Tips - Email

How to Help Avoid Spam

Spam reduces productivity, wastes time, spreads viruses and generally irritates the heck out of people.  Despite the efforts of many U.S. Internet providers, it’s impossible to stop because the majority of it comes form sources outside the U.S., and frankly, even if you report spammers, they just don’t care.  The burden of getting rid of spam falls to you, the victim.

1. Use a Catch-All or Trash Email Address - Email accounts offered through Yahoo! or Hotmail are great for signing up for offers, contests, non-professional newsletters, etc. online. If you have a website that offers email accounts, have your webmaster set up a generic email account you can use for this purpose.  Periodically check this account and clear out all the spam. This will ensure that your email account won't be closed due to inactivity.
    
2. Sign-Up Caution - Be careful what you sign up for online. Read the privacy policy and make sure they won’t sell your email address and some won't. Warning if you sign up for a Yahoo account, go to my account (hidden in very small type at the top of the left side of the page next to sign-in) and uncheck the options to include your email and that allows them to distribute your email address.  It’s all hidden in the member information section in the middle of the page, the link to edit your marketing preferences – it’s that third-party statement mostly, but I’d uncheck everything. 
    
   Be aware of check boxes in signup forms that, when left unchecked, allow the company to share your information with other firms. If you don't want your information shared, make sure you check that little box. (This may also work vice-versa, with the checkbox being left unchecked to ensure that your information is not shared with anyone. Read the instructions carefully!) Remember: Just because a company seems reputable and you trust them, don't believe they will keep your email address private unless they specifically say so in their privacy policy.
    
3. Did I Sign Up for This?  Remember what you signed up for -- if you sign up for a newsletter in the middle of the month, it may take another month for the newsletter to arrive in your mailbox. Keep printed confirmation emails in a separate folder – also store them in a separate folder in your inbox (learn how to create folders) in your email program so that you can double-check that you did indeed sign up for any email you think you may have received in error.   Be cautious of those free ring-tones.  You most often end up signing up for some special 800 service that will then be billed to your telephone account at the rate of $15 a month.
    
4. Don’t Forward Those Cute Jokes, Etc.  When you forward emails, be careful. Everyone receiving the forward and the many layers of forwards can harvest several email addresses from just one of these bulky emails.

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, use the BCC (blind carbon copy) feature to send mass email. Simply enter all email addresses into the BCC field. Eudora also has the capability to hide the recipient's emails. If someone is sending you continuous forwards, ask the sender not to send things like this to you any longer. (These kinds of forwards are also an excellent way to get virus infections.)

5. Guest Books, Blogs and Forums - Don't include your email address when signing guest books or online forums. Doing so will make your address available and  can easily be harvested from any website. If you want to use an email address on such things, use your "catch-all" email address.
    
6. Email Address on the Website - If you have a website and believe your email address may be or has been "harvested" from it, ask your webmaster to either a JavaScript to prevent it from happening.  You can also use an email form to prevent this from happening because it sends the email from a different source other than your address.   Even better, create your email address as an image then put the link in the image.
    
7. Remove Me - Never click on the "Remove" link found in many spam emails. This generally tells the spamming company or individual sending the spam they've struck pay dirt with a good email address. Many will not remove you from their list as promised and your spam will probably quadruple (since they know they're sending it to a valid address) and may even sell your email address to other spammers.
    
8. Report Spammers - If despite your best efforts you still receive spam, you can still do something about it. SpamCop.com offers an easy way to report spammers to their ISPs (or hosting providers) for terms of service violations. (It is a violation of most ISP's and web hosting service's Terms of Service policies for a customer to send spam.) To get the information needed to report spammers, you're going to need what is called the "header." The header of an email contains all manner of specifics about who sent the email and enables any ISP to determine who the culprit is.
    
9. Anti- SpyWare Programs – You can freely download a program called SpyBot from www-spybot.net.  It works well and catches most stuff that has been planted on your computer.  Better yet, especially if you are using cable or DSL, use a program that runs in the background filtering everything that comes in.  I use e-Trust from www.ca.com and I have been spyware free for 5 years.

Deanna Lilly - Bizness Concepts 410-536-4610