Can The Spam

Email spam has to be one of the most infuriating aspects of life on the internet.

Every day I receive dozens of emails about the most bizarre subjects, though most are about enlargement techniques and potions. (These don’t work – my friend told me)

Here, then, are a few simple tips for avoiding or minimising the amount of spam, or junk email, that you receive -

Spam Avoidance

• Always protect your email address and mobile phone number when online
• Delete suspicious emails without opening or replying to them
• Use spam filtering software
• Using protection products that filter junk email
• Carefully reading website terms and conditions that may include clauses that allow the owner and third parties to mail you

Contact Details

If you run a website and need to be contactable then -

• Use an email address which doesn’t identify you, i.e. [email protected]
• Use a web-based form for visitors – this allows visitors to contact you without ever revealing your email address. Such a technique defeats spammers’ automated mailing systems
• Present your email address as an image which can be viewed by humans but not read by mail harvesting robots

Article by Lee Munson

Lee's non-technical background allows him to write about internet security in a clear way that is understandable to both IT professionals and people just like you who need simple answers to your security questions.

Lee has written 2875 awesome articles for us at Security FAQs