Here are six tips you can use to help reduce the
amount of spam you get.
1. Never respond to unsolicited email. One response or “hit” from thousands of
emails is enough for spammers to justify the practice. In addition, a response
lets the spammer know that your email address is active, which makes it more
valuable and opens the door to more spam.
2. Never send your personal information (credit card numbers, passwords, etc.)
in an email. Spammers can fake the format of ANY trusted sites. Banks and other
trusted sites will never ask you to send your password or credit card
information by email. Not really an anti-spam tip, but a reminder… OK?
3. Never follow a spam email’s instructions to reply with the word “remove” or
“unsubscribe” in the subject line or body of the message unless you are sure of
and trust the source of the email. Normally, this is a ploy to get you to react
to the email, which tells the spammer that your email address is valid.
4. Never click on a URL or web address listed within a spam email, even if the
message tells you that’s how you unsubscribe. This is another trick to that
tells the spammer your email address is valid. Once they know your address is
valid it can be added to databases which are sold to professional spammers on
DVD or CD for a few hundred dollars. And this will result in you getting more
spam for sure!
5. Don’t fall for sites set up to help you remove your name from spam lists.
Although some of these sites MIGHT be legitimate, most are really collecting
valid email addresses to sell to spammers. If a collector gets your address and
they know it’s a valid, working email address, it is worth a lot of money to
them. They’ll put your email address in one of their databases and sell these
databases to professional spammers. Not only won’t your email address be removed
from spam lists, it will added to many spam lists. And you’ll get more spam.
6. Never allow your ISP to convince you that spam filtering is a service. If you
have a choice, choose an ISP who does not use spam filtering. While spam
filtering might seem to be a service, anytime you allow another person to make
choices for you, you’re going to end up with something you don’t like. What you
won’t like about ISPs who filter your mail is that you’re not going to get all
of your good email either – and you might not even be aware it existed. Do not
use ISPs who tout spam-filtering or anti-spam features as a plus. If you don’t
have a choice of ISPs in your area and your only choice is an ISP who insists
censorship is good for you, get a Gmail account and set it up in Windows Mail,
Outlook Express or your favorite email program. Gmail provides instructions on
how to do this. And, remember, my fine friends, that Gmail also has
spam-filtering too, but luckily for you, you have the final say. If something,
like this newsletter, ends up in your spam folder, all you gotta do is mark it
“This is not spam” and it will never be dumped in your spam folder again – it
will always appear in your inbox where you want it (we hope!).
I was sick and tired of having emails from my friends and family stuck in my ISP’s Spam folder while allowing some REAL spam to get through. I use an email client installed on my computer. I hated the necessity of going to my ISP’s website to check the spam folder 5-6 times a day, before downloading my email. My spam folder was full of newsletters or online training courses I had subscribed to (some paid for) and messages from family…even though they were in my address book, so in Verizon’e theory should have been passed through anyway. Most of the real spam that was in there (maybe 200 each visit) wasn’t even addressed to me, but to everyone whose name started with Sch as mine does, or obviously filtered by content or a word/phrase the filter was programmed to “dislike” no matter who it was from. I spent lots of time, several years ago, examining each email in that spam folder to determine that info. I turned the “spam filter” OFF, wiped out everyone in my ISP address book. and reduced the spam in my inbox by an extremely high percentage (my guess is 85%). Luckily Verizon gives me the option to turn it OFF. I receive about 150 legitimate emails a day from that particular email account and now I’m assured of getting ALL my mail, including about only 10-15 (sometimes more) REAL spam messages which my delete key takes care of. I still don’t get some of my subscription email, some PAID FOR subscriptions and online courses because they are BLOCKED by the ISP, before even making it to the spam filter, which Verizon denies vehemently….THEY LIE. To add insult to injury NOW they even filter my outgoing mail which they do not allow me to turn off. For instance, my sister-in-law sent me an email from HER Verizon account and when I sent my “reply” with MY Verizon account, it was returned saying it was “suspected spam”. The only difference was my reply included a sentence with a link to the Social Security website and a link to a White House action website. Now you tell me. If that isn’t blatant CENSORSHIP, what is it? Verizon claims it only filters outgoing mail for “digital signatures”…another lie. All I know, without a doubt, is that it HAS to be stopped. All I WANT my ISP to do is give me a safe and reliable internet connection and an uncensored mailbox. Spam is a nuisance, and nothing else. If people didn’t click on the links, there wouldn’t be any spam because there’s no money in it. So you tell me who really is the cause of spam. If spam filtering impresses you, think twice. If ISP spam filtering works, then tell me why people still complain about getting so much spam? I absolutely HATE web-based email formats, but Gmail provides the best options, so far, and their spam filtering is the ONLY one I can tolerate. And yes, I am extremely angry about ISP CENSORING my mail, and even more angry that enough people aren’t as outraged as I am,
and seem to be more worried about “spam” than “censorship”. Sorry ’bout the rant, but I think it’s important to stop the “censorship” by ISP’s who have self-appointed themselves, through phony scare tactics to disguise this “censorship” as a “service” and turn it into a “security” issue and then lie about what they’re REALLY doing.
“HEAR !– HEAR !!! — You echo my sentiments abour ISP CENSORSHIP(Filtering) exactly !!! I went through a similar ‘battle’ myself, and installed and use Cloudeight recommended ‘Spam Bully’ !!!
Dave.
1. don’t purchase at store.
2. if you have a can at home do not open it or you will have spam.
3. try eating ham or chicken instead
4. be a vegetarian.
I hope this helped someone . Have a good day
That little bit of humor was just what I needed Ken. Thanks.
If my tide turns with this submission, I’ll be furious, but in decades on the Internet, using OE in fact, I’ve only had 4 emails I’d say were spam (I right-click, read the properties before opening anything that doesn’t land in a folder I set up for every contact I can imagine). I had one Trojan that was the thing that snuggled next to my task bar’s volume icon, date, etc. And, Highjack This found it before my entire desktop melted, and a Trend Micro expert in the UK repaired everything for me in minutes. Now, watch – down I’ll go!
Been with TC et al for eons – in fact, the commemorative BC stat was for me; I’ll never forget ya’all (even though I’m a Wolverine).