+ RSSSPAM Prevention -- A Few Tips
SPAM is email that is unsolicited (email that you didn't ask for). This mail is commonly trying to sell you something. Typically it is just irritating, however SPAM could also include malware like a virus, or connect you to phishing websites that attempt to steal your private information. It is not possible to prevent all spam, but the following are some methods to hold spam to a minimum.
1. You can be protected from malicious spam with antivirus software. Make sure that your computer has antivirus software installed. (There is antivirus software that has tools to filter out spam after it is downloaded to your computer). However, you might try to spot an email that has a dangerous attachment without opening it up; an email than includes a picture or is written with a Word document might be loaded with a virus -- be careful.
2. Don't give your email address to people that are untrustworthy. If you have to give your email address to get something from a website, it is best to set up an email address just for the purpose of receiving junk. Hotmail or Gmail web mail is very good for this.
3. Don't answer anything in your email unless you have asked for the email.
4. A lot of spam messages include directions at the end of the message requesting that you answer the message if you desire to be taken off their mailing list. Don't do it, since this will only ensure them that this is a real email address, and you will probably receive more spam. For the same reason, you shouldn't give your address for opting-out or removing it from a list.
5. Check out any email by first looking at the subject line prior to opening the message.
6. If you are sent email messages requesting funds, don't send it along to anyone. Chances are that it is a scam and an effective method of gaining email addresses used by spammers. A lot of emails warning about viruses are hoaxes too. Prior to letting your friends know about them, you ought to investigate virus alerts so you won't pass the scam along to them.
7. If you send emails to a lot of people at the same time, send it by the BCC field; this protects their email addresses from other people.
8. Just like item #2, above, don't give your address for placement on mailing lists in chat rooms or to newsgroups. You should have a 'throwaway' address to use for this and another address for friends and family.
9. If your website gives your email address, see if your developer can encode it to prevent spammer's web crawlers from being able to decipher it. "Enkoder" is an excellent free encryption program. Search for Enkoder on Google to find it.
10. You can send a complaint to the spammer's web host or Internet Service Provider (ISP) by shooting an email to the server's webmaster. Many servers put an abuse email address as an IP address for WHOIS. You can read the heading in the email, locate the IP address it comes from, and perform a WHOIS search. There should be an abuse email address. You can look up IP WHOIS for free at http://whois.domaintools.com
