Essential Tips For Keeping Your Inbox Free of Spam

Spam is one of the worst things about using the Internet. Nearly everyone who uses email has to deal with some amount of spam each and every day. It wastes our time, our bandwidth and increases our stress. Thankfully, there are also many ways we can drastically lessen the amount of spam we receive. Here are some tips:

Filters

This may seem obvious, but many people don't bother to use simple filters built in to their email programs. While a simple filter for "something" won't stop every spam about "something", it will help to lessen it, especially if you get many duplicate emails on the same subject. Read your manual about setting up spam filters, you'll be glad you did.

Free Email

Using any of the big free email services, like Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail, you'll receive dozens or hundreds of spams a day, even if you've never given your email out to anyone! Luckily, these free email services also have some of the best spam filters. Yahoo, for instance, puts suspicious email into a "Bulk Mail" folder, where you can still access it. Gmail uses a "Spam" folder. Both do a good job of keeping unwanted email out of your main inbox. However, Gmail seems to do the best job overall with few spams making it into your inbox. All in all, using a free email service is a good way to reduce the spam you receive, especially if you're used to using Outlook or AOL.

Disposable Email Addresses

Another way to reduce spam is to use a different, disposable email address when you sign up for different services or websites. For instance, if you sign up to access a news site, which requires registration, you can sign up with a disposable email address so you can validate the account and then discard it. This way you don't need to worry about them adding you to some other mailing list or getting their daily newsletters.

Be Guarded

When you sign up for an email address, give it only to the people you know you want to receive email from. Don't post your email in public places, like message boards or blogs. Most importantly, don't post your email to your website in any way. Spammers have software that crawls the web looking for emails to add to their lists. If you have posted an email contact link on your website, presumably so that people can contact you about the website, you are inviting spam! Don't do it. This is one of the top ways people get on spam lists.

Change Your Email

Don't hesitate to dump your email address if you find it's overrun with spam. You can sign up for a new one at any of the free email providers if needed. Just make sure to save your address book and/or any emails first, and make sure to notify your contacts of your new address.

Use Several Email Addresses

One excellent way to keep your inbox clear and organized, is to use a different email address for different applications. For instance, if you like to sign up for free newsletters on various subjects, sign up for them with one email address. Then you can login to read just those newsletters. Likewise if you like to enter contests, sign up for free samples or free games, use one email address specifically for this. Then use another address for your personal emails. This keeps everything neat and organized as well as helps keep spam at bay.

Are SPAM Emails Legal?   Didn't They Make Spam Illegal?   Web Proxies Explained   Where Do Spammers Get My Email Address?   Eliminate Spam   Track Down the Spammer - Search by Email Address   

Spamweed - Will It Really Block All of Your Spam From Your Email?

Everyone who has internet knows that email is a very reliable source of communication. It is also very burdensome when dealing with spam which is unwanted email sent to you. It is like telemarketers and scam artists calling you soliciting you to buy things or even compromising your identity. Research has found that millions of spam emails are sent everyday which are causing internet users to open emails with scams, identity theft, and viruses. There are several email providers that have spam filters specified for their own services. There is one website that offers a software package called Spamweed which helps filter out spam from emails.

Spamweed serves those in the United States and the United Kingdom. Some of Spamweed's benefits include that it works with all of the POP3 email clients such as which includes Outlook, Outlook Express, Incredimail, etc. It also works with two of the most popular email program which are Hotmail and Yahoo. Some of the highlighted features include support and monitoring of multiple email clients, blocking of disturbing email to kids, protection of virus emails, excellent email management, user support wizard and so much more. Another thing is that it contains a 100% free trail.

There are several reviews about Spamweed which includes that it is of course that it removes all of the spam allowing you to take back full control of your inbox. It also has a 95% accuracy rate in the elimination of spam. We find that nothing is perfect and that you must still continue to check your bulk folder to make sure that you are not getting any important email there. In my opinion, this is good for those who receive email daily that is of importance in terms of business. Those who don't communicate through email often should not consider a program like this. However, those who enter their emails into online forms will receive more spam so Spamweed is also good for that as well.

Are SPAM Emails Legal?   Didn't They Make Spam Illegal?   Web Proxies Explained   Where Do Spammers Get My Email Address?   What If You Could Get Paid Everytime You Got Spammed in Violation of CAN-SPAM? Would You Do It? Yes   Using "Soliciting a Minor" Charges to Put Away Spammers For Life   

Spyware Blockers - Putting A Stop To Information Warfare

The war has begun. The enemies are getting into position as stealthily as possible. Sooner or later, they will spring into action, taking you by surprise. You will be conquered and you won't even know what hit you.

We're talking about the information warfare that is now going on in our country and all over the world. In these modern times of information technology, our most precious commodity is data. Most of our personal information are all in the computer. Our bank accounts can be accessed through the computer. Many businesses are totally dependent on data stored in hard disks. And this data is under attack by the spyware lurking in every corner of the Internet.

Spyware is the enemy in this war, and your computer system is the battlefield. To win the war, you need to have soldiers - snipers if you will - who can shoot down the enemy before they can cross your boundaries. These snipers are spyware blockers that can see and stop malware as they come.

To protect the valuable data stored in your system, you need to have spyware blockers ready to stop all kinds of spyware from entering your hard disk. If left unprotected, other individuals can steal information from you right from under your nose. You will not even be aware that there are spyware programs inhabiting your hard disk until the damage done is too great.

Spyware blockers act as your computer's sentinels. They vigilantly watch out for intruders that can damage your system. In the last few years, spyware has developed to be one the greatest threats in the information age. They surreptitiously attach themselves to files in our systems and slowly corrupt our files.

This is why spyware blockers are very important. Before the malware can even enter your system, the spyware blockers have already detected them and barred them from coming in. A good spyware blocker is able to recognize all kinds of malicious software - even the most recently developed ones.

Some of you might be thinking that you already have an anti-virus program, so you don't need to get a spyware blocker. That would be a grave mistake. Nearly all spyware cannot be detected by anti-virus program, as they are not really classified as viruses. Only the spyware blocker will be able to prevent them from causing destruction in your system.

If you want to be ready to put the information war to an end, be sure to take all the necessary steps to eliminate spyware. You must be discriminating as to which programs to download, and be wary of suspicious-looking emails.

To keep these malware away, one of the most effective protection measures you can take is to install a good spyware blocker in your system.

Are SPAM Emails Legal?   Didn't They Make Spam Illegal?   Web Proxies Explained   Where Do Spammers Get My Email Address?   

Spam Blocking and the Mordor Ring

In the Lord of the Ring book series by acclaimed novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, Frodo Baggins carries the weighty burden of delivering a much-prized ring to the fires of Mordor where the flame that forged the ring can also consume it. The ring has caused only hardship for those that have possessed it for a time.

This ring tended to mirror a form of addiction for those who carried it. The problem was the most evil life form in middle-earth, Sauron, wanted the ring and if he possessed it all that was good in Middle Earth would be destroyed.

If you've never read the books you may have trouble following this so I won't even bring up Orcs, Ringwraiths or Samwise Gamgee.

Sauron did everything possible to retrieve the ring for his own purposes while making it very difficult for Frodo to actually destroy the ring.

On so many levels the actions of this dark lord of Middle Earth was a bit like spam blocking. He did not want the ring destroyed so he worked to block every attempt Frodo made to reach Mordor.

When an online customer determines they are not interested in receiving certain types of unwanted email they will rely on a spam blocker to do its best to disallow these emails from getting through.

The public view on spam emails is extremely negative and they go to great lengths to keep them out of their inbox. This is why it is extremely important for you to make sure you send emails to those who have either opted into your list or expect email from you.

If there are issues with a spam blocker even after a customer has opted in you may ask them to consider white listing your emails so they will be delivered to their email account.

Email marketing can be an exceptional way to keep clients and potential customers in the loop on what your site has to offer as well as providing other reasons to drop by your site including occasional discounts and personalized specials.

Like Sauron, email systems will do everything they can to keep you out. Unlike Sauron, spam blocking is not an evil that needs to be vanquished, but a tool of consumer privacy that should be respected.

As more and more unscrupulous email marketers attempt to spam the greatest number of people possible the resulting fallout is heavier restrictions on more legitimate online business ventures.

Knowing this may help you come to terms with the realization that you should do everything you can to legitimately get your message through.

Like Frodo, you may face some obstacles along the way to your Marketing 'Mordor'. You may experience setbacks and questions about your legitimacy. And just like Frodo you need to preserver and refuse to back down, let up or give up. Make sure the customer wants your material and work to make sure they get it.

J.R.R. Tolkien would have never imagined his books to be the setting for a lesson on spam blocking, but as with all of life there are lessons even in the most unexpected places.

Are SPAM Emails Legal?   Didn't They Make Spam Illegal?   Web Proxies Explained   Where Do Spammers Get My Email Address?   Spam - We Have It, Now How Do We Stop It?   

Why You Need To Worry About Spam

What is Spam? According to spam abuse .net "Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender."

What Are Some of Spam's Consequences? Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia advises, "Spam's direct effects include the consumption of computer and network resources, and the cost in human time and attention of dismissing unwanted messages. In addition, spam has costs stemming from the kinds of spam messages sent, from the ways spammers send them, and from the arms race between spammers and those who try to stop or control spam. In addition, there are the opportunity cost of those who forgo the use of spam-afflicted systems. There are the direct costs, as well as the indirect costs borne by the victims - both those related to the spamming itself, and to other crimes that usually accompany it, such as financial theft, identity theft, data and intellectual property theft, virus and other malware infection, child pornography, fraud, and deceptive marketing." Also they say, "The secondary consequence of spamming is that search engine indexes are inundated with useless pages, increasing the cost of each processed query."

According to a new study released by the Federal Trade Commission, spammers continue to harvest email addresses from public areas of the Internet, but Internet Service Providers' anti-spam technologies can block the vast majority of spam sent to these email addresses. The FTC staff report also found that consumers who must post their e-mail addresses on the Internet can prevent them from being harvested by using a technique known as "masking."

Why Lose Sleep Over Spammers? According to onguardonline.gov/botnet "Spammers can install hidden software on your computer in several ways. First, they scan the Internet to find computers that are unprotected, and then install software through those "open doors." Spammers may send you an email with attachments, links or images which, if you click on or open them, install hidden software. Sometimes just visiting a website or downloading files may cause a "drive-by download," which installs malicious software that could turn your computer into a "bot." The consequences can be more than just annoying: your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may shut down your account."

Additionally they say "Computers that are taken over this way often become part of a robot network, known as a "botnet" for short. A botnet, also known as a "zombie army," usually is made up of tens or hundreds of thousands of home computers sending emails by the millions. Computer security experts estimate that most spam is sent by home computers that are controlled remotely, and that millions of these home computers are part of botnets."

Fighting Back Con artists are clever and cunning, constantly hatching new variations on age-old scams. Still, skeptical consumers can spot questionable or unsavory promotions in email offers. Should you receive an email that you think may be fraudulent, forward it to the FTC at spam@uce.gov, hit delete, and smile. You'll be doing your part to help put a scam artist out of work.

Take action immediately If your computer is infected,if your computer has been hacked or infected by a virus - disconnect from the Internet right away. Then scan your entire computer with fully updated anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Report unauthorized accesses to your ISP and to the FBI at http://www.ic3.gov. If you suspect that any of your passwords have been compromised, call that company immediately to change your password.

Are SPAM Emails Legal?   Didn't They Make Spam Illegal?   Web Proxies Explained   Where Do Spammers Get My Email Address?   Track Down the Spammer - Search by Email Address   How an Email Trace Can Find Spammers