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Reducing
Spam
Author:
Steve Latimer
Spam
SPAM . . SPAM . . SPAM . . Yes it really was named after the famous
Monty Python sketch featuring the intrepid Erik the Viking. What
Is Spam? Unsolicited e-mail. Over 60% of all e-mails are now unsolicited
sales messages - and it's growing. Junk mail is the scourge of
the Internet. While it's a real shame that something as useful
as e-mail should be contaminated by this claptrap there are serious
implications to it's phenomenal growth. EU businesses spend £1.5
billion a year trying to counter it and now Governments are looking
at ways legislate against it.
In
2004, the UK Government brought in legislation to discourage the
spammers but the penalties are derisory compared to those introduced
by other countries. This has had the unfortunate effect of making
the UK a prime target for international spammers. It is estimated
that by the end of 2005, 80% of all UKJ e-mails will be spam.
There
are no ways to avoid it completely that we know of but you can
take steps to minimise it. Common Sense Tips to Reduce SPAM Never
visit web sites advertised by Spam mail
If
you do, never, NEVER buy anything
Do
not reply to the e-mail or click an unsubscribe link - doing so
merely confirms that your e-mail address is active and that the
message has been read.
Delete
Spam messages immediately
If
certain domains are particularly bothering you report them to
your ISP
Don't
register for free services - especially those that don't allow
you to opt out of third party and/or related products and services
- they'll forward your address on to other Spammers.
Set
up a dummy web based e-mail account such as Hotmail and use this
address as a scrap bucket if you can't avoid providing an e-mail
address. Organisations such as Hotmail routinely clear out dead
messages to save space which means once you have set up your dummy
account you can forget about it. Blocking Unsolicited Mail In
Microsoft Outlook Express Once you have received an unsolicited
mail into your inbox select it by clicking on it once.
Move
the pointer to the MESSAGE menu option on the top menu bar Select
BLOCK SENDER This action adds the senders address to a growing
list of blocked senders. Each time a mail is received from any
of those in the blocked list the mail is moved automatically to
the DELETED ITEMS folder and does not appear in the INBOX. Blocking
Unsolicited Mail In Microsoft Outlook 2000/2002/XP Use the RULES
WIZARD within the TOOLS menu to create a rule to send any mail
suspected of being Junk Senders to the DELETED ITEMS folder.
When
an unsolicited e-mail arrives in your Inbox then select it by
RIGHT clicking on it once and choose to add it to the junk senders
list.
Delete
the mail manually from your Inbox The next time a mail arrives
from the same source it will be moved automatically to the DELETED
ITEMS folder. As the list grows the amount of junk mail in your
Inbox will diminish.
There
may be light at the end of the Spam tunnel. Uncle Bill at Microsoft
is known to have 'a thing' about Spam and is determined to kill
it off. Governments too are looking for better ways to reduce
this nuisance.
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This
article is written by a guest writer. The views and opinions within
this article are those of the author and are not those of Detechnify.com
You
can get details of the writer at the end of the article.
About
the author:
Steve Latimer is Systems Manager with Arrival Computers (http://www.arrival-computers.co.uk).
PC Doctor+ Guides are aimed at users new to computing. They may
be reproduced and included in web sites as additional content
provided a link is added back to the Arrival Computers Web Site.
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