* 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.

In this post I’ll discuss a few different ways that certain software can make you more secure.

There are two programs out there that you can use that are free to use along with source code available. They are not the only ones out there. There are so many more, but because they are free, it’s as good a place as any to start at.

Will encryption stop people from accessing my information?
My father told me once many years ago, “locks only keep honest people out”. with that being said, you should understand that encryption is that there are algorithms that are used to encrypt the information. Depending and the complexity of the coding, will make it harder for hackers to “break” the code. Code have been broken before, but that’s because the person kept working on it until he/she figured it out.

Why bother to encrypt my email?

You should be aware that email is far less secure than paper mail for two very good reasons: first, electronic data can be accessed quite easily over an Internet and secondly, electronic data is simple to copy. There is a very good chance that someone has snooped around in your email despite your best efforts to stop it.

How do I go about encrypting my email?
There are many good programs out there that can help you accomplish this. The one that I’ll mention is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy).

PGP (http://www.pgpi.org/) self-describes itself this way: This “is a program that gives your electronic mail something that it otherwise doesn’t have: Privacy. It does this by encrypting your mail so that nobody but the intended person can read it. When encrypted, the message looks like a meaningless jumble of random characters. PGP has proven itself quite capable of resisting even the most sophisticated forms of analysis aimed at reading the encrypted text.”

Why bother to encrypt my files?
Well that depends on what information you’re keeping on your computer. The more personal the information is, the more you should be encrypting the files.Most corporate Internet security employees will attest to the widespread theft of very valuable information. As long as you are connected to the Internet you are vulnerable.