TIPS TO AVOID SPAM EMAIL

Spamming is the use of any electronic communications medium to send unsolicited messages in bulk. The following are tips you can use to avoid Spam:

1. Do not post your email address in forums. If you do want other people to email you (benignly), enter in your email address such as "user at domain.com" (instead of user@domain.com). This makes it more difficult for web bots to pull your email address automatically from a web page. Another option is to create a small image with your email address in it and display this as part of your forum post.

2. Search for your email address on www.google.com. If you find it in any forums, try to remove it.

3. If possible, have two email addresses. One that you use with friends and colleagues, the other to use on newsletters, posting on forusm and other public locations. The more complex your email address, the less likely you are to receive spam.

4. If your ISP allows SPAM filtering, enable it. Report any spam that gets through the filter to the ISP which will help to reduce the amount of spam you receive. If your ISP does not offer SPAM filtering, you can set up third-party programs like SPAM STOP! which is a hardware-based spam program. Call our office at 714-245-0555 or send us an email at info@arieltech.com to set this up for your email accounts.

5. When filling in Web forms, check the site's privacy policy to ensure that your email address will not be sold or passed on to other companies. There might be a check box to "opt out" of third party mailings.

6. Never respond to SPAM! If you reply, even to request removing your email address from the mailing list, you are confirming that your email address is valid and the spam has been successfully delivered to your mailbox. Lists of confirmed email addresses are more valuable to spammers and they are frequently bought and sold by spammers.

7. Do not open spam messages whenever possible. Frequently spam messages include "web beacons" that enable the spammer to determine how many email addresses have received and opened the email message.

8. Do not click on the links in spam messages, including unsubscribe links. These frequently contain a code that identifies the email address of the recipient and can confirm that spam has been delivered and that you responded.

9. Never buy any goods from a spammer. These spammers rely on very small percentages of people responding to spam and buying goods. If spamming becomes unprofitable and takes a lot of effort for little return, spammers have less incentive to continue spamming.

10. Make sure that your anti-virus software is up to date. Many viruses and Trojans scan your hard drive for email address to send spam and viruses to.

11. Use a reputable firewall to protect your computer from hackers or being infected with a worm which will use your computer as a spam-sending zombie.

12. Do not respond to email requests to validate or confirm any of your account details. Your bank, credit card company, eBay, PayPal, etc. already have your account details and do not need you to validate them. If you are unsure if a request for personal information is legitimate, contact the company directly or type in the website URL directly to your browser. Do not click on the links in the email, as they may send you to a fake website.

For more information on how to avoid SPAM or to have a network engineer take a look at your computer, please call our office at 714-245-0555 or fill out our support form by clicking here.

Tips to Avoid SPAM provided by McAfee