Spam, the common term for unsolicited e-mail, is a huge
nuisance to e-mail users. Many companies, legitimate and fraudulent,
use e-mail as a marketing tool because it is so inexpensive. An e-mail
to millions of recipients can make money even if a small percentage of
addresses are valid and lead to purchases.
If not prevented and filtered, spam can overrun your Inbox and cause
frustration, as well as waste your time. You can take steps to reduce
the amount of spam, and efficiently deal with it when it does reach
your Inbox.
Protect Your E-mail Address
Provide your personal or business e-mail address to only those
contacts that you trust. Avoid using your primary e-mail address when
registering for a website. If you do, be sure to check that website's
privacy policy. Do not post it in newsgroups, chatrooms or message
boards. They are all common sources of e-mail addresses for spammers.
Create an e-mail address with a free web-based e-mail service such
as Yahoo or Hotmail. Use this secondary address for all of your
internet activities, and if it begins to receive too much spam, switch
too another secondary address.
You may also use a disposable e-mail service such as spamgourmet,
which allows you to create temporary e-mail addresses. E-mail sent to a
temporary address will re-route to your primary Inbox, without
revealing your address.
Never Reply to Spam
When you do receive spam, simply delete it. Replying to spam
confirms your e-mail address as valid, and in turn it may be sold to
other spammers.
Never click any links or images in spam! Some messages include a remove me
link. Again, this is a just a way for spammers to confirm that you
received their message, and it will cause you to receive more spam. Ignore E-mail Petitions
Spammers are able to harvest addresses from sign-and-forward e-mails, even the petition was created by a reliable source.
Disguise Your E-mail Address
Spammers also harvest e-mail addresses that are posted in plain text
on Web pages. To trick their harvesting technology, disguise your
posted address by spelling out the @ symbol, such as "taraf at
etr.org."
You may also display your e-mail address as an image, or use JavaScript to create a clickable link. Inter-linked.com contains instructions on how to create these types of links. Just Hit Delete
Deleting messages from your Inbox is the easiest way to deal with
spam. If your Inbox becomes unmanageable, you may want to consider
activating or acquiring a filter.
Built-in Filters
Many recent versions of e-mail programs contain a junk mail folder for spam filtering. Instructions for the following programs are available below:
Although spam filters are becoming more efficient, they do not
always work perfectly. Whatever method you choose to filter spam,
always scan your junk-mail folder for legitimate e-mails before you delete the folder's contents entirely.
The Web-based e-mail programs Gmail, AOL, MSN, Netscape, Mozilla, Yahoo and Earthlink also contain built-in spam filtering that may be activated. Add-on Filters
If a built-in filter isn't available with your e-mail program, or you have a challenging spam problem, you may want to use an add-on filter.
These utilities are designed to pull spam by working with the e-mail
program you already have. Before installing, be sure to turn off any
other spam-filtering software already on your computer, as it may
interfere. There are many such programs available, several are listed
here:
| Utility Name | Cost | System Requirements | Description | | Despammed.com | Free | Both Windows and Mac | Filters e-mail and forwards it to your existing account. | | Spamihilator | Free | Windows 95 or higher | Works between your e-mail client and the internet and examines every incoming e-mail. | | Spammunition | Free | Windows, Microsoft Outlook 2000 or higher | Automatically filters spam out of your Inbox when you receive new mail. | | SpamSieve | $25 | Mac OS X 10.2 or higher | Learns what your spam looks like, so it can block nearly all of it. | | SpamCop | $30 | Both Windows and Mac | This spam reporting service also offers spam filtering. | | Norton Anti-Spam | $39.95 | Windows 98 or higher | A 30-day trial version is available for download. | | McAfee SpamKiller | $39.99 | Windows 98 or higher | A 30-day trial version is available for download. | | Spamnix | $29.95 | Eudora plug-ins for Windows and MacOS X. | Spamnix is a highly effective spam-blocker integrated directly into the Eudora user interface. |
Sending E-mail
Because spam has become so prevalent, most people employ some method
of spam filtering. This needs to be taken into consideration if you use
e-mail for marketing purposes, such as sending an e-newsletter. Ensure
that your legitimate e-mail message is not labeled as spam by
refraining from using overly promotional language and punctuation in
your e-mails. Some filters label e-mail as spam if it is sent to a
large group of recipients at one time, so you may want to break down
your mailing list into smaller groups. Always consider how your message
might be interpreted as junk by an e-mail filter.
Practice e-mail etiquette by sending mass mailings only to those who
have requested it. Respect the privacy of people on your mailing list
by refusing to give share their information with other organizations. |
