How do you deal with SPAM?

Question

Am being sent dozens of usless e-mails, have asked for help from yahoo but told sorry nothing we can do.....change your e-mail address.

Any advice?

www.veinremoval-cornwall.com

Answer 1

There's a simple reason why you're getting all that spam:

You have a mailto: link with your email address on your website.

Spammers use spiders, much like those that search engines use to index the Web, to search for email addresses. If yours is exposed there -- and they hunt down anything with an @ in it, not just explicit mailto: links -- you WILL get spammed. If it's in the rendered page, in the HTML source, in a meta tag, in a comment -- anywhere -- they'll find it.

That address is lost. It cannot be salvaged. Discard it. If you have a lot of people who use it, put on an autoresponder for a month or so referring real humans to your website for updated contact information. DO NOT put your new email address in the autoresponder message, or you'll just be giving it to the spammers.

Instead of publishing your email address forr all the world's spambots to read, use a blind mail form for contacts. "Blind" in this case meaning one where the actual address it is sent to is only known to the server, and never included anywhere in the Web page itself.

You should also have one or more "disposable" email addresses -- ones you only use when you need to provide one-time contact information to someone you don't fully trust. (which should be pretty much everyone you haven't met face to face) When the disposable address starts attracting spam, replace it with a new one.

I've been using this method for years. My private email address has never been compromised and I only just recently replaced my semi-public one because it just started getting spam. Most of the spam I do get is hitting my domain admin address and role accounts, and they are fairly easily filtered.

Plus, get an email client that has good spam filtering capabilities. I use Thunderbird, which handles almost all of my spam automatically. I rarely if ever even have to see the stuff, except when I'm making improvements to my manual filters.

Answer 2

Once your email address is on a spammers list it is almost impossible to get off. Right now, your e-mail address (along with millions of others) is on a CD being sold from the back rooms of software shops from Bangladesh to Botswanna and from Norway to the Netherlands.

However there are several things that you can do to prevent even more spam.

1. Start by removing your e-mail address from your Yahoo profile,if it is on it. The spam-industry has programs that are continusously crawling the web looking for the "@" symbol which is a sure sign the the word before it and the domain name after it is an e-mail address!

2. Use a longer address. The spam industry uses programs that try sending e-mail to all known domain names. Example: a program might start trying to send out e-mails to everyone starting with [e-mail] and continue down to [e-mail]. Using a longer e-mail address will make this harder to do.

3. Never click the "Unsubscribe Link" in any e-mail. This will only confirm to the spammers that your e-mail address is indeed real and that you are reading their garbage. In fact, do not even open any e-mail from anybody you don't know or trust. Many spams are not only annoying but contain viruses of other malware. Just delete 'em without opening 'em!.
You can however click that "Unsubscribe Me" button from businesses that are well known and that you trust. Walmart... yes. Someone selling Viagra...no.

4. Open up a second e-mail account. Whenever, a website requires you to register using your e mail address, use this secondary address. There are many unscrupulous websites that will sell you address to others or bombard you with spam themselves.

5. Download a free copy of SiteAdvisor. SiteAdvisor will alert you when you search (Google, Yahoo, MSN, search only) of websites that are known to send out spam. This can help you avoid registering with any sites that are known to spam people.
http://www.siteadvisor.com/

Treat your e-mail address just like you would your telephone number or home address....only give it out to those that you absolutely trust!

Answer 3

I had to change my email address to stop it a few years back. Since then though I have been really careful who I give my email address to, ie, only reputable companies and now I get no spam at all. Another thing to do is set up a separate address to put in the things which you suspect might send you spam, that way you can keep your proper inbox clean.

Answer 4

Fighting Back

Con artists are clever and cunning, constantly hatching new variations on age-old scams. Still, skeptical consumers can spot questionable or unsavory promotions in email offers. Should you receive an email that you think may be fraudulent, forward it to the FTC at [e-mail], hit delete, and smile. You'll be doing your part to help put a scam artist out of work.

Answer 5

Track down a guy who has no job but seems to be doing alright for himself regardless, living in a condo by himself, surrounded by computers, and beat the **** out of him!

Answer 6

I use a Spamerang! Send it straight back to all of em. Microsoft won't turn it into a real application with a big red button to press though so I have to do it myself :(

Answer 7

set up spam blocker in your yahoo e mail

Answer 8

Well, considering you just spammed all of us I would say that it is karma. Maybe you should quit spamming (veim removal what?) and then your luck will get better.

Answer 9

sometimes as part of pc prtection u can get spam killer along with firewall and virus disposal thingy - mcafee do one - need to check google re: availability and cost tho.

Answer 10

www.hormel.com
usually fry it in a pan with eggs, makes for a delicious breakfast!