spam filters, firewalls, spyware etc.

[gardenmad]

Every day I get about 25 emails from all over the place offering me loans, confirming that the money I ask for (I didn't) was available, offering holidays, dining out, sex aids, etc etc etc and I am sick of it. I thought I had a spam filter - I see I have Spyware doctor, Picasa2, Norton security scan, mozilla firefox and Norton 360 - shouldn't that be enough? - although to my shame I don't know what any of them do. They must be free, I pay nothing. Can someone guide me please? Would changing my email address help?

[Ethel]

Picasa2 is photo editing software and nothing to do with spam.

Firefox is your browser.

You need to set up your email filters to try and stop spam getting through.

If you are prepared to change your email address, don't choose a word or name as your new address. It is too easy for the spam bots to find you. My main email address is a series of letters and numbers - my first motorbike registration number, in fact.

You could try using this free program:
http://www.mailwasher.net/

[vehelpfulguy]

FYI: Picasa2 is a photo editing program and will do nothing for the security of your PC. Firefox is a browser.

We all get spam, it is just a factor of modern technology, but you can do things to reduce it. Search in Google for "reduce spam" and see if any sites help.

Here is one I found:

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-007.html

You ask about changing your email address, but it sometimes help to have TWO email addresses.

Have one for just your family and friends. NEVER give it to anyone else, NEVER use it on the feeback forms, NEVER use it to register for web sites.

That email should stay fairly safe from spam.

Use the other email for everything else and just accept you are going to get spam.

Some email programs do have a junk mail filter that can filter out spam and junk mail, but none of them are 100% accurate because the spammers use different technology to get round the junk mail filters.

They rarely use the same email address to send out mail, and often misspell words like viagra to get round the filters.

[vehelpfulguy]

One other thing.

If you ever get spam or junk mail (or mail from a site or person you dont know)....

NEVER click on the link which says "click here to unsubscribe"

This just confirms your email address is "live" and makes it much more valuable and MORE likely to get spam.

[gardenmad]

Thank you both very much - this was my son's computer and he must have used those programmes. My old one was so slow! I am going to do all you advise, why I didn't ask before I can't think. Thank you both very much again.

[vehelpfulguy]

While no expert on spam I believe there are two main ways these ba5stards find email addresses.

The first is to use computer programs to scan the web and websites looking for email addreses. One they find one they add it to their database.

So if you write your email address down on a web site dont write it as: myname@myaddress

You should write it as: myname AT myaddress

Secondly they "guess" at an email address.

So they know hotmail is used by many people, so they just send out email randomly to computer generated email address such as [email protected], aa@hotmail com, down to zzzzzzz@hotmail com and everything in between.

Many of these of course a "lost" in the system but as long as they find enough genuine ones they dont care.

As Ethel says, the more "random" your email address is the less likely they are to use it, so this address below is not likely to be guessed at:

[email protected]

(I believe there is no problem in using a full stop and an underscore in an email address)

[gardenmad]

Well you certainly bear out your name, vehelpfulguy, I had not read your second email when I thanked you both - I don't unsubscribe these emails I just delete the lot and block sender, but they come from other addresses then, but anyway I am already getting on it - the only thing is (shame, shame) Ethel said to set up my email filters to block the spam getting through - another friend said switch your spam filter on - but I don't know what this is! I know I'm completely ignorant!! Thank God for my garden!

[Ethel]

Who is your email provider? eg - what comes after the @?

Do you use outlook or anything like that?

[gardenmad]

Thanks for your answer, I thought you'd given up in disgust! I have been on OE and clicked tools, options and security - I do all the things it says to do but I can find no spam filters, nor any in the help section of this, either. To answer your question, it's Waitrose.com, which is why I think I get so much - like vhg said, they trawl through with say, [email protected]., JackSmith@ etc etc etc and they get some people's addresses. I do use Outlook Express. I have also clicked on mailwasher as you recommended, and started to read through vhg's recommendation, then I got your reply, but I shall go back to it, and when I've figured out how to get another email address (shame again! - I shall click on google, it never lets me down) I will tell all my selected friends and family it.

[Ethel]

Gmail has one of the best email filters, and it is a free, web based email address.

Of course, filters have to be trained. As well as blocking individual address - [email protected], for example, you can block from the @ IF and only if the following is an obscure address, and not one your friends and contacts use.

If you get an email from [email protected], you could put @madviagraseller.com in the filter and it would stop all mail from there getting to you.

[jno]

I don't find gmail particularly good - lots of spam gets through, although the system puts it all in the spam folder and I can delete it with one click, so it recognises it but leaves it to me to delete. I get a dozen a day. On hotmail these days I get none at all, even though I have a jobloggs@hotmail type address. On the other hand somebody (or robot) got into it and send spam to everyone I was keeping an email from (I don't even have a contacts list), so it's not perfect. Nothing is, really.