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FIGHT BACK AGAINST SPAM
by Laurel Strong |
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Are you tired of the
deluge of spam that seems to fill your email inbox,
taking your time and attention from more important
matters? Do you feel "slimed" and angry just from
reading some of the subject lines in all those junk
emails? If so, read on for a variety of ways you can
fight back against the spammers.
While no single action,
or even set of actions, can make your email account
completely "spam-free" forever, there are a variety
of methods to reduce the volume. And, in reducing
the amount of spam in your inbox, you also make
yourself less vulnerable to other things that go
along with spam, like viruses and identity theft
scams. (More on these topics in future editions of
this series.) To reduce the amount of unwanted email
you receive: |
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Keep your email
address private. This includes newsgroup
postings, chat rooms, websites or in an
online service’s membership directory.
Spammers "harvest" email addresses from all
these. One way to "hide" your email address
is to use a spam-protected contact form
available through free services such as www.xinbox.com. |
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Be choosy about
submitting your address to websites. Read
and understand the company's privacy policy.
You may want to opt out of receiving email
from its “partners," but you may have
to uncheck a preselected box to do so. |
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Consider using
two email addresses - one for personal
messages and one for newsgroups and chat
rooms. |
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Use an email
filter. Check your email account to see if
it provides a tool to filter out spam or a
way to place spam into a bulk email folder. |
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Report the spam
to the Federal Trade Commission, your ISP's
abuse desk, and/or the sender's ISP.
Whenever you complain about spam, it’s
important to include the full email header. |
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There are a number of
great websites designed especially for the
non-technical computer user. The following sites
give details on the above steps, as well as additional actions you can
take, in your fight against spam. Check out
http://spam.abuse.net,
http://www.ftc.gov/spam, and
http://onguardonline.gov. |
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Back to Computer
Tips |
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| Flagstaff Central is not liable for any damages or repairs due to our tech tip.
Things do happen whenever you work on a computer.
We recommend you be as careful as possible. If you prefer to not handle repairs or
clean up, we recommend you contact a professional.
Click here for a list of local computer repair companies. |
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