The most effective way to solve this problem is to set up an IMAP account, as I just discussed. Gmail, iCloud, and Yahoo have solid server-side spam filtering (AOL, regrettably, does not). These services will remove junk messages from your Inbox before you see them. The messages arent entirely gone, however (and thats a good thing, since you dont want misidentified messages vaporized without your say-so). Rather, they move to a Junk or Spam folder that you can access from your iOS device by launching the Mail app, scrolling down to the Accounts area, tapping an account (Gmail, for example), and then tapping the Junk or Spam filter. Once youve eyeballed these messages, youre welcome to delete them as you would any other message.

Don't bounce messages

One thing that will not help reduce your spam is bouncing messages back to the sender. At one time the Macs Mail application had a Bounce command that would return a message to its sender along with some legitimate-looking text indicating that the account the message was sent to was inactive. That feature has been removed, for good reason. Spammers are smart enough not to put their real return address in the message. When you bounce a message, youre either sending it to a fake address or, worse yet, sending it to some poor schmo who has had his address spoofed by spammers. These days bouncing only exacerbates the problem. Please dont do it.

Speed up your email by archiving old messages

If youve been carting around several years' worth of email, you may find that your email client runs slowly or crashes from time to time. Email applications are fairly robust, but when tasked with keeping track of gigabyte upon gigabyte of messages and their attachments, even the best can act up. To lend your email client a hand, clear out the cruft.