General Anti-spam Tips

What is Spam
In simplistic terms Spam, also known as Unsolicited Bulk E-mail (UBE), are e-mail messages that are unsolicited by the recipients. Often these unsolicited messages are sent to thousands of people at a time. Spammers are most often are motivated by commercial gain and the cost to spammers to send thousands of messages is next to nothing. Spammers will often attempt to hide the true source of the messages and will also often use the computers of Internet users without their knowledge to send their spam e-mails.
Never purchase anything from an unsolicited e-mail message
Aside from encouraging spammers to continue their practices, by purchasing spamvertised products your contact and billing information may be exposed to individuals that often times do not have any interest in protecting your privacy.
Be careful when filling out web forms
When you sign for anything on the web often times there will be a checkbox stating that is okay for your information to be sent to “third parties” Also, often times, this checkbox is already selected for you – so make sure that you pay close attention to the form before you click submit.
Use a disposable e-mail address
There are several sites that offer the creation of temporary email addresses. This temporary e-mail address can be used to fill out web forms without exposing your true email address. For an example check out http://www.trashmail.net/
Use the “remove me” link carefully
Unless you are dealing with a legitimate newsletter, never click the “remove me” or the “unsubscribe” link. This will almost certainly just verify to the spammer that he/she has reached a legitimate email address.
Use your Internet Service Provider’s anti-spam tools
Most every ISP provides some level of anti-spam protection at no additional charge. Take the time to check your ISP’s website on how to enable their anti-spam protection tools.