Sweep: the virtual broom for your inbox

The kitchen, the back patio and even the dining room floorboards all have one thing in common: every so often they need a good sweep. But what about your email account, surely it too gets a tad cluttered every so often?

With that in mind, you may have noticed a handy little tool in the new Hotmail called "Sweep". Its function is simple: declutter your inbox.

Think of it as a kind of virtual broom. Moving the stuff you don't want (such as newsletters you signed up to but no longer read and can't seem to unsubscribe from) to your junk folder and moving the stuff you do want (such as emails from friends) to folders you've already set up in your inbox.

It's so simple and easy to use you'll wonder how you sorted through your inbox without it. Here's how it works.

1. Spot a sender whose messages you want to sweep out.
2. Select the check box next to a message from that sender.
3. Click "Sweep".
4. Choose to move or delete all the messages from the sender.
   
5. Don't bother with this again. Just select the box to move or delete future messages from the sender automatically.