Best Internet Security

Getting Rid Of E-mail Spam

E-mail spam is not just unwanted, it can be offensive, especially to those who want the best internet security. Pornographic spam causes many consumer complaints. Decrease the number of spam e-mails you receive by making it difficult for spammers to get and use your e-mail address.

* Don’t use an obvious e-mail address, such as JaneDoe@isp.com. Instead use numbers or other digits, such as Jane4oe6@isp.com.

* Use one e-mail address for close friends and family and another for everyone else. Free addresses are available from Yahoo! and Hotmail. You can also get a disposable forwarding address from www.spammotel.com. If an address attracts too much spam, get rid of it and establish a new one.

* Don’t post your e-mail address on a public web page. Spammers use software that harvests text addresses. Substitute “janedoe at isp.com” for “janedoe@isp.com.” Or display your address as a graphic image, not text.

* Don’t enter your address on a website before you check its privacy policy.

* Uncheck any check boxes. These often grant the site or its partners permission to contact you.

* Don’t click on an e-mail’s “unsubscribe” link unless you trust the sender. This action tells the sender you’re there.

* Never forward chain letters, petitions or virus warnings. All could be a spammer’s trick to collect addresses.

* Disable your e-mail “preview pane.” This stops spam from reporting to its sender that you’ve received it.

* Choose an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that filters e-mail. If you get lots of spam, your ISP may not be filtering effectively.

* Use spam-blocking software. Web browser software often includes free filtering options. You can also purchase special software that will accomplish this task.

* Report spam. Alert your ISP that spam is slipping through its filters. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also wants to know about “unsolicited commercial e-mail.” Forward spam to uce@ftc.gov.

Be Suspicious of Mass E-mails

Many mass e-mails contain false alarms, misleading requests for donations or fictitious offers of money and free goods. You can check the validity of almost any mass e-mail at www.Snopes.com. Don’t forward an e-mail unless you’re sure that it contains accurate information. Not only do such e-mails confuse recipients, they are often used to collect e-mail addresses for spammers.

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Best Internet Security – Fighting Spam

I know I don’t speak for myself when i say that I’m sick and tired of receiving junk mail, spam or by any other name you want to call it. The marketers are out of control compared to earlier years in regards to all the spam they can send to you. Many of the best internet security programs can catch 95% or better, but it’s the other 5% that can drive you up the wall.

In 2003 President Bush signed the “can Spam” bill and the Senate approved it by a vote of 97-0. The bill prohibits senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from using false return addresses to disguise their identity (spoofing) and the use of dictionaries to generate such mailers. In addition, it prohibits the use of misleading subject lines and requires that emails include and opt-out mechanism.

This is all well and good, but there are always people who like to “bend” the rules to where no matter what law is in place, you still don’t get any satisfaction. I get so many unsolicited e-mails that are all considered junk that it’s not even funny.

The problem is that these e-mails are now coming from other countries, and they don’t have to follow the laws of the united States. Because the Internet opens borders and thinks globally, these laws are fine and good, but do not stop the problem.
So what can you do to stop this unwanted assault on your inbox? Here are 5 guidelines to follow to help protect from spam

Number 1: Do what you can to avoid having your email address out on the net.
Watch out for spam spiders. spam spiders search the internet for e-mail addresses to e-mail junk to. Check out a web site called WebPoison.org, a site that is an open source project geared to fight the spambots and spam spiders.
There are also other programs that encode your e-mail address, making it harder for the bots and spiders to read your e-mail address.

Number 2: Get spam blocking software.
There are so many programs out there to help you with this issue. Even though some of the software is not foolproof, it does control most of the junk from getting in your inbox.

Number 3: Use the multiple email address approach.
This is something that I do and it’s one of the first things someone should do when starting out on the internet. Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail are just three of the many free e-mail providers that you can get an e-mail account from. If you’re going to subscribe to a newsletter, use your “backup” e-mail account to avoid having the e-mails showing up in your personal account.

Number 4: Attachments from people you don’t know are BAD, BAD, BAD.
Don’t open an e-mail that has been forwarded from someone you don’t know. Don’t even open any attachments either since they can contain a viruses. Being a company network is one thing since they typically block those e-mails, but your personal e-mail is a whole different story.

Number 5: Email services now have “bulk-mail” baskets.
If the provider you’re using doesn’t support this then you might want to think about moving to someone else. this option allows you to put the e-mails from people you don’t know into a “bulk” pile and then choose to let them into your circle.

I hope these guidelines help you from becoming a victim of spammers and others like them.

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