Top Ten Tips - Stopping Spam, Junk And Solicitations
By Tip Diva | Dec 10, 2007
Categories: Blogging, Computer, E-Mail, Facebook, Internet, Junk Mail, Mail, Money, MySpace, Phishing, Safety, Scams, Shopping, Social Networking, Software, Spam, Tips, Web, Websites
These may sound familiar: buy generic Viagra at 50 percent off! Save on women’s sweaters this Friday only! I want to transfer £1,000,000 to your U.S. bank account! And don’t you want a free Macy’s gift card after you smoke your legal bud? If they do, you are probably very familiar with spam, junk and soliciations that arrive to your inbox, mailbox or phone each day. They waste your bandwidth, paper and sanity. But you can stop them, and here’s how:
- Stop The Spam - There are steps you can take to greatly reduce the amount of spam e-mail you receive in your inbox. It’s hard to get rid of spam 100 percent, but you can tidy up your inbox by:
- Installing a spam filter. If you use any of the major e-mail programs, like AOL, Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail, most have a spam filter already installed. But if you an external mail client, like Outlook or Thunderbird, chances are you get a lot of spam. Thunderbird’s junk catching has improved, but Outlook still has a ways to go. Try installing a spam blocker, which installs into your client. You can find a list of major spam blockers at Download.com. There are also spam filters for blogs that will automatically catch spam comments and not post them until you click “Approve” or “Delete.” WordPress, for one, uses Askimet.
- Create rules in your inbox. If you get spam, many mail clients allow you to create rules based on keywords or addresses. For instance, you can automatically delete e-mails that contain the word “Viagra” or comes from a certain e-mail address.
- Never respond to spam e-mails. You’ll only let the spammer know you’re a legitimate e-mail address, which will probably bring you even more spam. Remember, most spammers send out e-mails at random and don’t know whether an e-mail address is legitimate. Also, don’t ever click on a link that says “Remove Me From Your List” or the like - that is yet another ploy to find out if your e-mail is real.
- Report spam to your Internet service provider. Some ISPs, like AOL, have a button that allow you to report spam. It helps both the ISP go after the spammers and improve their spam-catching software. In 2005, AOL won a $13 million judgement against spammers, which included seizure of a spammer’s cash, gold and car. - Remove Yourself From Unwanted E-Mail Newsletters And Promotions - Sometimes you sign up for online newsletters or promotional e-mails and find out you don’t read them. If you want to stop them, go to the bottom of the e-mail. There is usually a link or directions on how to remove your contact information from the sender’s database.
- Create An E-mail Specifically For Online Shopping, Newsletters And Contests - Many times when you shop online, you’ll receive e-mails from the store afterwards, offering promotions and alerting you to sales. Newsletters also come often, as do offers from contest entries, and all can clog your inbox and take away from your important e-mails. Sign up for free e-mail address from a service like Yahoo!, Hotmail or Gmail, and use that address specifically for shopping online, signing up for newsletters or entering online contests.
- Don’t Post Your E-Mail Online - If you have a website or post on message boards, don’t type your full e-mail address on either. Robots go around collecting these e-mail addresses for spamming and marketing purposes. Instead, confuse robots by typing your e-mail as “yourname AT yourservice DOT com” or using an image with your e-mail (a la Facebook), which forces people to manually type your e-mail address if they want to e-mail you.
- Make Yourself Private - Many e-mail clients, social networking sites and instant messaging programs allow you to set access controls, so that only people who know you can contact you.
- Familiarize Yourself With Scams - A lot of e-mails (or MySpace messages) may look like they’re legitimate and not spam - but many are scams and spoofs. One famous e-mail scam is called the “Nigerian Scam.” Password and personal information stealing - also known as phishing - is also rampant. Don’t fall victim to either by brushing up on your scam knowledge. And if you’re a MySpace user, avoid gift card promotions, sexy videos, profile trackers and legal marijuana ads like the plague. If you’re already signed in to MySpace and then click on a link which asks you to sign in to MySpace again, it’s most likely a phishing scam.
- Put Yourself On The Do-Not-Call Registry - If you’re barraged by telemarketers, sign yourself up for the National Do Not Call Registry. Not that this will not stop charitable causes and calls from companies you’ve done business with before.
- Read Forms And Contest Entries Carefully - If you’re filling out a form or contest entry - either on paper or online - which includes any contact information, look for little print that says what will be done with your contact information. Find a way to opt-out of having your information used for marketing or list sale purposes.
- Remove Yourself From Junk Mail Lists - SmartMoney.com tells you how to remove your contact information from catalogs, direct marketers and credit card offers.
- Get A P.O. Box - It’s a a more expensive way to direct catalogs and other less-important mail away from your real mail, but there’s nothing like going to the post office, finding the box full of pure junk and just throwing the pile away. Or, you can always take it to the middle of a field and have a nice bonfire (but not if you live near the Santa Ana winds, please).
How have you stopped spam and junk mail from overtaking your mailbox?
Other Tips To Check Out:
Catalogchoice.org is a great place to go to get rid of unwanted catalogs!
Thank you for the tip, Jane!
If I do have old catalogs sitting around, I sometimes donate them to my local school or give them to kids in my family - they can cut out pictures and words for school projects.
Or, I’ll bring the catalogs and old magazines to a hospital waiting room, so people have something to pass the time with.
Great Site. I wanted to add to your list to protect against email spam.
Most ISPs are allowing for many email addresses. Mine allows 5000. I make an email address for every site I sign up for. Actually it’s an email forward to my personal email. That way I know which site compromised my email. All of your examples at the top came to the email address I setup for my Adobe account. It’s really hard to tell when even the big companies will sell you out. Thanks, Luke.