How Do you Stop SPAM
Quick Solution
Change your Email Address
If you have a Web Site
stop using info@.. sales@.. admin@.. spammers use these as defaults.
Remove all mailto: references on your web site, use a contact form instead
Securing Your Domain Registration Against Spammers
First let's address the whois database, which is a publicly accessible database in which your domain registration record is listed . and that includes your email address. It's not uncommon now for people to be spammed at a brand new email address within hours of registering a new domain.
With a private domain registration, which costs only a few dollars more than a regular registration, your contact information including your email address will not be publicly accessible in the whois database
Securing Your Website Against Spammers
The other major source, and by far the biggest source of email addresses for spammers is of course the mailto links on your own website (eg info@yoursite.com) Email address harvesting or extraction software as it's known is cheap, easy to use, and readily available . and it's very effective. That means there are a lot of spammers out there with easy access to your email address.
Chances are hundreds or even thousands of spammers using such software have already harvested your address. And what can you do about this? You need to provide a way for your customers to reach you by email, or you'll lose business. There are steps you can take to prevent your email address from being harvested and used by spammers though, while still providing legitimate visitors to your site with a way to email you.
One solution is to make all the mailto links on your site point to a form instead, which will still provide a means for people to send you email. Provided you use a CGI script that doesn't require the address to be embedded within the form itself, you can shield your address from email address extractors.
What About Spammers Who Already Have My Address?
So far we've discussed a few fairly simple techniques designed to prevent spammers from obtaining your email address in the first place. But, how do you deal with the spam you're already getting? Your address is already out there. The solution is to either block or filter.
For either, you'll need software. For blocking, I recommend Postmaster Pro. If you prefer to filter then Spam Assassin is highly recommended. Both run on the server, so there is no need to download spam before filtering it out. That's a huge time saver if you're not yet on a high-speed connection. It also makes it a bit less likely you'll end up downloading a virus since email from untrusted senders, i.e. spammers will be significantly reduced.
Spam Blocking Software
Postmaster Pro which is available at http://www.postmasterpro.com takes a novel approach to blocking spam. It only allows email to be delivered after people who've sent you email have been placed on an approved sender list. But the interesting thing is that people who send you email can put themselves on your approved list. This is done simply by clicking a link in an email that automatically gets sent to them the first time they send email to you, which is perfect for those of us who don't know in advance whom we should put on the approved list, i.e. if you're running a business online. It also makes building and maintaining such a list very simple.
Given the fact that spammers normally use invalid return addresses, and those who do use valid return addresses seldom read email that's sent there, let alone respond to it (they receive thousands of failed delivery notifications, complaints, remove requests, and autoresponder messages every time they do a mailing) . it's a very effective technique with no chance of blocking legitimate email, as is the case with filtering.
Spam Filtering Software
For those who would prefer to filter ... Spam Assassin is perhaps the best option. It is available at http://www.spamassassin.org. Once you have Spam Assassin installed, it will provide you with very powerful and flexible filtering tools. Spam Assassin is a mature product, having been around for quite some time. If you're going to filter, Spam Assassin is about as good as it gets.
As with any filter though, you do run the risk of missing legitimate email from time to time. There really isn't a good way to tell how often this is happening unless you want to read all the email that gets filtered out, which negates the whole point of filtering. If you set your filters permissively enough though, you should be reasonably safe. For the first month or so after installing any filter, you should continue to read every single email in order to make sure it isn't set too restrictively to allow legitimate email through.
By using the techniques mentioned in this article, you can take back your mailbox, and dramatically reduce, if not eliminate spam.
Complete Virus Removal
Relates to Norton AntiVirus
The following procedure will ensure you remove all virus threats.
After scanning for viruses and you feel that you still may have a virus on your computer,carry out the following.
Step One
Step 2
Removal of Threats
- At the end of a scan Norton's will report that there are still some Threats to be removed these need to be removed manually
- While connected to the internet click on the threat name and follow the instructions for each threat.
More details can be found at symantecs web site
Email download Problems
Norton Scanning Incoming Emails (also effects Vet, and some other software)
Getting this Error ?
Task 'your email name - Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC0F) : 'The connection to the server was interrupted. If this problem continues, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).' |
If you use Outlook and have been experiencing errors when downloading here is a temporary fix.
- Open Norton Antivirus
- Options
- Mail
- de select"Scan Incoming Emails"
- Finish
Providing you do not turn off Auto protect and keep your virus updates current you are still reasonably protected.
This is a issue that is caused by many factors and hopefully will be addressed by antivirus Software companies soon.
How to keep your computers free from popup's, spam and Viruses
The following is the what i have found the best way to eliminate alot of those annoying popup's and problems associated with using the internet
Four Major applications you should have and be using....
- A Good Anti Virus Software (Norton's Anti virus 2006)
- Google Tool Bar get here
- Spybot get here
- Windows Updates go here
With all any program they must be updated regularly, in some cases Virus protection weekly if not daily.
Load and use these and you will be reasonably protected.
There are other measures such as firewall protection and spam elimination programs which also help but these four items should be the minimum if you access the internet.
Eliminating Spam and Viruses
- Never use your normal email address on the internet for unknown web sites.
- Remove all email address links on your web pages to stop email miners collecting your email addresses
- If you use Microsoft Outlook use the Add sender to Blocked senders list to stop repeated email from spammers
- Never open anything from some one you do not know
Hope this is of use and happy surfing |
