Tips for avoiding spam
by Wayne Dunne
Spam is an ongoing problem for all internet users. But by changing your behavior online you can reduce your exposure to spammers and thus help reduce the amount of spam messages that you receive.
The tips in this post can help prevent more spam from reaching you.
Tip #1 - Do not click on the Unsubscribe link on HTML based spam
Clicking on the link will only confirm to the spammer that your email address is active. Trying to unsubscribe in this circumstance will only lead to even greater amounts of spam.
Tip #2 - Do not publish your email address on your website
As a rule of thumb, do not do this. Spammers regularly harvest websites for email addresses knowing that these accounts will be active. If you wish to provide a way for visitors to your website to contact you then do it using a contact form.
Opening attachments from senders that you do not recognise is giving the sender an opportunity to take control of your system, do not do this. Even if when you do know the sender do not open it unless you are expecting an attachment from them. A virus could have infected their system and be trying to replicate. If you are unsure always delete first and then contact the sender. If the attachment was valid they can always resend it.
Spammers can use images within HTML to confirm that your email address is active. These images load from a remote server which alerts the spammer to the fact that you have viewed them.
When you receive spam report the sender using a services like spamcop, by doing this you can aid others in preventing spam.
If you need to sign up for email lists then sign up to these lists using an account from a free provider such as yahoo or gmail.
When you sign up for a product or services online be sure to uncheck any boxes during sign up that gives permission for the company to share your information with third parties.
When on websites with options such as to list your contact details in an online directory you should always decline.
When you receive a spam message containing a link to a website do not click on the link. By clicking the link you are telling that spammer that your account is active and the consequence will be more spam being sent to you.
Many spammers try to brute force valid account names on a mail server. They will simply try to send mail to hundreds of different combinations of address at your domain in an effort to figure out valid addresses. Examples of this would be to try sending emails to john@yourdomain.com , ann@yourdomain.com , bob@yourdomain.com , xzy@yourdomain.com to see if any of them are successful. If an email to ann@yourdomain.com is successful then the spammer will know that he has hit a valid account and will use it in the future to send spam messages to this account.
Sign up for free email accounts that will allow you to redirect mail. Set up an account with the free provider and redirect it to your own account. Any emails sent to this account will now come in to your main account. Once the spam levels on your temporary account get too high then simply turn off the redirection of mail and if at all possible close the account and go get yourself a fresh account following the same guidelines. Each time the temporary account becomes a target of too much spam for your liking, drop it and start with a fresh account.Use the temporary account for untrusted communications such as sign up forms on websites or any place else you deem appropriate.
articles source: http://www.goarticles.com
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