Ways to Fight Spam

Are you frustrated with having to scan through an inbox full of junk mail (many times with less than wholesome subject lines) just to find a message from a friend or coworker? Here are some tips that will help you fight these unwanted messages. If your current e-mail address is already receiving spam then you may not be able to take advantage of some of my suggestions.

1. Use two e-mail addresses. Use one of the e-mail addresses as your private address and only give it to people you know and trust. Use the other address as a junk e-mail address for everything else.

2. Do not forward jokes, chain letters, and other messages that tend to be circulated on the internet to large numbers of people. Your e-mail address can easily be harvested from these messages later on by a spammer. I usually send a reply to the friend that sent me the message politely asking them to not send me any more messages like this. These messages present a problem because you cannot control what others do and your e-mail address will end up being forwarded to countless people worldwide. If you enjoy reading and forwarding joke e-mails then only use your junk e-mail address for this purpose.

3. Install spam filters. Unlike firewalls and antivirus software you cannot have enough spam filters. I currently filter for spam on my mail server, my antivirus suite scans for spam, and Outlook 2003 scans for spam. I have found this to combination to be extremely efficient. If you are not able to add a spam filter to your mail server then I recommend getting a gmail account at http://mail.google.com Once you have your gmail account, you need to set gmail up to retrieve your messages from your primary mail server. The gmail server will then filter for spam and you can setup your preferred e-mail client (Microsoft Outlook Express, and Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird) to download your messages from gmail. After setting up your mail server spam filter you need to install a good internet security suite. The only internet security suite that I recommend is Trend Micro's PC-Cillin Internet Security (http://www.trendmicro.com). This powerful utility will handle antivirus, spam filtering, network intrusion, data theft, and adware/spyware detection and removal. The best part is that the end user license agreement for home users allows you to install the program on three different computers at a cost of only $34.99 per year. Once you have done this and you still find a few messages getting through then install an e-mail client that has built in spam filtering like Outlook 2003/2007 or Mozilla Thunderbird. Windows Vista also comes with an e-mail client (Windows Mail) that has built in spam filtering. If you prefer to use Outlook Express then I recommend installing IHateSpam by Sunbelt Software. You can download a 30 day trial from http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com. If you own a Macintosh then you can use Mozilla Thunderbird or but a copy of Microsoft Office which includes Entourage.

4. This tip doesn't really stop spam, but it will enable you to find out who sold your e-mail address. **Note: This only works for gmail accounts. If you decided to use gmail as your e-mail provider you have the ability to change your e-mail address slightly so you can identify the source of a message later. Here's how it works. When you sign up for a new account... somewebsite.com for example, you can enter your e-mail address as youraddress+somewebsitecom@gmail.com. Later when you start receiving mail at your gmail account addressed to youraddress+somwebsitecom@gmail.com you will know that somewebsite.com sold your e-mail address.

5. Do not use the unsubscribe link found on spam messages. Federal law requires that spammers include a link on their messages that will allow the recipient to unsubscribe from the mailing list. Unfortunately spammers do not care about the law and you just confirmed that their e-mail actually is reaching its intended target by replying unsubscribe. Even worse the unsubscribe link in the message could take you to website that is malicious. Some messages that you opted-in to receive like from the phone company or your bank are safe to unsubscribe from.

6. Avoid posting your e-mail address on a website. Robots will eventually harvest your e-mail address and add you to a spam list. If you must post your e-mail address on a website then you should have your web designer add code that will allow you to disguise(mung) your e-mail address when viewed in the page's source code, but convert it back to a useable address when clicked.

Spam is an annoyance that can cause many people to dread opening their inbox. I hope that you find that these tips will make spam a rarity instead of a fact of life.