Unfortunately, the only guaranteed way to stop all spam is to not use e-mail. Spam is a part of life now, but you can take steps to reduce the amount of spam you get:
- Don’t publish your e-mail address on the Internet anywhere. Or, if you must put it on the Internet, write it out as “john at NOSPAM myaddress.com” instead of “john@myaddress.com”. This will help prevent automatic programs from collecting your address.
- Be careful whenever a website asks for your email address. Consider using a 2nd address just for on-line ordering and so forth – this way, all the spam goes to the 2nd address and you can just delete it from time to time.
- Use a good spam filter. Most email programs have some sort of ability to sort emails as they arrive – look into the features for your program. Microsoft Outlook has its “Junk Mail” folders, and if you use Microsoft Exchange in your office, there are many programs your IT person can load onto the sever to reduce spam before it even gets to your inbox. If you use Mozilla Thunderbird or Eudora, just start marking junk email as “junk” by using the buttons for it in these programs. They will “learn” to recognize spam over time and filter it for you.
Hopefully these tips help you deal with the avalanche of spam we all have to deal with these days. Good luck!
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