Last month the BlackBerry Technical Knowledge Center posted a very useful docoment entitled "Change The Default filter in your BlackBerry Internet Service Account."

I think this is a very useful primer for those BlackBerry users who wish to control which messages are forwarded to your BlackBerry device- and which are not.

Tell you what. If you have BlackBerry Internet Service 2.0 thru 2.2, you got a let up on them BIS 1.8 laggards.

First I will tell you about this procedure for BIS 2.0-2.2.

To change the default filter in BIS 2.0-2.2 you would perform the following steps:

1. Go to your service provider's BlackBerry Internet Service web site and log in to your BlackBerry Internet Service account.
2. Choose the appropriate email account, then click Filters.
3. Choose either Forward messages to handheld or Do not forward message to handheld. The change is saved automatically.

When you see these instructions for BIS 1.8, you may want to upgrade to BIS 2.x. But I realize you're probably very busy today and would rather do this quick configuration rather than the whole upgrade thing.

OK, then. So to change the default filter in BIS 1.8 perform the following steps:

1. Go to your service provider's BlackBerry Internet Service web site and log in to your BlackBerry Internet Service account.
2. In the top menu, click Filters.
3. On the Filters page, click the Forward messages to handheld hyperlink.
4. Select or clear the following options:

• Forward message to handheld- Select this option to forward messages to your BlackBerry device.
• Header only- Select this check box to only forward the message header to your BlackBerry device.
• Level 1 notification- Select this check box to forward messages with high importance to your BlackBerry device.
• Do not forward message to handheld- Select this option to leave the message in your BlackBerry Internet Service mailbox. The message is not forwarded to your BlackBerry device. Note: If you select this option, messages will not be forwarded to your BlackBerry device unless you have other filters set to forward messages.
  

5. Click Save and Close.

Now isn't BIS 2.x easier?