Microsoft is aiding and abetting spammers. Office 2003 SP1 changed the order
in which messages are processed. Before, message rules were applied before
the Junk Mail Filter was applied. Now, it is BACKWARDS. I cannot believe
that Microsoft intended that the user should not be allowed to permanently
delete certain content before reaching the Junk Mail folder. If so,
Microsoft is assuming that their Junk Mail filter NEVER gets false positives,
and ALWAYS catches all spam. In that case, the Microsoft would take away the
option to automatically delete Junk Mail, and just permanently delete it
automatically at all times. Now the user is forced to look at many junk
mails that would otherwise never be seen. This change can only be called a
BUG, or at lease a SEVERE ENGINEERING OVERSIGHT. Otherwise, we can only
assume that MICROSOFT HELPS SPAMMERS, and makes it a policy to do so. The
user should at least be given the option of having Rules processed before the
Junk Mail filter.

I am quite sure that this issue is going to create a lot of very bad
publicity for Microsoft in the wake of the release of Office 2007, which is
already getting a cold reception in the marketplace.

This comes as a good opportunity for VBA programmers to make a macro that
periodically runs the rules on the Junk e-mail folder, either on a timer or
triggered by an event.