Author: Raymond Aremonkhae

Technorati Tags:internet scam, online scams, scams online, spam mail, spams onlline
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Author: Brian Welsch

Technorati Tags:internet, sex, spam, emails, viagra, cyber criminals
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Author: Steve Johnson

Technorati Tags:spam, email, junk mail, spammers, spam filter, junkmail filter, email only hosting
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Author: Steve Johnson

Technorati Tags:spam, email, junk mail, spammers, spam filter, junkmail filter
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Author: Ryan Pitylak

Spam first made its mark in the world in 1978 when Gary Thuerk, Marketing Director of Digital Equipment Technology sent an email solicitation to 400 employees at Arpnet. The email created a few sales, but it also created fierce backlash. Today, more than 180 billion spam messages are sent out each day to over 1 billion Internet users. This staggering statistic makes it clear why spam is such a major problem for Internet users. Many companies are working hard to solve the spam problem, but the first step to stopping spam starts with the consumer.

By following the steps below, Internet users can reduce the number of spam email messages they receive in their inbox.

Before an Invasion of Spam

Software:
Choose email providers that offer built-in spam protection services. Look for service providers that promote a high success rate of blocking spam email.

Spam Filters:
Spam is a cat and mouse game. Spammers are constantly looking for ways to bypass filters. Regularly check your spam filter software if you’re using non-web based email to make sure it is up to date. If you’re using web-based email,m make sure your webmail provider is working hard to protect you from spam.

Improve Security:
A firewall may be one of the most important applications on a computer. It acts as a barrier between hackers and the computer, and prevents access to unauthorized information.

Limit Email Dispersal:
When performing online transactions, thoroughly scan the page for any checked and unchecked boxes. Some companies will word these boxes in a way to increase the likelihood of a consumer opting-in to their email campaigns.

Shop From Known Vendors:
Shopping from known vendors can greatly reduce the threat of spam email. Many companies are guilty of selling email addresses to third parties, which are then used for spam. The company’s privacy policy is supposed to list their intended uses of your personal information, such as whether they will sell your email address to third parties. Consumers can check the Better Business Bureau’s and the FTC’s (Federal Trade Commission) websites for lists of reputable companies and for lists of violators.

Once Spam Becomes a Problem

Internet users should avoid opening spam. It should be immediately deleted. Pay close attention to the senders email address as most spammers use deceptive subject lines intended to promote opening. If opened, avoid attachments, which may contain viruses, and do not purchase goods or donate to charities solicited in the message. Many spam email messages will have unsubscribe links at the bottom of the message, as dictated by the CAN-SPAM Act.

If consumers find themselves with an inbox full of spam, they can also report the spam emails to their Internet Service Provider.

There are numerous companies and organizations designed to regulate the Internet and protect users. But, it is important that Internet users are informed of the threats of spam. By following the stated suggestions and by not falling victim to the ploys of spammers, users can help put spammers out of business, and keep their inbox free of junk email.

Technorati Tags:stop spam, spam filter, anti spam software, email filter, spam protection
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Author: Ryan Pitylak

The Internet has given over a billion people, worldwide, a way to instantly find information. The number of threats to a consumer’s security increases as the consumer connects with more computers, companies, and people online. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the nation’s consumer protection agency, says that all Internet users should understand the importance of online security and should take measures to protect themselves.

Why the Need for Security & How to Protect Yourself

The Computer: Part of a computers sophistication lies in its ability to connect with other computers over the Internet in order to bring you information. When it is connected with other computers, it opens itself up for the transmission of information, which can create vulnerability for the computer. Hackers can connect to the computer, scan it for open ports, and gain access to unauthorized information about the computer user.

Most computers have an Intrusion Detection System (“IDS”) that monitors the computer for suspicious activity. When suspicious activity is detected, the IDS sends an alert that an intrusion has occurred.

An IDS alone will not protect your computer from incoming hackers and viruses. Computer users also need to protect themselves with firewalls, which create a barrier between hackers and the computer and help to prevent access to unauthorized information.

The Computer User: The computer user can also accidentally open doors that will lead to a security breach, such as when the user is using the Internet to make purchases. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. e-commerce sales for the year 2007 were $136.4 billion. Although the Internet has made shopping a whole lot easier, it has also increased the number of instances of identity theft. A study conducted by the US Department of Justice reports that 6.4 million households experienced some kind of identity theft in 2005. Consumers also open themselves up to increased junk e-mail called SPAM when shopping online. Thankfully, there are ways to minimize your risk when shopping online.

Be careful where you post your personal email address. Consumers using the Internet increase their chances of receiving SPAM e-mail each time they provide their e-mail address to make a purchase. As mentioned earlier, hackers can access consumer information by scanning ports that are not secure. Consumers can help protect themselves by only providing information that is necessary when making the purchase. There are companies designed to help protect consumers from e-commerce identity theft and SPAM.

When providing payment information, consumers should always make sure the site is secure. An easy way to determine whether a site is secure is to look at the web address bar at the top of the screen. The http, which precedes the address, should change to https when checking out on a shopping site. The ‘s’ indicates that the consumer is shopping from a secure page.

Finally, a consumer should avoid using ATM/debit cards to make purchases, as the breach of this information could lead to unauthorized access of the consumer’s bank account information. Use a credit card instead. Most credit card companies will work on behalf of their client, should a hacker steal their credit card information. In many cases, the consumer will only be responsible for $50 of the transactions.

When a consumer shops wisely on the Internet and acts in conjunction with private Internet security sites and the FTC they will decrease the chances of being one of the six million households affected by identity theft.

Technorati Tags:spam blockers, anti spam software, spam blocking, spam filtering, spam control
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By: Carolyn Clayton

Since the introduction of the Internet to the public, spam has been in existence and has become more and more of a growing concern and problem. Everyone who uses the Internet, especially with an email account has probably experienced a form of spam. I don’t actually think it is possible anymore to have a email account where no spam is received without the help of a spam filter.

The problem of spam on the Internet has reached a sorry state of affairs and drastic action is needed before the situation escalades even further. By just changing a few Internet ‘habits’ you could prevent a certain amount of spam from reaching your inbox.

For many of us Internet use is part of our daily lives. Many of us work in an environment where using email and the Internet is part of our job description. Due to this it is important that you follow some ‘guidelines’ of how to use the Internet and especially email without opening yourself up to the chance of receiving more spam.

These ‘guidelines’ should include the following:

Use more than one email account Many of us find the need to regularly post in forums and newsgroups etc. This is a problem straight away as putting your email address anywhere on the Internet means the likelihood of it becoming flooded with spam is extremely high. If you do need to use your email address on the Internet you should set up numerous email accounts to stop your actual main email account from being overload with spam.

It is suggested that you set up an email account for use of friends and family as well as being the mail account that you use for your msn. This email account will probably be classed as your main email account. You should then set up another account for use at work to ensure that your work email account doesn’t get loaded with spam messages, meaning you can easily access the emails that you need direct access to. Also if you shop regularly online why not set one up primarily for your shopping needs.

Never make contact with a spammer When you start to receive spam emails a spammer will look for signs that your email account is active, meaning that you use it on a regular basis. There are certain actions that you take that demonstrate to a spammer that your account is being used. If you reply to a spammer stating that you do not wish to receive any more emails or if you ‘unsubscribe’ all you are doing is giving a spammer more fuel to send you emails. You should never make contact with a spammer, they don’t care if you want to unsubscribe they will just spam you more as you have read their email, which brings me to my next point don’t even open an email message off a spammer, if they think for a second that you are reading the emails that they send you, you will simply get sent more.

Another point to be aware of when it comes to bulk mail is the use of viruses. 65% of unwanted emails contain a virus emphasising the fact that you should never open attachments from email addresses that you don’t know. Due to this growing number of computer viruses due to unsolicited mail it is important that, if you don’t already have one, you install an anti-virus on your computer and regularly keep it updated.

About The Author :

Helen is the web master of MySpamBin, specialists in all of your Spam Blocker needs.

By: Carolyn Clayton

Spam emails are one of the main annoyances to Internet users. Anyone who has an email address and is an internet user has more than likely experienced spam at some point. The more you use the Internet and the more chat based web sites that you have interacted with as well as the more you have filled in online forms using your email address, the more spam that you are likely to receive.

The most common use of a spam filter is for the removal of spam and computer viruses. Another less common use of a spam filter is to inspect outgoing emails to ensure that companies comply with appropriate laws.

Most of the email programmes that are available today have some form of a spam filter already available within them. This automated spam filtering function can be set to a certain level depending on how much spam you receive. Spam filters were created in an attempt to limit and control the ever growing problem of spam.

These spam filters make filtering decisions based on matching regular expression within spam emails or the keywords within an email message will be checked as well as scanning the email address of the sender to see if they are regular senders of spam messages.

One of the main problems that people tend to experience when it comes to spam filtering software is that messages that they actually want to receive end up getting filtered. You have to be careful when it comes to spam filtering so that this doesn’t happen.

As spam filter setting are having to become more strict due to the increase in spam emails you need to make sure that you no what not to include in your email message to ensure that it doesn’t get filtered out as spam. Below are a list of the common features of email messages that are blocked by most spam filters:

• If the email has three or more CAPITALIZED words in the Subject line or has no text within the subject line
• Subject starts with Hello, Free or GUARANTEED etc
• Subject line starts with Buy or Buying
• The email contains blank lines that make up a percentage of more than 70
• Repeated, unnecessary double-quotation marks
• The body of the email message mentions Viagra, no prescription, online Pharmacy etc
• There are attempts to disguise words within the email
• From field and reply to are empty
• Subject (or other fields) contains G.a.p.p.y-T.e.x.t with lots of spaces or underscores etc
• Subject starts with dollar sign or amount
• Address contains "free"
• Email contains an executable EXE BAT PIF etc (or DAT file Email sent from Apple Mac to PC issue)
• Message is a saved web page
• Font colour is the same as the background (invisible text)

If you are attempting to send an email you need to ensure that your email message doesn’t contain any of the above.

Spam filter software is the best way of conquering the problem of spam, no other method will compare to the results that you will see and the positive affects of spam filtering completely outweigh the negative.

Helen is the web master of MySpamBin, home of all your Spam Filtering needs.

About The Author :

Helen is the web master of MySpamBin, home of all your Spam Filtering needs.