Nine And A Half Ways To Save Yourself From Spam Attacks

By Author: Heather Protz
Total Articles: 46
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Spam:
noun;
Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.

This period of the Internet age is also known as the Spam Rage Age. For those without their junk filters on, I’m certain that the number of mails on their virtual inboxes would have crossed four digits. Infamous for being extremely annoying, people fear opening their mailbox and not find mails from their contacts. It is pretty damn hard to go through all that rubbish in hopes of finding a mail from a contact. It’s even worse; you can’t separate the trash from the well, trash. Spammers these days are becoming more and more sophisticated and take meticulous care in making their mails look flawless.
I needn’t explain that spams are potential PC crashers. A lot of deceptively real spam mails include killer bugs and viruses that crash your system, steal valuable data etc. Because they are deceptively real you need to keep a careful eye for detail. For ezample, always take note of the person’s name. Most spam mails always come with a first name and ...
... a last name like Cynthia Mcmeyers. Ha, you can easily identify the fake ones. Always check the time when the mail was sent, most spammers send their mails conveniently during the midnight hours.
Don’t publish your email address on every site or forum you venture. Granted, some respectable websites guard your privacy. But popular newsgroups, online retailers, usenets and forums have robots that scourge over millions of websites and ”harvest” email addresses. IMC and IRC chat rooms are also prone to spam danger. It’s easy to guess your email id from your username. So always think up of a creative username that is tough to crack down.
Be wary of leaving an email address on your website. This is easy prey for spambots. When registering a domain, you’re required to leave an email address as a contact detail. Although this is mandate it is better to leave a disposable email address to fool spammers.
Prominent mail sites like Yahoo, Google, Hotmail etc., have good spam blocking options. These options filter your mail box and mark the ones listed as suspicious. Always check whether your spam filter is on. Remember, these filters are nothing but computer codes so make sure you go through the details of the mail before you open it.
Always have two or mail addresses apart from your main one. Use only these addresses to register at forums, buy things online etc. As I mentioned before, spammers keep checking for email addresses and these sites are more vulnerable for them. Caution, there are also sites that SELL your email addresses to spammers, so keep this in mind.
Spam needn’t always be delivered to your inbox. Spams appear on websites with poor security. A pop up with a flashy picture, offering some exciting deals. Or a flash animation saying that your I.P. address has won a prize. Don’t fall for it, because most of these ads link to harmful sites that contain tracing cookies or viruses. It’s better to install a good antivirus and anti spam software along with the Internet connection on deals like Xfinity Internet. This will at the least get you away from the obviously harmful sites.
Report all the spam sent to your mail address. Forward them to spam@uce.gov. This is the Federal Trade Commission’s spam box. The more spam you send the less you receive.
Once your email address is registered with a fraudulent spam site, nothing can be done! You will keep getting flooded by rubbish emails. Don’t click the unsubscribe option; it will do exactly the opposite. It will show the spammer you’re address is active and you will suffer from the spam rage more. You can only close down your mail account and start a new one, preferably with junk filter options or wait for it to die down.

Heather is a techno geek, who is interested in keeping herself updated with the latest technology. As a freelancer she likes to write about programming and recent improvements in the computer field. She enjoys uploading content on the Internet she purchased via reasonable deals like the Xfinity Deals