what is a spam box and how to avoid it?

[JErastus]

I have questions. Now we have Spam box which we can see who sending emails. There are some sites I signed with them and access it. But they move directly to the spam box. How come they go directly to Spam box. I opened one of them. I get virus or malware or hijacked. Why is that? What do Spam box mean? Is Spam box telling us to delete all the emails? If my relative's emails go directly to Spam. When I open my brother's email and I get virus. I had to run update, virus and so.

[Visala28]

I think that what you are saying here is whatever program you are using to receive your mail has a SPAM filter which is putting "suspected" SPAM into a SPAM folder (i.e., a Spam box). If the messages you are getting are really from such legitimate places as Ancestry, Aldi's and Kohl's and you do want to receive them, then they should not be going into your SPAM box and you need to mark those messages as "not SPAM" so they will no longer be put in your SPAM box.

[Paisley007]

You should be aware that you cannot get a virus from just opening and reading an Email. You can only get a virus if you open an attachment included with an Email or if you click on a link in an Email and that link takes you to an infected web site. So, the moral here is simple: don't open files attached to Emails and don't click on links in Emails and you will not get viruses from any Emails you receive any matter whether they are phoney or the real thing.

[addie]

If you get an Email which you believe is from someone that you know and trust and if that Email has a file attached and if you open the attached file and get a virus from doing that, then either the message was really not from the person you think it is from (which is possible) or the person you received the Email from is himself infected with a virus (or someone has hacked into is Email account) and the virus (or the someone) is using his Email program on the way to send out contaminated Emails (which is possible).

[Nipmuc]

Spam filters will often block pictures within the text of a message and put a little message up about having done that and asking if you want to see the images you have to judge whether or not to do so since saying yes might trigger something nasty. Within those images can be hidden links that would take you to a dangerous place. For example you may see as part of the image what looks like the [X] that appears in the top right corner of a Windows screen as a means to close the screen.

[Ojibwe]

One useful tip is that most browsers have a setting to show a Status Bar if you right mouse click on the top bar of the browser if that is set to yes then when you hold the mouse pointer over something, like an image or a link it will show in the status bar that's the bottom bar of Internet Explorer what is actually behind the image or link so if you find that it shows the same destination no matter where you hold the mouse pointer (without clicking) then beware since it is probably a dangerous link.

[Sabastiaan]

This can in fact be a link to a website that is dangerous. So can a [No thanks] button to click on making you think you are saying No when hidden behind it in the message is a link telling it go ahead and invade your computer so in effect you are inviting it to attack you, or sell you a service you do not need or want. So be very careful with email and think first. It's complicated I be acquainted with but just be careful without being paranoic!