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10 tips to avoid spam

Spam is a fact of internet life. According to recent figures from the security software industry, more than 80% of email traffic is made up of spam. To fight the spam menace, McAfee published following suggestions to help prevent your email address from becoming a target to spammers.

• Do not post your e-mail address in an unobfuscated form on the internet. If you need to post your e-mail address, format it so that it cannot be easily harvested such as “name –at- hotmail – dot- com,” Or if you need to include your e-mail address in your signature, include a small graphic image containing your e-mail address.
• Check to see if your e-mail address is visible to spammers by typing it into a Web search engine such as www.google.com. If your e-mail address is posted to any Web sites or newsgroups, remove it if possible to help reduce how much spam you receive.
• Lots of ISPs provide free e-mail addresses. Set up two e-mail addresses, one for personal e-mail to friends and colleagues, and use the other for subscribing to newsletters or posting on forums and other public locations.
• Many ISPs also offer free spam filtering. If this is available, use it. Report missed spam to your ISP, as it helps reduce how much spam you and other members of the same ISP receive. If your ISP does not offer spam filtering, use anti-spam software to reduce the amount of spam delivered to your inbox.
• Never respond to spam. If you reply, even to request removing your e-mail address from the mailing list, you are confirming that your e-mail address is valid and the spam has been successfully delivered to your inbox, not filtered by a spam filter, that you opened the message, read the contents, and responded to the spammer. Lists of confirmed e-mail addresses are more valuable to spammers than unconfirmed lists, and they are frequently bought and sold by spammers.
• Do not open spam messages wherever possible. Frequently spam messages include “Web beacons” enabling the spammer to determine how many, or which e-mail addresses have received and opened the message. Or use an e-mail client that does not automatically load remote graphic images, such as the most recent versions of Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Do not click on the links in spam messages, including unsubscribe links. These frequently contain a code that identifies the e-mail address of the recipient, and can confirm the spam has been delivered and that you responded.
• If you have an e-mail address that receives a very large amount of spam, consider replacing it with a new address and informing your contacts of the new address. Once you are on lots of spammers’ mailing lists, it is likely that the address will receive more and more spam.
• Make sure that your anti-virus software is up to date. Many viruses and Trojans scan the hard disk for e-mail addresses to send spam and viruses. Avoid spamming your colleagues by keeping your anti-virus software up to date.
• Do not respond to e-mail requests to validate or confirm any of your account details. Your bank, credit card company, eBay, Paypal, etc., already have your account details, so would not need you to validate them. If you are unsure if a request for personal information from a company is legitimate, contact the company directly or type the Web site URL directly into your browser. Do not click on the links in the e-mail, as they may be fake links to phishing websites.

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