Anti-CIV

Internet marketing is a billion dollar industry. Rogue marketers on the Internet will do anything they can to get a fresh list of victims to send their spam email. The average computer user has had more than one instance where their inboxes are full of illicit advertisements. Black hat marketing campaigns will spend thousands of dollars to your favorite websites to find out your email and other contact information. They stick you onto their spam list and study your demographic, and then they can try and sell you their products, even if you have no interest in buying them.

Fortunately, there are many ways to stop this unwarranted and annoying advertisement with a few easy steps.

How to stop Spam:

1.) Look for websites with a comprehensive privacy policy and a spam-free approved logo. These websites will never sell your personal information to third-party sources.

2.) If a website in question does not have certification, use a secondary email account for your registration to prevent spam from getting to your main account.

3.) Stop spamming by using an email provider with a good spam filter. Examples include Yahoo.com, Gmail.com, Hotmail.com and other mainstream email programs.

4.) Install anti-spam software on your web server if you run a POP3 email program off of your own website.

5.) Do periodic scans for spyware and adware that sell your email and information to third-party companies.

These are just a few of the ways you can stop inexperienced spammers and marketers, however, most marketers are smart and will make alternate email accounts send you email even after you block their main accounts. Luckily, there is a way to stop them from e-mailing you on secondary email accounts.

Spam is annoying since you have no business with the sender. They can also be highly dangerous for your computer if you are careful. Emails must therefore be carefully checked before been opened so that you don’t get affected.

It is dangerous when there are links and other files attached to the email. You must absolutely know and trust the sender before clicking on these links or downloading the attached files as they can be malicious programs that will disrupt your machine.

Email protection software is developed by companies who try to aid the ill effects of spam. There are a couple of some free software around which still protects your computer.

These programs normally have a host of options that you can choose from in protecting your machine. However don’t go for any software as there are things that you must look for.

Checking reviews about the software is a great way to start. You can check comments left by previous users and see if it will meet your needs. Also make sure it will not conflict with your emails and that it will work smoothly with all your email clients.

Spam protection programs filter emails even before they get to your mail. They can however make some mistakes as well.

They can send email that is being expected to spam folders instead of the inbox. These make them hard to track. The contents of this folder are not readily deleted however as it is most times kept for a significant period.

If you are expecting a good email but can’t find it, you can search the spam for it. When found it can easily be transferred to the inbox.

Have you found that when you’re uptight about something, tired, hungry and stressed, that you tend, ever so slightly, to overreact sometimes? I received a nasty e mail the other day accusing me of spamming this person (who had subscribed / opted in to my ezine, by the way). Obviously, he was having a bad day and had lost perspective on spam. I sent him a note which I thought I’d share with you, just so we can maintain perspective in this busy day and age.

First of all, I receive over 360 spam e mails a day. That’s the price one pays for a strong Internet presence, I guess. I don’t use a spam filter as it has cost me money in the past by blocking important e mails. (Spam filters have no brains, you see; they’re simply robots.) Here’s the thing – it takes me a total of 12 minutes to delete the spam, but I save hours every day using the Internet and e mail. TWELVE MINUTES. Let’s see that in perspective. How long do you wait for your food in a restaurant? How much time do you spend commuting? I don’t spend hours attacking the spammers – I simply hit “Delete” and move on.

Also, there are different types of spam – helpful, uplifting information and valuable offers on the one hand, and sleazy porn and scammers on the other. Either way, it takes two seconds to delete. So, when one looks at the real time usage compared to the benefits, why do people react so violently to what they perceive as spam? Why the threats and why take so much MORE time to write to the “spammer”, instead of taking two seconds to delete the e mail? Is there perhaps something else going on here?