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Reducing Spam
Spam is a common, and often frustrating, side effect to having an
email account. Although you will probably not be able to eliminate it,
there are ways to reduce it.
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What is spam?
Spam is the electronic version of "junk mail." The term spam refers to
unsolicited, often unwanted, email messages. Spam does not necessarily
contain virusesvalid messages from legitimate sources could fall
into this category.
How can you reduce the amount of spam?
There are some steps you can take to significantly reduce the amount
of spam you receive:
- Don't give your email address out arbitrarily - Email
addresses have become so common that a space for them is often
included on any form that asks for your addresseven comment
cards at restaurants. It seems harmless, so many people write them in
the space provided without realizing what could happen to that
information. For example, companies often enter the addresses into a
database so that they can keep track of their customers and the
customers' preferences. Sometimes these lists are sold to or shared
with other companies, and suddenly you are receiving email that you
didn't request.
- Check privacy policies - Before submitting your email
address online, look for a privacy policy. Most reputable
sites will have a link to their privacy policy from any form where
you're asked to submit personal data. You should read this policy
before submitting your email address or any other personal information
so that you know what the owners of the site plan to do with the
information (see Protecting Your
Privacy for more information).
- Be aware of options selected by default - When you sign up
for some online accounts or services, there may be a section that
provides you with the option to receive email about other products and
services. Sometimes there are options selected by default, so if you
do not deselect them, you could begin to receive email from lists
those lists as well.
- Use filters - Many email programs offer filtering
capabilities that allow you to block certain addresses or to only allow
email from addresses on your contact list. Some ISPs offer spam
"tagging" or filtering services, but legitimate messages misclassified
as spam might be dropped before reaching your inbox. However, many
ISPs that offer filtering services also provide options for tagging
suspected spam messages so the end user can more easily identify them.
This can be useful in conjunction with filtering capabilities provided
by many email programs.
- Don't follow links in spam messages - Some spam relies
on generators that try variations of email addresses at certain
domains. If you click a link within an email message or reply to a
certain address, you are just confirming that your email address is
valid. Unwanted messages that offer an "unsubscribe" option are
particularly tempting, but this is often just a method for collecting
valid addresses that are then sent other spam.
- Disable the automatic downloading of graphics in HTML
mail - Many spammers send HTML mail with a linked graphic file
that is then used to track who opens the mail messagewhen your
mail client downloads the graphic from their web server, they know
you've opened the message. Disabling HTML mail entirely and
viewing messages in plain text also prevents this problem.
- Consider opening an additional email account - Many
domains offer free email accounts. If you frequently submit your email
address (for online shopping, signing up for services, or including it
on something like a comment card), you may want to have a secondary
email account to protect your primary email account from any spam that
could be generated. You should also use a secondary account when
posting to online bulletin boards, chat rooms, public mailing lists,
or USENET so that you can get rid of when it starts filling up with
spam.
- Don't spam other people - Be a responsible and
considerate user. Some people consider email forwards a type of spam,
so be selective with the messages you redistribute. Don't forward
every message to everyone in your address book, and if someone asks
that you not forward messages to them, respect their request.
Authors: Mindi McDowell, Allen Householder
Copyright 2004 Carnegie Mellon University. Terms of use
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Last
updated
June 28, 2007
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