... does anyone else turn on their computer in the morning to find increasing numbers of emails advertising every type of pharmacuetical known to mankind, especially viagra and valium, as well as new businesses that I should buy into and lotteries that I'm certain to win?
I'm truly fed up with it. Does anyone know how I can prevent it? If I change my email address, which is very inconvenient, it will only be a matter of time before they start again.
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The problem is called spam, and as yet there is no foolproof way to defeat it. It is actually illegal to send unsolicited email (spam) to someone, but it's very hard to catch the purpetrators. There are ways to minimise it, so you shouldn't know that it's there... Get Firefox - if you haven't already, Firefox is a secure web-browser which is almost completely hacker-proof, and will keep your details secure. It can be found at www.getfirefox.com There are numerous advantages to firefox, including tabbed browsing, security features and its user-friendly browser.
The same people who make Firefox also make an email program similar to MS Outlook called Thunderbird, which stops spam in its tracks. This is done by filtering out all of the rubbish to a dedicated 'spam' folder, and you can set it to filter any emails that aren't from people you know into specific spam folders for your deletion. If you're getting emails that contain certain words, for instance 'Viagra' or 'Valium', then you can set up your own filter and anything containing those words will be filtered away.
If you use an online email service like Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail and the like, then perhaps thinking of changing it to Gmail, a service from Google. It is pretty much spam-proof, having been engineered to be so, and it works. Yahoo are notorious for having sold email addresses to bad companies in the past, I'm not sure if they still do this, but I hold a yahoo account for monthly mailings only!
I hope this helps, if you need any more information, let me know :)
Google is nice..Yahoo has a "disposable address thing"..once spammers start on your address, you may change it and simply delete the one..most of my spam goes directly to bulk folder as I am not willing to change my basic address either! There a lot of places you can send the spam to report it after getting the full headers,a lot of work and as 'vintagepretty' notes, very hard to catch them..I do not prefer to spend all my time sending these and still getting mts. of spam..
You need an invite to google, if you care to use it..I have firefox and it surely is good too..
Good luck!
If you find something that works on the spam, please pass it on :-).
Have the highest filter on the email so that all the spam goes into a junk mail box. The junk mailbox will get deleted regularly so you don't have to worry about it, but look in there occasionally to see if there is something that isn't junk. If anything gets through to the inbox, go to actions and block the sender so they can't get through again. I find that when doing this, I get maybe 2 spam emails in my inbox a week, which is HEAPS better than what I used to get.
The only way I could get rid of my spam was to change my email address. Yes, it's very inconvenient, but it works.
I now guard my email address like it's the entrance to Ft. Knox. (that's why there is no way to email me on my blog).
It has been almost a year since I changed it and still I get very little spam.
I also have the changeable email addresses. I use my main one only for very important things. I create a second one for everything else and I change it as soon as I start getting spam sent to that address.
Good luck getting rid of it, Alice. It's a real headache.
I have downloaded a program called Mailwasher, which lets you look at the emails on your server, before downloading them to your Email package (Outlook, Outlook Express, Incredimail, whatever). You can delete the junk, blacklist those yucky ones, chose your "friends", then when you are ready, you process it, go to your email program, and Send/Receive only the ones you want. I have turned of the check automatically function on my email package, so that I need to check Mailwasher first, and my email package never receives junk !! Works for me, anyway !!
Up until a few weeks ago, my email had remained spam-free, but now the odd one is started to crop up. I've saved all the suggestions above in case I start getting too much spam. Thanks everyone!
Can I suggest wave a magic wand Alice....lol. I get heaps too through my yahoo account but like you don't want to change it. It's a pain for me and for everyone else. My "junk mail" goes to my bulk folder (which empties weekly automatically) and anything that sneaks through to my inbox I report as spam. I also have a bigpond account but don't get the spam in there. Not sure why, probably the way Ashley set it up. If you find a good way to deal with it all, please let the rest of us know.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who offered such helpful advice on dealing with spam.
As there were multiple items from several senders, I have taken Tanya's advice first up and blocked those names. If that doesn't work, or greatly decrease the spam, then I will try one or more of the other methods.
What really bugged my was that often it was only the first three letters of the address that was correct (yes, I know it's done electronically), but you can bet that if one of my friends wanted to send me a message with only that much of the address correct it wouldn't go through.
Thank you again. I greatly appreciate all the help.
Hello Ms... I hope all your computer problems have been solved. I don't get spam... my computer knows better than to allow it near me lol as I threaten it everymoring with an upgrade. Yelling at it helps and is good therapy lol. Any more problems and Miss tech head here will be most pleased to help you out... or anyone else for that matter. Much love to you, Nicole xox.
Alice
I use a combination of Gmail for my email, and a free program called Spybot to deal with spyware and browser hijacking and I use Firefox (for the past two years) for my web browsing. No spam emails for over 3 years!
Hi Alice, I use the multiple email address system too - and I am very careful where I subscribe to with each of them. I use a different email address depending on how visible the address will be, in such things as blogs and forums and user-groups.
Great site .. thanks for the pics.
What a lot of useful info this little post has generated Alice! Do you wonder if ANYONE ever buys any of the Viagra, Valium, Stocks, lottery tickets, etc.? Or do the spammers just do it to annoy us? And what's with all the nonsense scribble at the bottom of some of these messages? Have you noticed that? Weird!
Like Val,I'm going to save these tips and try a few. My spamkiller program drives me crazy. I think it's equally as annoying as the spam!
Do you have your email address on your blogg....I know some people have it posted incase someone wanted to email them..... I thought maybe that would be why... I really get very few things....when they do come you can put a block on that address... I never open all the cute little things that people send me....or maybe I'm just lucky......
I get a small amount, but so far it's annoying but not a major headache.
I think that is why people use "dot com", rather than ".com" - these programs trawl the net looking for email adresses - rude!
I don't really know of a good way, other than to be careful about where you put your email address...
Hello Alice I have a washing machine service thingy on my computer my wiz! bloke did for me and it sorts and sends back rubbish to were it came from and after awhile they stop sending how sad is that! :o)
All your other advise here is great and I have taken on board lots of it as well.
have a nice evening.
Dear Alice.
Just wanted to let you know that l enjoyed your story about school days. Can so relate to the jotters with red and blue lines and much more.
G. has been really busy, most of his co-workers are on holiday so he has a full load- however, will show him info. etc. on Devon schools asap.
Have to take mum and mel to the airport tomorrow, then over the water again for kitchen order Sat. It has been really busy.
Hope you are doing well-
Love,
S.
I get it all the time too does your head in doesn't it. Will be a great day when they manage to end spam. untill then delete lol
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