IMPORTANT:  To use this program you must have Eudora Pro or Outlook 97. I learned this the hard way. Tried installing MailJail several times and couldn't understand why it was such a problem. Finally, as they say, "When all else fails, read the directions". Having purchased a new computer, I had not fully installed all my programs, yet. Pulled out Eudora Pro, installed it, and then... Eureka, it was a piece of cake. Guess that was just a reminder, sometimes you just have to get back to basics.

MailJail is really an easy-to-use intelligent filter that guards against unwanted email. It is a plug-in for Eudora and Outlook 97 reader applications. It is one of the first SPAM filters that controls unsolicited, time-consuming and fraudulent email messages which can slow down your messaging system and your productivity. It utilizes an extensive knowledge base of more than 400 rules that were created by analyzing tens of thousands of known "SPAM" email messages.

When you log on to your email server to check your messages, MailJail will be the first to see the incoming messages. It analyzes the header and body- content of the incoming mail, and filters and prioritizes according to its embedded filtering rules and parameters. If it decides a message is Junk mail, it will place it in MailJail. However, you are the ultimate Judge and can either leave it in jail, or release it.

MailJail is called "intelligent" because it can be trained. The first time you use it, it will do all of the above-mentioned applications. Then, as you read through and make your own decision as to what you consider to be Junk Mail or not -- by either leaving it in MailJail, or releasing it therefrom -- you can use "teach by example" and MailJail will automatically place keywords in its matching filters. The more you use it, the better it will understand your preferences as to what you want or don't want. It can be configured to have multiple users for the same PC.

There is another feature which is important. Address Book Matching gives users the option to exempt family and friends from MailJail rules. This way, if any of the keywords happen to be in their mail, it will be passed over automatically.

Omron states it offers a free 30-day trial, and MailJail can be purchased online for $24.95 at a stated web-site; and, if you purchase it, you can expect to receive approximately 30 new rules each month thereby enabling MailJail to keep current with the latest junk mail strains. They were expecting to come up with a new version for Windows '98.

Having completed this Review, decided to go to the website for the upgrades. Unfortunately, I couldn't access it. It seems to have disappeared. Tried e- mailing the Company contacts... to no avail. Not easily thwarted, I called long distance and was told the party to contact no longer was there. The gentleman who answered the phone couldn't tell me whether MailJail was still an existing company product.

Too bad, because I thought this was a pretty good item. Well, guess I can still use it, until it becomes obsolete, because of the inability to receive monthly updates. If they come up with a replacement product I'll write another report. In the meantime..... Software Requirements? Who cares!