Community Newsletter: Q&A: What can I do to stop spam?
- 10/11/07 12:57 PM
Spam
by dave32264 - 10/5/07 9:46 PM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Never EVER unsubscribe to any emails. Doing this shows that your email is legit and makes the problem worse. I recommend thunderbird as an email client. The junk filters are far better than outlook distress IMHO. As they come in simply mark it as junk. After a short time these emails will automatically go to the junk folder and you can mass delete at your discretion. Just keep in mind you do not want to let it get too full.
RE: What can I do to stop spam?
by adamboettiger - 10/6/07 12:00 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You can't stop spam from being sent, but you can stop it from reaching your Inbox.
I've been online since 1994 and have many old email addresses. The one single thing that I've found stops most all spam (with the exception of challenge/response) is to create a Mail-Washing system. I've outlined how to do this in an article here: http://www.iadam.org/. It works extremely well.
it shouldn't be our job anyway
by randyw01 - 10/6/07 12:44 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Spammers are filthy cheap disrespectful liars; no one should EVER forget this.
Once your address is discovered by spammers, you are not completely doomed; the fact that a few have it doesn't mean they will get it, so it's a matter of receiving modest spam now or receiving gobs if you are messy.
An e-mail address posted to a newsgroup, forum, or blog may be harvested by a spider ( a little program that searches the internet for addresses ); the spiders look for a continuous line with the @ symbol, like this: justmadeupaddress@notrealISP.com
If you truly need to post an address in a public place you can add or subtract letters to it, with a note that it needs to be modified, like this: justmadeupaddressremovethis@notrealISP.com ( remove 'removethis' for real address ). Or you can use the phrase 'at' inplace of the symbol, which may frustrate the spiders.
Spider technology may have improved, so I don't guarantee these changes will work.
Setting your e-mail filtering to block specific addresses of spam that you've received isn't an especially good cure. The spammers love
throwaway addresses ( Hotmail, Yahoo ). They use one to shovel spam out, then just make a new one if it's closed by administrators. ( Why the people in charge of the Hotmail or Yahoo mailing systems haven't implemented a turing number firebreak for mass mailings is beyond me )
Other times spammers use joe-job addresses ( an address belonging to
a random victim ); in the long run spammers do not use an address of their paid ISP account ( if they actually have one ). Again, they are liars.
All of the work we're expected to do with our mail filters shouldn't be OUR job. It should be the job of ISPs to reject spam even before it touches our filters, and to stop spam if it's being sent from their mail servers.
Some mentioned Spamcop.net; I use this service, as a non-paying member. Spamcop is not an ISP, but rather a company that works with
e-mail. They have a filtering system that works with accounts people already have; users like it, but note that it isn't free.
Spamcop also has a blocklist system; the blocklist is a list of IP address blocks where spam is being sent from. Some IPs use the blocklist, rejecting spam heading to their e-mail servers from filth laden IP blocks.
The Spamcop parser is a free feature of them; people can paste the headers and body of spam, which is sorted by the parser to create their blocklist. The parser also searches out the abuse desk ( ISP employees who are supposed to enforce the terms of agreement ) for the ISP where the spam originates from, and the ISP hosting the websites being advertised in the spam.
Some online companies ( such as mortgage brokers ) have affiliates; the affiliates are random people who sign up with the company with the idea that they try to scrape up customers for the company with advertising. Some of these affiliates are spammers, which is supposed to be against the rules laid out by the companies. You can contact the company, and if they are professional the spammy affiliate account will be closed.
How to do this? Mr Spam often will often have some nonsense web address advertised ( fake example: flippy.wurrglypoo.com/toidy.html )
At flippy.wurrglypoo.com/toidy.html there is just code that redirects your web browser to the real site ( fake example: www.fakemortgage.com/AID?=927483 )
You can go a site that sorts out administrative contacts for websites ( like domain registrants ) such as Samspade.org; you type in the wurrglypoo address at the WHOIS box and you get an address for someone to complain to. This can also be done with the fakemortgage address.
Is there a way to see the advertised address in spam without opening it? It can be done for Outlook Express by clicking the Properties button for the spam, then the Details and Message Source buttons. For other mail readers, other people probably know.
SPAM - A Lot
by Hforman - 10/6/07 1:32 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Jo, there is probably nothing you did out of the ordinary to cause the spam you are receiving. First, I'd check my computer for viruses and spyware. It's also possible that other people who have your email address may have had a virus or spyware that picked up your address and sent it to some third-party creating mailing lists for sale. As others have said, avoid opening any of those emails and never click on a link or reply to them. That tells the people who sent it that your address is "certified" so they can sell your address to someone else for even MORE money. Please just use the delete key.
To prevent further problems, make sure your PC is armed with the best tools. If you get a "package" from one of the big computer protection software companies (McAfee/NAI, and Symantec come to mind), you can get a virus scanner, a spyware killer and a SPAM filter all in one box. There are also versions of software that you can download for free off the Internet, but remember that you always get what you pay for. Chances are, your Internet provider may offer you good software for these things for free. I have Roadrunner and there is free software available through their website. You may have to do a little "tuning" of some filters to get it optimized so it catches most, if not all, of your spam without also trapping some mail that you expect and want.
I hope this helps.
Howie
Spam e-mails
by Derek R - 10/6/07 3:21 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If this spam is coming as e-mails simply block the sender(Message, block sender, select delete all from this sender) each time you get an e-mail from an unkown origin. I did suffer from this problem and now hardly ever get spam, hope this helps. Regards Derek R
hiiiiiiiii
by Abhimanyu_royal - 10/6/07 3:48 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
sir u must remove ur slave hard drive. take a new hard drive those r cheap thanksssssssssss
Spam or Ham
by kwpt - 10/6/07 3:51 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Here are 4 programs that I run all the time
An all 4 are FREE. an work well.
Crawler Spyware Terminator
AVG 7.5
Ad-Aware 2007
WinCleaner OneClick CleanUp
Paul
KWPT
Some tips and ideas...
by clearmymail - 10/6/07 6:15 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi,
Spam is a growing problem for all Internet users... and the spammers are becoming very clever at getting back basic spam filters.
There are a few things that you can do to help reduce the amount of spam:
1. Be extremely careful with your e-mail address
It is nearly impossible to avoid ending up on a spammers list. What you can do though is to try and limit the amount of spam you do get.
One of the first methods you should employ is to be extremely careful with your e-mail address. Be very careful about entering it onto any web form, if it is not a compulsory field and you are not familiar with the website then don’t give it out.
If you do have to give out your website on a web form, always make sure you read their policies and tick the right options. They may have an option for you to tick giving them permission to sell on your details, or maybe it’s an option you have to un-tick. Make sure you read the full instructions.
2. Don’t post your website address on your own website.
If you have a website then try not to post your e-mail address on the site. A better alternative is to use a web form for people to contact you, that way the spammers cannot harvest your address from your site.
One way you can safely post your email address on a website is to use a email address encoder. This will encode your email address so that the spammers automated "Harvesting" software cannot easily read it... you can use a free one here:
http://www.clearmymail.com/tools/email_encode.aspx
3. Don’t respond to spam e-mail
When you do receive spam (And it is definitely spam), never respond to it or even click on a link to remove your address. If you do you are letting the spammers know that your e-mail address is live and active. They can then continue to spam you or even sell on your address to other spammers! This doesn’t apply of course if the e-mail was from a well known company such as Amazon, responding to their e-mail asking them to remove you from their list will work fine.
4. Get an alternative account
If you do use web forums or other online forms then it may be wise to get another e-mail address that you can use for these. Sign up for a free address with Yahoo or Hotmail and then use this address when you fill in any form or post to forums, keeping your original address for your friends and colleagues to use.
5. Never buy anything from a spammer!
This is the big one! Never buy anything from spam e-mail. You are only helping the spammers to send out more e-mail and make money from it! Remember most spammers are criminals using stolen details and forged e-mail addresses – would you really buy from someone like this in the street?
6. Don't use a system that bounces back the spam
Spam blockers or systems that bounce or return the spam to sender are a big problem... more often than not the spammers return address will be a forged email address, so any bounced emails will be going to some innocent person who didn't send out the spam. These types of systems are adding to the problem of spam.
7. Get a spam filter or spam blocker
Even people who occasionally use the Internet now need a spam filter. ClearMyMail offers the world's leading anti-spam solution. It is the only system in the world that is guaranteed to block all spam. You can try it for free at http://www.clearmymail.com
Hope this helps!
Manage spam messages and delete them
by LDGagne - 10/6/07 6:35 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My advice is to know that you are not going to avoid spam altogether; however, I'm sure it's possible to limit some spam issues with some programs but you still have to work at what spam means to you.
I recommend that you don't sign up for any those whoppers that come across to us, assign spam messages into your spam folder, scan your spam folder (it only takes about 10 seconds - you might have 1 in there that does belong to you so then unspam it)and finally just delete the spams without responding to any of them.
At one time we use to get more than enough "spam mail" from the mailman, now we get them electronically, same problem, different medium.
I made the mistake once of signing on to acquire a free laptop. Boy I sure could use that laptop - big mistake. I ended up in spam hell.
I have recovered since then by what I have mentioned.
Prudent use of email addresses will stop 99% of spam
by thorrall - 10/6/07 6:49 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I don't think spam has to be nearly the problem that some make it out to be. My method has virtually stopped all spam for 4-5 years.
The simple solution is to have two email addresses - one for personal email and another where you don't care much if much spam does arrive.
The first one I never, ever, give out if I think it might potentially result in its use or selling to a spammer. This address is in an obscure purchased domain that few other people even know of or could guess at (it's not hotmail, not yahoo, not an isp, etc.). I give it out to only personal acquaintenances and a few high-priority business or other critical sources which I deem necessary. I get less than perhaps 20 spams a year on this address, and they are all from different sources. Of course I delete those immediatley without opening. A purchased domain is very inexpensive.
The second is a free mail account with one of the major webmail providers with excellent anti-spam defenses, including up-to-date bulkmail filters. This account does get a small amount of spam but nothing unmanageable. Whenever I buy something online or use a website that requires an email address, this is the address I use. If I start to get much spam at this address from a particular source, I immediatley blacklist it or its domain if practicable, on my webmail provider's webmail site.
Mail at both email addresses are automatically downloaded by my email client so that I do not have to log in to the webmail address manually.
This method has worked extremely well for me over the years.
Re: What can I do to stop spam?
by Themisive - 10/6/07 6:50 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I appreciate your concern - and here are some of the things I've done for similar reasons.
1 Check if your ISP can block addresses - if so look at the spam addresses the look like a normal e-mail address, but the "domain" section of that address is the bit after the @, just copy that into the blocked address section, and any mail from there will be blocked.
2 Set up filters, so that domain sections similar to yours are NOT blocked.
3 Add ALL the mail you want to your ISP address book and block anything not in it (you'll have to quite possibly get help there).
4 If the amount of spam you're getting is excessive, try changing your e-mail address - that'll work but only for as long as it takes to get for the spammers to find your new e-mail address.
5 If you can, set up "disposable" addresses - these are linked to your main e-mail address, and create new ones for different firms you deal with. Next, create a filter saying allow only addresses containing the disposeable address to your inbox, and anything else to your trash box.
That little lot should sort it out.
Stopping SPAM
by jtruman8511 - 10/6/07 8:24 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Well, there's no good way to stop spam, other than locking the spammers in prison with the general population.
Until then...
I seriously would NOT use the unsubscribe links that many of these spam messages include. You never asked for the spam mailings to begin with so you can rest assured that most (all?) of these spammers will NOT honor your request.
What they'll actually do in many cases is to use that as confirmation that your address is legitimate and continue spamming you and they'll sell your address to other spammers.
Many mail clients have spam/junk filters built in. Some ISPs offer services where you can actually give the names/email addresses of those you WANT to be able to email you. Still, others will impliment their own anti-spam systems and reject all email that they can't verify as being legitimate.
Hopefully, any one or more of those options can help you. Still, you'll continue getting spam even after taking as many precautions as possible.
Another thing you can do is to change your email address. Give the new one to your family and friends. Then add another one for those times when you have to give your email address to questionable entities. I will say that Yahoo has excellent spam filtering. The account is free, and most of the questionable email ends up in a "bulk" folder that you can quickly scan and empty. Sometimes, a legitimate email will be find it's way into the bulk folder. That's why you want to scan them before deleting them all.
Good luck...
Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com
keeping it short and simple
by kentpaul_65102 - 10/6/07 8:58 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
its seems that you are talking about spam in the emails... to avoid this,
-never click on any "free goodies" ads and enter your email
-change your email address, i know yahoo offers multiple email addresses for the same account and just disable the one you are getting spammed on and activate the newer id.
-if you are constantly getting spammed by a certain website, you can either put them on your spam list or manually unsubscribe at the bottom of the email
-if you are getting too many emails cuz your winning about many lotteries and all that ... use your filters! put in your keywords like "million, lottery, etc " and your email client will automatically put them in a secured place like Junk or Spam folder.
-to the last resort, if you cant do any of the above.....just switch!...i recommend gmail
so i hope that helped!
I use hundreds of email addresses...
by gwholley - 10/6/07 11:34 AM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
One of the replies I read mentioned getting your own domain from a provider that gives you several email accounts. I found an even better solution.
My domain provider gives me 10 email accounts with my domain at a cost of only about $12.00 per year. But, the kicker is that one of those accounts is a "catchall" account. What that means is that no matter what the email address prefix is, as long as it is to my domain (anything@mydomain.com) the message will go to the catchall account. So I have an infinaite number of virtual email addresses to use.
Anytime I use my email on the web I use the website as the email address (cnet@mydomain.com) so that when the email comes I know immediately where it came from. If I ever get spam from cnet@mydomain.com, I know that CNET gave out my email address.
That is when the other important feature of my ISP account in to play. I then go to my domain's online control panel and add a filter to send all mail sent to the offending address off into never-never-land. Then I tell the website that let my email address get out that, because they did let it get out, I'll no longer be able to accept email from them.
Since I started this about two years ago, my spam load has been reduced to almost nothing. And, to boot, I almost never have to invoke the filter. It's like the sites know what I'm doing and so they guard my address a little better. Maybe not, but I sure don't get many instances of spam from those sites, and very, very few from others.
Filters can really help
by jjbrain - 10/6/07 12:37 PM In reply to: What can I do to stop spam? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use ATT DSL as my internet service provider and their email program (Yahoo mail beta) does a great job of filtering out the garbage email and dumping it into the "bulk mail" folder, the contents of which can be deleted all at once. While I appreciate the efficiency of ATT's spam filter I don't really like their email program enough to use it for my day to day email needs. For that I use Mozilla's Thunderbird. Thunderbird provides more filtering so that anything that gets past ATT Yahoo mail can be dealt with by Thunderbird. If I do find SPAM in my inbox I use the email program tools to mark the email as the garbage it is.
I NEVER, EVER, FOR ANY REASON, OPEN ANYTHING THAT I KNOW IS SPAM.
I NEVER, EVER, FOR ANY REASON, OPEN ANYTHING THAT SUSPECT IS SPAM.
Another thing I do is to check my address book every few months and get rid of names and addresses that I really don't need. I do this because both Yahoo mail and Thunderbird will deliver mail sent by people whose addresses are listed in my address book (this includes anyone I have sent an email to, and anyone whose email I have replied to, and in some cases anyone whose emails I have opened). Most email programs assume that the addresses in your address book are people you want to hear from. Some programs automatically add contacts to your address list when you send, reply to, or open emails. A quick look at your address book might yield some unpleasant surprises.
Yahoo mail offers "disposable" email addresses. They are mailboxes situated within your email program. They have their own email addresses and can be used for both sending and receiving email. The idea is to use one of these "disposable" addresses when dealing with internet sites. If you start to get SPAM in a "disposable" box just delete the whole thing. Your main email address remains private and untouched. I almost never give my main email address to the sites I do business with online. I have a "disposable " address for that (one which I have been using for the last three years).
I noticed that several other people suggested using filters - either built into your email program or one that you add on to your current email program. I think that is a really great idea. I t sure works for me!
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
