What to do about spam

Everyone hates spam (unsolicited commercial e-mails, sent out in bulk).  The spam control software programs most people rely on don’t really help the situation much.  What they all do is put suspected spam files in a separate folder.  The problem with this approach is that the programs sometimes put stuff you want in the spam folder and sometimes leave spam in your inbox.  So you wind up reading each piece of spam you get before you delete it.  The only thing the spam programs do for you is put them all in one place.  This may save you a little time.  But here are a few other ideas:

1.  Forward any spam you get to the Federal Trade Commission (spam@uce.gov).  Include full headers.  Right click on the upper pane of Outlook, and then click on options to find the headers.

2. Never reply to a spammer, buy from a spammer or click on a spammer’s link, even if that link claims to be to take you off their list.  Spammers definitely can not be trusted.

3. Never post the e-mail address you actually use to receive e-mail anywhere on the web.  If you do, spammers, will definitely pick up your address with spider/bot software that requires no effort on their part, and the volume of spam you will get will multiply.

4. One effective method to stop spam is to change your e-mail address to another address, when the volume of spam you are getting is too high; close out the old address, and notify the people you want to correspond with of your new address.  That’s a pain in the butt, but effective.

5. Some e-mail services, such as Earthlink, ask any senders not on your approved list to read a graphic, rather than text message and ask the sender to copy it into a blank  (automated programs often used by spammers can’t do this) and then send you a request to be added to your approved list.  This seems to me like a fairly good approach.

6. For additional ideas on spam, check out the following webpage:  http://www.humorandwisdom.com/spam.htm.