How many spam emails do you receive on a weekly basis? I receive quite a few, mostly about how I can earn loads of money over night or others offering products that I dare not mention. According to Vnunet.com " Spam email accounted for 96.63% of all email scanned in March 2008, making it the third consecutive month that junk mail levels have remained steady."
SPAM laws were passed in the USA and UK in 2003, and so far, they have failed to stop the flow of SPAM messages to inboxes. More up to date and stricter laws may need to be passed to stop the flood of spam emails into inboxes the world over.
So what can you do to stop Spam getting into your inbox? Below are five steps to think about to protect you from spam.
Number 1: Avoid having your email address available on the Internet.
There are programs called "spam spiders" that search the Internet for email addresses to send email to. If you are curious, perform a search on "spam spider" and you will be amazed at the results.
If you have a website with your email address available on it, I suggest you use form emails, which can hide addresses or use contact forms where the user has to complete an online form to get in contact with you. Don't have your email such as yourname@yourdomain.com on your website, as after a short while you will be bombarded with spam email on a big scale.
Number 2: Get spam blocking software.
There are many programs available to block spam emails. I would suggest Mailwasher or Spambutcher. You may also want to buy a paid for version. I would strongly suggest downloading and installing a spam blocking program.
It will save you time and frustration of deleting unwanted emails. The software is not foolproof, but they really do help. You usually have to complete some simple set up to block certain types of email.
Number 3: Use the multiple email address approach.
There are a lot of free email addresses obtainable on the web. If you must subscribe to newsletters, then have use "back-up" email address. This would be like giving your mobile phone number to your best friends and the business number to everyone else.
You can also sign up for disposable email address that you can determine how long they stay active for. Using these disposable email addresses can prevent lots of spam getting delivered to you as once you have terminated the email address, that's it. No more email can be delivered. I would suggest Trashmail or Spam Gourmet.
Number 4: Attachments from people you don't know are TROUBLE!
A common problem with spam is that they have attachments and attachments can have viruses. Employers often have filters that don't let such things pass to you. Personal email is far easier for spammers. A general rule of thumb is, if you do not know who is sending you something, DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. Secondly, look for services that offer filtering. Good firewall or anti-virus programs should offer email scanning.
Number 5: Never respond to Spam emails.
Never respond to spam emails. Never respond to spam emails. If you do respond to a spam email you will only be confirming your email address to the spammer and you will receive a lot more spam after responding to a spam email.
By following the above suggestions you will reduce the amount of spam emails that you receive. Unfortunately you will never be able to stop spam email as the people who generate and send them find more underhand and sophisticated ways of sending spam email.
John French has been breaking, repairing and building computers for over 15 years. He has expertise in computer security and maintaining a healthy computer.
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