BandwidthBar

Spam is a sad truth of the Internet. Anyone with an email address and access to the Internet has had to deal with spam at some point and for some dealing with it, it is a daily struggle that ends in nothing but frustration. Unsolicited emails from all sorts of sites – both fair and foul – are sent to email addresses all over the world every day, but there are ways to protect your email.

 

It may sound trite in dealing with spam, but prevention is better than cure. As a person surfs the Internet they visit a variety of sites. Some of these sites need users to register while others simply ask for your email address before you continue into their site. Be careful where you type you email address! As soon as your email is entered into a database it can be sold to companies that will send advertisements – spam – to your inbox without you even knowing about it. Never place your email address on public forums or message boards. Spammers have programmes that trawl the Internet for email addresses in these places to add to their database of targets.

 

Once you do receive a spam message, however, it is important to not react on it. Do not click any of the links in the email or even use their option to remove you from their database. These links contain trackers that affirm your email address exists opening you up to even more spam messages. The best option now is to use a spam filter.

 

Most web-based email providers like Gmail, Yahoo and MSN have built in spam filters that remove spam from known sources and do not even place them in your mailbox. In any other case you may need to download or purchase a spam filter for your email programme. These filters have access to a database of known spam domains and search the titles of emails for certain key phrases that are used in spam messages. These messages are stored in a separate ‘spam’ folder and do not clutter up your inbox.

 

While these programmes are useful they aren’t perfect. Some spam messages will still get through but once you report them they should be taken care of. On the other hand, filters often also intercept legitimate emails – especially newsletters or corporate communications. Still, they are better than nothing and can help curb some of the frustrations that spam can cause.

 

Spam has become the junkmail of the new millennium. A decade or so ago people were annoyed by random bits of mail arriving in their mailboxes at home and cursing the junkmail that wasted their time. Today we have spam. With a good spam filter, however, you can help ensure that your mailbox isn’t inundated with unsolicited emails but for the moment there seems to be no foolproof way to keep spam away.

 

<< Back