Get a Grip on eMail Spam Before It Gets A Grip On You

Spam has evolved from a minor annoyance into a fundamental issue. To the average user it’s a waste of time and nerves, to the economy it’s a major factor costing a ton of money. Spam is something we will never get rid of but there are ways to cut it down and get it under control. Here’s how:

I. Organize your eMail accounts

This is the most difficult part since it requires some serious thought and discipline. Set up different accounts for different purposes. Use one for friends and family and never post it online. Try to do the same for work. Use other accounts for shopping online, social networks, chat friends, message boards etc. It’s tedious at first, but if you’re using Pop mail, it’s easy to manage multiple accounts.

When creating your eMail address be creative, don’t use words found in a dictionary, combine with numbers or letters. The reason is that most spam doesn’t reach your inbox because your address was extracted from a dubious source. Rather you are being spammed randomly by so-called dictionary attacks on your eMail provider.

II. Mask your eMail address

Fortunately, most spam bots are stupid. For example they don’t recognize eMail addresses typed with spaces or displayed in images. There are several excellent tools that may help you to protect your eMail address and keep it spam free:

1. Hide your eMail address in an image.It requires some level of intelligence to copy text from an image.

Tool: Spam Proof eMail Generator

2. Hide your eMail address behind a CAPTCHA.

Again, whoever wants to access your eMail address needs to be smart enough to pass the test.

Tool: MailHide ReCaptcha

3. Hide your eMail address in a contact form.

This will not reveal your eMail address at all.

Tools: Kontactr, ReachBy and Contactify

III. Use temporary or fake information

How many times a week do you sign up for something new online, and how many times will you keep coming back to that service? Temporary eMail addresses are a great solution to avoid sharing your eMail address in the first place. Should you decide to stick with that service, you can still give them your valid address later on. Again, there are numerous sites to consider.

1. Spam Motel.

My personal favorite. You sign up a permanent account with them and create temporary eMail addresses as you need them. Mail is being forwarded to your real address. Once spam finds you, you cancel the address it’s coming through and start over. There is a similar tool called GishPuppy , however the signup form didn’t work for me.

2. Spamgourmet

It’s one of many similar services. It creates a disposable eMail on the spot which automatically expires after having forwarded three messages. You need to sign up with Spamgourmet to use it.

3. MintEmail

Here you can create a temporary address that will expire after four hours or after three months. What’s cool is that the four hour address is automatically created and saved to your clipboard once you enter the page. The page proceeds to constantly check for incoming mail on that address. The concept is awesome. However, while testing my test eMail had not arrived after over one hour. Hopefully a temporary issue.

4. BugMeNot

Step out of the vicious eMail cycle and use disposable login data, including an invalid eMail address.

IV. Filter Spam

Chances are you have an eMail address that is already being spammed but you don’t want to part with it. Depending on how you check your mail you can either manually teach your mail program to better recognize spam or, in case you’re using POP mail or IMAP, you can use a tool that sits between your eMail provider and your inbox to filter incoming eMail.

1. Writing Mail Filters

This article from Spamnation gives excellent directions on how to decrease the amount of spam that reaches your inbox with a step by step guide.

2. Spamihilator

A free Windows tool that works with POP3 and IMAP accounts. Spamihilator claims to identify more than 98% of incoming spam mail. You can help to increase its success rate by customizing the settings, such as adding words to the Spam Words list, enabling the DCC-Filter to recognize unsolicited bulk mail, add your friends’ eMail addresses, and install plugins to further improve the overall performance.

Standard mail programs are recognized automatically (although it can take ages), those that are not supported can be set up manually.

The online documentation for every aspect of the program is very thorough and clear.

V. Use Gmail

Gmail comes with a few nifty features that can make your life a lot easier. First of all the default Gmail spam filter is pretty good. Then you can use a single Gmail account and have multiple eMail addresses with it. Just sort them into different folders to effectively separate spam from real mail. You can track and block spammers by adding cue words to your eMail address when signing up anywhere. Read more in Aibek’s article 1 Awesome Gmail tip You Don’t Know about. Seriously.

How much time do you spend digging through spam and how do you fight it?

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.