targeted, relevant communications.

Email presents the possibility of fostering a one-to-one relationship with a consumer, but marketers need to ensure that their innovation is keeping email relevant in the truest sense and not simply mass mailing in the hope that someone out there is going to welcome their latest sales pitch. This means formulating a strategy to produce emails carrying content that can be different for different subscribers, based on the preferences given during the registering process and onsite behaviour. Successful email campaigns can also be based on important calendar dates and customer actions.

If you feel that you receive too much SPAM or unwanted emails, then Microsoft Outlook 2010 can help with a range of tools to sort out the select from the SPAM. Some attachment file types are automatically blocked because of their potential for introducing a virus into your computer. To help protect your computer, Microsoft Outlook 2010 does not allow certain types of files, such as .exe files, as attachments and automatically blocks these files by default. This has been industry-standard since the late 1990s when the Melissa virus struck, followed shortly after by the ILOVEYOU virus. These were the fastest-spreading viruses known, and they forced a number of companies to shut down their email systems, at significant cost. With more than 300 million people using Outlook across the word, it's no surprise that Microsoft customers look to the organisation to provide protection against security threats.

However there may be times when you want to receive a file of a type that is blocked by Outlook. To get round this, you could make sure that whoever sends you the source file makes it accessible without having to use Outlook. Or you can even take steps to ensure that it is less likely to be blocked by Outlook. You can do this by asking the sender to save the attachment to a server or an FTP site that you can access. This can include a secure network share server such as SharePoint. The sender can send you a link to the attachment on the server or FTP site. You can click the link to access the file and save it on your computer.

You can also avoid the problem of accessing blocked emails by using a compression utility, such as WinZip. Simply create a compressed archive file that has a different file name extension. Outlook does not recognise these file name extensions as potential threats, and therefore, it does not block the new attachment. There are a range of third-party compression utilities available if you think this is the best way to get round any potential blocking problem.

And you can also request that the sender rename the attachment to use a file name extension that Outlook does not recognise as a threat. For example, an executable file that has the file name extension .exe could be renamed as a Word 2010 file that has a .docx file name extension. If you trust where the source file is coming from then arrange for the sender to resend the renamed attachment to you. If you need to save the attachment and rename it to use the original file name extension, simply locate the attachment in the email message, right-click the attachment, and then click Copy. Now select the desktop, and then click Paste. Right-click the pasted file, and then click Rename. Rename the file to use the original file name extension, such as .exe.

If you use a Microsoft Exchange Server account and the Exchange Server administrator has configured the Outlook security settings, then you will probably have to consult the administrator. If practical and safe to do so, ask them to adjust the security settings on your mailbox to accept attachments such as the one that Outlook blocked.