How to deal with Increasing Spam

SPAM is defined to unsolicited messages, normally containing advertising, sent en masse. The most used is based on the email but can apply for instant messaging programs or cell phone. Spam is a phenomenon that is increasing day by day, and represents a high percentage of total email traffic. Moreover, as new technologies and more effective solutions to combat spam, the spammers (malicious users is dedicated to sending spam) will become ever more sophisticated and modify their techniques in order to avoid the countermeasures deployed by users. Therefore, all email users run the risk of being victims of these attempted attacks. Any public address on the Internet (which has been used in forums, newsgroups or on a website) will be more likely to be a victim of spam.

Address collectors come in different ways to our email address. Use on many websites need to register with a valid email address, such as a particular service, or download a free software in use. It is sufficient that the address is passed only once, have you end up in the database of spammers and is blessed with junk. Not always, it can be completely avoided, address in such cases to indicate his, it is advisable to get this purpose a second email account to apply for, and of filtering rules to this address to delete the mail or a separate folder to sort out in (because sometimes you even more relevant e-mail to this address is replaced). Some spam filters work effectively preventing a lot of SPAM, but none works well enough to forget these simple tips which, when used correctly, will help us get less spam. Another negative feature of the filters is that some work so significantly that end filtering mail.

Mail Clients:

Many email programs offer the possibility to filter incoming mail to user-defined rules. In Outlook, for example using the Rules Wizard (accessible from the Tools menu), in sort Pegasus Mail is distinguished here particularly by wealth of possibilities (one in Tools, filtering rules), but also with other programs you can add their email according to various criteria Outlook Express Message Rules (also in Tools menu).

For sorting out spam based on sender filtering rules are often inadequate, as the sender constantly changing. The best are still the subject lines for the creation of rules. However, one must also adjust here the rules again and again, because the subject lines of spam are getting more sophisticated: A summary of the rules too narrowly, we run the risk of rejecting too important mail, written to the rules against too far, so come on many spam mails through the filter. Are very effective filtering rules to filter the non-praying, harassing messages of a single real sender. For example, Pegasus Mail 4 is chosen for this filter rules for new mail, and click New Rule. Then choose the top entries, selected by the sender and that, under this text contains the sender of spammer.

A free alternative solution is to not use any spam filter at all. Instead, you must make sure your email address cannot be found by the spammers in the first place. There are exceptions. You should never sign up any shadow of a service. You should never use any service you intend to register your site to search engines or come back. You do not need, does not work and only the results of more spam.

How you get Spam:

• The address as the sender is unknown to the user, and is often spoofed.
• The message does not usually address Reply.
• Present a striking case.
• The content is advertising: ads for sites, ways to make easy money, miracle products, estate, or simply lists of products sold on promotion.
• Most of the spam is written in English and comes from the U.S. or Asia, but now becoming common in spam.

How it is sent:

• Mailing Lists: the spammer is discharged in the mailing list, and writes down the addresses of the other members.
• Buy database of users to individuals or companies, although such activity is illegal, in practice it is done, there is an underlying market.
• Using robots (automated programs) that scour the Internet looking for addresses on websites, newsgroups, weblogs, etc.
• Techniques DHA (Directory Harvest Attack): The spammer generated email addresses belonging to a specific domain, and sends messages to them. The domain's mail server will respond with an error to addresses that do not actually exist, so the spammers can figure out which of the addresses it has generated are valid. Addresses can be composed using a dictionary or brute force, i.e. by trying all possible combination of characters.

Some Points to Avoid Spam

• Do not send chain letters since they are usually some kind of hoax (hoax).
• If you should wish to send messages to many recipients always do blind carbon copy (BCC), as this prevents a recipient views (steal) the mail of other recipients.
• Not to publish a private address on websites, forums, online discussions, etc. Since only easier to get them to the spammers (people who send spam).
• If you want to browse or register for sites with low trust accounts do mails intended for that purpose. Some webmail services have this feature: protect our e-mail as another account can publish and manage both from the same place.
• For the same purpose is also advisable to use temporary email accounts and disposable as mentioned at the bottom of this.
• Never respond to messages such as this that we are only confirming our e-mail and only managed to receive more spam.
• It's good to have more than one email account (at least 2 or 3): a labor account is only used for this purpose, one personal and one for public contact or bulk.

Since both anti spam programs, their spam and its operations are programmed by human hands and are updated daily, there will be a hundred percent protection against unwanted spam can never give. An e-mail spam protection should any Internet user to call its own, however, the unwanted and dangerous spam mails to many to be able to intercept.

Use filters spam from your email application (also called message rules in Outlook) to store these messages in a special folder, but check back regularly if there are legitimate messages accidentally interfered. A good filter is to send all messages, including HTML (keyword: Content-Type: text / html) and do not directly addresses (To: field). Some other keywords will be apparent after a while, like "Casino", "opt-in" or "unsubscribe". If you subscribe to newsletters, create some exceptions for them (also called white-listing).

Do not click on links to unsubscribe (opt-out links), in fact, any link in the spam. They will not remove you from their lists, but rather they will validate your address, which will probably be added to a mailing list for more active and confirmed that is worth more expensive on the black market. Strategy unsubscribe voluntary (opt-out), a method suggested by powerful groups of direct marketing with a clear interest, cannot walk for any practical purpose. There are over 20 million companies just in the United States, unsubscribe to all these companies could take the rest of our days each. Why unsubscribe from lists to which you did not register to get started? This is not your responsibility. Your email account is your property, not an advertising medium.

Do not show images of an HTML email. These images are used for user behavior analyzer, to verify your IP address and validate the email address (you can identify this process by images whose URL looks like index.html? Something = address). Preferably use an email application that does not display images by default, and that does not support cookies and JavaScript, as Thunderbird. Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail now offer the ability to block images from HTML in your account preferences. Do not respond to the address specified in the From: field. It is completely fabricated, as almost everything is indicated in the contents of the mail headers (except for the IP address of receipt), and this address is most likely that of a poor victim or activist anti spam.

Tools to fight with spam:

• POPFile
• eXpurgate
• MailWasher Pro
• Spamihilator
• K9 - Spam Filter
• Cactus Spam Filter
• Spam Bully
• Spamato
• SpamExperts Desktop
• BullGuard Spamfilter
• SpamBayes
• Spam Interceptor