NEWS AND UPDATES

Spam at all time high

A new survey suggests that 95% of all emails are now considered spam. Read more here

October 16, 2007
Happy birthday spam

Today marks the anniversary of the first recorded piece of unsolicited electronic mail (email). Read more here

May 1, 2007
The web is under attack

Two articles on the BBC Technology site highlight the growing use of the interent by cyber criminals and how it could spell the end of the world wide web as we know it. Read more here

January 25, 2007
The changing face of spam

The use of graphical images in spam emails are causing more problems than just filling up your inbox. Read more here

January 21, 2007
Nearly 90% of all email is spam

A report published yesterday suggests that 89.73% of all email sent is spam with the majority of it originating from Europe. Read more here

December 06, 2006

 

 

ADVICE ON HOW TO STOP SPAM E-MAILS

Install spam blocking software. There are lots of products on the market which stop the majority of spam getting through to your computer. If spam e-mails are a problem for you, it's worth investing in spam blocking software. Have a look at our reviews of the best spam blocking software and see which one is right for you.

 

Don't ever respond to spam e-mails. A lot of spam e-mails will have an option to 'unsubscribe' at the bottom. Never reply. All you're doing is confirming that your e-mail address exists and you'll probably end up receiving even more spam.

 

Use multiple addresses. Free e-mail providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo! allow you to have multiple accounts. Set up an account for your main contacts (friends, family, business contacts) and seperate accounts for other uses such as forum memberships and mailing lists.

 

Disguise your e-mail address. If you have your own website, make sure that the webmaster disguises your e-mail address. Spambots (automated e-mail collection software) harvest websites by looking though the HTML for the "mailto:yourname@yourdomain.com" code. It's very easy to disguise this. If your webmaster needs help writing code, get them to drop us a line.

 

Never buy anything from the spammers. Don't visit the websites or ask for more information. You are only encouraging them to continue sending out spam e-mails. Reports also indicate the 95% of spam offers are scams anyway.

 

Track the spam. If you decide to subscribe to a newsletter or online service, set up a specific account. That way you can immediately see the source of the spam and delete the account. You can set up most disposable e-mail accounts to forward to your main account so you won't need to check lots of different places for your mail.

 

Look for opt-out options. When buying a product online, look for the ability to opt-out of receiving promotional material.

 

Blind Carbon Copy. When sending e-mails to groups of people, use the BCC feature. This hides their e-mail addresses from other people. Ask them to do the same.

 

Use false e-mail accounts on blogs. If you're leaving a comment on a blog, leave a false e-mail address. There is no legitimate reason for a blogger to have your e-mail address just so that you can leave them a comment.

 

Avoid hoaxes. If you receive an e-mail saying that you have won a prize, the chances are that you haven't and it's a spammer 'phishing' for e-mail addresses. Don't reply.

 

Avoid generic e-mail addresses. Spammers send out speculative e-mails to generic addresses such as sales@domain.com, enquiries@domain.com, webmaster@domain.com. Use more specific e-mail addresses which are less likely to be guessed by the spammers.

 

Use contact forms. If you are running your own website, use a contact form as a way of receiving e-mails from your customers.