Spam e-mail can be one of the more annoying things about using a computer. Consumer Reports has been looking into the performance of anti-spam programs.

Consumer Reports says your first line of defense rests with spam controls offered by your Internet service provider. See if those help.

Your second option, which Dean Gallea just tested, is buying some anti-spam software. These programs have names like Spamkiller, iHate Spam and Spam Sleuth.

Gallea also checked out junk mail filters that come with Microsoft Outlook and Apple's Mac OS X e-mail program.

Dean collected hundreds of spam messages for his tests.

"Here's one trying to sell you prescriptions, make extra cash, get out of debt today, generic Viagra."

He also collected hundreds of valid e-mail notes from friends and then he sent both sets of mail to his computer to see how well the programs sorted out the spam.

Gallea says, "The best identified almost 90 percent of the spam. The worst, Microsoft's Outlook, only caught about 40 percent."

But there was an even bigger problem. Some of the programs weeded out valid e-mail.

Gallea says, "You might miss an important message if the program identifies good messages as spam."

The worst was Spam Subtract. It tagged one out of five of the valid e-mails as spam.

Based on its tests, Consumer Reports recommends two easy-to-use anti-spam programs. The first, from mailshell.com, is called Spamcatcher Universal. It costs $20. The second is from bluesquirrel.com. It's called Spam Sleuth and goes for $30. Both are easy to install and did a good job of sorting out spam, while leaving valid e-mail in the inbox.

The very best spam blocker that Consumer Reports tested is free but you need to be fairly computer savvy to use it. You can get it by going to bloomba.com. The program is called SAproxy.

If you're a Mac user, be aware that the anti-spam programs Consumer Reports tested do not work with Macintosh computers.

Additionally, people who have AOL, MSN or free e-mail such as Hotmail, will need to buy additional software to make the anti-spam software run.