By Maurice Clarke
Do you maintain a list of blocked email addresses in your email system?
This is one of the biggest waste of your time, effort and money in the fight against spam. Why? well look at the facts;
Most spam email comes FROM email addresses that do not exist, try and email them and they bounce back because either;
# the email does not exist
# the email account has been closed by the ISP for spamming
# the email account is offline due to being over quota and cannot accept any more incoming mail. Many mailings are UNIQUE in that the email used to send is NEVER repeated and applies to this one bulk mailing only.
# The senders email is real enough but stolen from other users, or your address book and only appears to come from that sender, you may block mail from a real user who wants to send you authentic, none spam email.
# Blocked lists are created by users based on emails received and you want to stop future emails from that sender, you can easily see that by and large this is a fruitless, pointless exercise yet software and users continue to create and grow banned lists.
After a while you may have hundreds, even thousands of blocked emails all of which have to be referenced again EACH item of mail you receive.
For a user with say 200 items of incoming email a day with 300 blocked emails addresses that's 60,000 checks which may stop just one or two spam mails - if you have a BIGGER blocked list and/or receive MORE EMAIL each day you can see how much resources you are taking up each time new email arrives
See the pointlessness of the action? and why Spam Solutions approach of getting at spam BEFORE it reaches you works.
So what alternatives are there?
# If you set spam-forwarding on we will forward spam mail to you, set up a RULE to MOVE email to a special folder immediately on arrival (Spam forwarding turns off after 30 days)
# Set up a safe senders list for known authentic senders to send you mail reliably
# Release your own real email address only to close friends, relatives and business contacts whom you trust 100%
# Check your Inbox for any spam that slips through our control systems and send them onto us for study.
Maurice Clarke is founding owner of Spam Solution http://www.spam-solution.net dedicated to expand its fight against spammers. Offering a wide range of guides on email control and spam issues have led us to become a major force in the fight against spam. If you found this article useful please tell a friend about it and us.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
How Web Sites Can Generate Spam Email
By Maurice Clarke
Every day tens of thousands of new web sites come online, many attracting big audiences, often due to free offers of advertising or special deals on products for sale.
Web sites can take several forms from selling products and services to discussion groups, blogs, newsletters - the list is endless.
If you own and operate a web site you are prey to a method called "email harvesting" where automated software reads your web site and collects email addresses. This email is then used for spam purposes either directly by the collector, or sold on by them to several spam firms. Harvested email is usually good business for spammers as emails are usually current and active.
If you own, operate or manage several web sites the problem can be compounded. Be aware of what is going on with spammers to use web sites to their advantage. Be aware of what you should and should NOT do to avoid increasing spam email for yourself and indeed your business customers, members, users, subscribers or clients.
Popular harvesting and spamming programs
# Atomic Harvester: works by the user typing in a search term and then letting the spider loose , it is claimed that this software will "vacuum'' thousands of email addresses from News groups, Web pages etc.
# On line providers and phone books. The idea being to harvest targeted emails by searching for the most useful web pages on news groups etc.
# Desktop 2000 :Very popular bulk email server can be run from any home (or business computer ) works with Atomic Harvester once emails are collected spams them out by the thousand , main claim to fame is cloaking of senders address.
# Text bomber : Strips and mines downloaded web sites of any email addresses - designed for chat logs and guest books
# Email_id (several versions of this): Perhaps the most sneaky software , will capture your email address (and name) by you merely visiting a site, attempts to trick the browser into revealing name and email address by asking it to submit a form relies on the site visitor not running browser in at least default security mode (internet explorer) , if you are running in secure mode, a pop-up will warn you and you can cancel the action.
Spamming sites reveal the creators to be novice small business operators , people with a lot of time on their hands and unscrupulous marketers who think spam gets results.
Most spammers don't want to be traced and do take note of "complainers". Some of the software will remove "complainers" and opt-outs from lists.
Check your log records you may find odd spider visits (not search engines ) these may be harvesters sweeping your pages and any linked pages. Spam hating web masters may do several things to deter spam position: robot warning text, poisoned scripts which lead to endless looping fake email addresses and one cookie we found was from http://www.snark.com (an anti-spam activist) which will send any spammer an account for $500 and a load of hilarious insulting text if a robot picks up the bait, any web master can put this script on their site.
(There are other forms of collecting email for spam but this article only covers software harvesting) How can you avoid harvesting of your web site emails?
Never show a valid email address in the text of any web page - hide the real email in the HTML code - sales@spam solution.net is NOT a valid email address no matter how it looks
Use databases to serve advertisements dynamically so email addresses do not show on the site until an active site visitor calls advertisements via links
Use enquiry forms rather than direct emails to avoid displaying any real email at all.
Set up SEPARATE email accounts for EACH web site especially those with high traffic flow. This way you monitor spam specific to each web site or department. Note: Each Spam Solution account can relate to a single "real email" address you own but you can forward BOTH clean and spam mail to separate email addresses for ease of identification.
Consider advising link partners and advertisers about the way they get enquires or order and the need to hide email addresses.
Every day tens of thousands of new web sites come online, many attracting big audiences, often due to free offers of advertising or special deals on products for sale.
Web sites can take several forms from selling products and services to discussion groups, blogs, newsletters - the list is endless.
If you own and operate a web site you are prey to a method called "email harvesting" where automated software reads your web site and collects email addresses. This email is then used for spam purposes either directly by the collector, or sold on by them to several spam firms. Harvested email is usually good business for spammers as emails are usually current and active.
If you own, operate or manage several web sites the problem can be compounded. Be aware of what is going on with spammers to use web sites to their advantage. Be aware of what you should and should NOT do to avoid increasing spam email for yourself and indeed your business customers, members, users, subscribers or clients.
Popular harvesting and spamming programs
# Atomic Harvester: works by the user typing in a search term and then letting the spider loose , it is claimed that this software will "vacuum'' thousands of email addresses from News groups, Web pages etc.
# On line providers and phone books. The idea being to harvest targeted emails by searching for the most useful web pages on news groups etc.
# Desktop 2000 :Very popular bulk email server can be run from any home (or business computer ) works with Atomic Harvester once emails are collected spams them out by the thousand , main claim to fame is cloaking of senders address.
# Text bomber : Strips and mines downloaded web sites of any email addresses - designed for chat logs and guest books
# Email_id (several versions of this): Perhaps the most sneaky software , will capture your email address (and name) by you merely visiting a site, attempts to trick the browser into revealing name and email address by asking it to submit a form relies on the site visitor not running browser in at least default security mode (internet explorer) , if you are running in secure mode, a pop-up will warn you and you can cancel the action.
Spamming sites reveal the creators to be novice small business operators , people with a lot of time on their hands and unscrupulous marketers who think spam gets results.
Most spammers don't want to be traced and do take note of "complainers". Some of the software will remove "complainers" and opt-outs from lists.
Check your log records you may find odd spider visits (not search engines ) these may be harvesters sweeping your pages and any linked pages. Spam hating web masters may do several things to deter spam position: robot warning text, poisoned scripts which lead to endless looping fake email addresses and one cookie we found was from http://www.snark.com (an anti-spam activist) which will send any spammer an account for $500 and a load of hilarious insulting text if a robot picks up the bait, any web master can put this script on their site.
(There are other forms of collecting email for spam but this article only covers software harvesting) How can you avoid harvesting of your web site emails?
Never show a valid email address in the text of any web page - hide the real email in the HTML code - sales@spam solution.net is NOT a valid email address no matter how it looks
Use databases to serve advertisements dynamically so email addresses do not show on the site until an active site visitor calls advertisements via links
Use enquiry forms rather than direct emails to avoid displaying any real email at all.
Set up SEPARATE email accounts for EACH web site especially those with high traffic flow. This way you monitor spam specific to each web site or department. Note: Each Spam Solution account can relate to a single "real email" address you own but you can forward BOTH clean and spam mail to separate email addresses for ease of identification.
Consider advising link partners and advertisers about the way they get enquires or order and the need to hide email addresses.
Monday, December 25, 2006
How To Be More Specific In Blocking Spam
By Low Jeremy
Spam is often thought to be such a difficult subject. But actually, it is not as difficult to comprehend as much as you think it is. But to correct any wrong perceptions regarding spam, spam is any form of junk mail that contains nothing else but advertisements. These advertisements are not ones that you asked for. They are ones that advertise products that you do not even know were invented. See just how bad and evil spam is?
Spam fills your inbox even when it is so not supposed to. Your inbox space is reserved for those messages that you want to receive, or electronic mails that you have long been waiting for. Or at least so you thought. If you do not protect your email address from the evilness of spam, then you must prepare yourself for the worst cyber scenarios.
Spam Assassin is a product of TCH. It is such an effective tool when it comes to blocking spam mail, especially if it is a product of a particular domain. Putting it in its default mode is the same as disabling it when a certain site is setup by TCH. If you are going to install this spam blocking gift, there is going to be absolutely no need for you to worry about receiving the mail you hate then.
If you want to be more specific in blocking spam, do not fret for that is not so hard to do. You can specify which spam mail you want to be blocked by being more particular on the subject line.
To do that, just click on Filtering. Once you have done that, click Add Filter. A drop down box will, of course, drop down, and then you will have to click Subject. After clicking Subject, a second drop down box will show and there, you are supposed to click Contains. And as you have probably predicted, there is still a third drop down box. In the third one, you are supposed to type whatever word or words it is or are that you want to be filtered.
Once the words have been entered, the software will be blocking any sort of mail that is related to what you have typed. For instance, you typed sex. Spam Assassin will block electronic mail that is related, in any way, to sex in its subject line. However, this field is case sensitive. Typing sex will not filter or block sEx. Therefore, you have to be quite careful in this field.
Spam is often thought to be such a difficult subject. But actually, it is not as difficult to comprehend as much as you think it is. But to correct any wrong perceptions regarding spam, spam is any form of junk mail that contains nothing else but advertisements. These advertisements are not ones that you asked for. They are ones that advertise products that you do not even know were invented. See just how bad and evil spam is?
Spam fills your inbox even when it is so not supposed to. Your inbox space is reserved for those messages that you want to receive, or electronic mails that you have long been waiting for. Or at least so you thought. If you do not protect your email address from the evilness of spam, then you must prepare yourself for the worst cyber scenarios.
Spam Assassin is a product of TCH. It is such an effective tool when it comes to blocking spam mail, especially if it is a product of a particular domain. Putting it in its default mode is the same as disabling it when a certain site is setup by TCH. If you are going to install this spam blocking gift, there is going to be absolutely no need for you to worry about receiving the mail you hate then.
If you want to be more specific in blocking spam, do not fret for that is not so hard to do. You can specify which spam mail you want to be blocked by being more particular on the subject line.
To do that, just click on Filtering. Once you have done that, click Add Filter. A drop down box will, of course, drop down, and then you will have to click Subject. After clicking Subject, a second drop down box will show and there, you are supposed to click Contains. And as you have probably predicted, there is still a third drop down box. In the third one, you are supposed to type whatever word or words it is or are that you want to be filtered.
Once the words have been entered, the software will be blocking any sort of mail that is related to what you have typed. For instance, you typed sex. Spam Assassin will block electronic mail that is related, in any way, to sex in its subject line. However, this field is case sensitive. Typing sex will not filter or block sEx. Therefore, you have to be quite careful in this field.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Helpful Software To Combat Spam
By Low Jeremy
You would think that it is very easy to discuss blocking spam. But still, you find yourself scratching your head and staring at the ceiling everytime you give it a try. Why not make use of tools and certain utilities, which are very easy to use, that can do so well in eliminating unsolicited junk mail from your inbox?
You can try using SpamBayes. SpamBayes is a project that is concentrated on working on the development of a Bayesian anti-spam filter. Do not mistake this filter for another copy of other similar projects for this filter is different. The main difference between SpamBayes and other filtering projects is the emphasis on testing newer and more recently released approaches to scoring messages.
K9 is an application, which also filters electronic mail, which works in conjunction with your regular everyday POP3 emial program. It automatically puts into classification certain incoming mails into spam, or junk mail, and mail that are not junk mail into non-spam, without any requirement of maintaining lots and lots of rules or constant updates to be downloaded.
The MailWasher is an extremely powerful email checker that has effective spam elimination. This is believed to be a "safe" method, or tool, in stopping unwanted emails and viruses before they get inside your hard drive.
Another spam blocking software is the Spamihilator. In case you had not noticed, the Spamihilator is derived from the combination of spam and the word annihilator. With this said, it just has to be very effective, given its name. Indeed it is effective, for it is a program that examines and observes your electronic mails while downloading from a certain server and also deletes unwanted messages that advertise almost everything on the planet.
Spam-Aid, on the other hand, takes a more secure and opposite approach, compared to other spam blocking software. Instead of checking a certain email for spam characteristics, which is the method done by other tools, it just checks a specific mail for non-spam characteristics. Most email users want to get mail only from the people that they are acquainted with, to avoid any psychotic motives. Spam-Aid lets you determine whose messages can be received, either from people who are already in your address book or your old buddies.
EmC is very skilled in combining blocking with comprehensive spam mail detection, and is also inclusive of a basic antivirus scan engine that protects you from those malicious file attachments as well.
Instead of racking your head trying to figure things out on your own, it is a lot better to just download or install these said spam blocking tools and you will find it very easy to say goodbye to those junk mail that you have hated ever since.
You would think that it is very easy to discuss blocking spam. But still, you find yourself scratching your head and staring at the ceiling everytime you give it a try. Why not make use of tools and certain utilities, which are very easy to use, that can do so well in eliminating unsolicited junk mail from your inbox?
You can try using SpamBayes. SpamBayes is a project that is concentrated on working on the development of a Bayesian anti-spam filter. Do not mistake this filter for another copy of other similar projects for this filter is different. The main difference between SpamBayes and other filtering projects is the emphasis on testing newer and more recently released approaches to scoring messages.
K9 is an application, which also filters electronic mail, which works in conjunction with your regular everyday POP3 emial program. It automatically puts into classification certain incoming mails into spam, or junk mail, and mail that are not junk mail into non-spam, without any requirement of maintaining lots and lots of rules or constant updates to be downloaded.
The MailWasher is an extremely powerful email checker that has effective spam elimination. This is believed to be a "safe" method, or tool, in stopping unwanted emails and viruses before they get inside your hard drive.
Another spam blocking software is the Spamihilator. In case you had not noticed, the Spamihilator is derived from the combination of spam and the word annihilator. With this said, it just has to be very effective, given its name. Indeed it is effective, for it is a program that examines and observes your electronic mails while downloading from a certain server and also deletes unwanted messages that advertise almost everything on the planet.
Spam-Aid, on the other hand, takes a more secure and opposite approach, compared to other spam blocking software. Instead of checking a certain email for spam characteristics, which is the method done by other tools, it just checks a specific mail for non-spam characteristics. Most email users want to get mail only from the people that they are acquainted with, to avoid any psychotic motives. Spam-Aid lets you determine whose messages can be received, either from people who are already in your address book or your old buddies.
EmC is very skilled in combining blocking with comprehensive spam mail detection, and is also inclusive of a basic antivirus scan engine that protects you from those malicious file attachments as well.
Instead of racking your head trying to figure things out on your own, it is a lot better to just download or install these said spam blocking tools and you will find it very easy to say goodbye to those junk mail that you have hated ever since.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
How Spammers Try And Trick You
By Maurice Clarke
These are some tricks spammers use to try and convince you they are legal. Examples are taken from genuine emails we have received, this does not imply that any or all the senders are spammers, just that their emails maybe seen as such, or improved on.
We also include some legitimate mailers to whom you have (at some time) requested to be added to a mailing list such as an ezine or newsletter, where the sign off process is less than ideal, but designed to keep you subscribed.
Examples suggest the sender has some LEGAL RIGHT to spam you!!!!!
Example 1
Anti-SPAM Policy Disclaimer: Under Bill s.1618 Title III passed by the 105th U. S. Congress, mail cannot be considered Spam as long as we include contact information and a remove link for removal from our mailing list. If this e-mail is unsolicited, please accept our apologies and click on the following removal link: mailto:pete@000link.com?subject=Remove-Exchange or reply back with REMOVE in the SUBJECT with this email address.
If this email came unrequested it is SPAM no matter how the spammer may try and justify it. Whilst the link is to a valid domain such a request may well just confirm your email as valid, which the firm can then use to send more spam. If the removal system is valid then it only works if the reply comes from the same email as used to send to.
To be legal the remove instruction should specifically include the email which the email was sent TO or a link to some file reference or other form of entry.
In all cases a confirmation of removal should be made if indeed a clear sign of or opt-out feature exists. Some such removal emails are invalid and just bounce, others do not generate any form of reply.
? why should you take the time to ask to be removed, chances are this is a one-off email anyhow.
Example 2
If you no longer wish to receive our regular updates then please CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO REMOVE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION:
http://www.anydomain.com/unsubscribe.html?email=jonny.pickard@anydomain.com
In the above spam emails are clearly sent BY the same company as suggested by the email recipient. Clearly people who receive this email cannot unsubscribe as ALL EMAILS in the sign off link are the same.
The suggestion is the recipient subscribed to this spam newsletter (selling car leasing) which they did NOT
Clicking the above link takes you to an unsubscribe box where you could replace your email with the one shown, but since all emails were sent TO "undisclosed recipients" we assume this is a way of collecting NEW emails for future spamming.
If this example was an ethical company it would have a VALID email clearly shown as BOTH the recipient and sign off link, clicking the link would sign off the subscriber and email a confirmation as well as onscreen.
Example 3
Welcome to Inside Fine Living, which you asked to receive while visiting FineLiving.com, one of our sister sites or the HGTV Dream Home Giveaway. We protect your privacy. If you wish to unsubscribe, click here to remove your name. Enjoy and we hope to see you again!
The problem we have this one one is the email is sent to a NAME so we cannot be sure as to what email address is used on the list
Trying to unsubscribe requires the user to enter a valid email address for that newsletter which they may not always be able to do
The ideal is for either
a) the recipients email to be shown in the "to" element of the email
b) the sign off link is personalised specific to the recipients email
"one of our sister sites" is somewhat vague - chances are you may not recall subscribing to this newsletter at all, although the statement implies you did.
Can anyone send you unsolicited email which is NOT SPAM?
Unsolicited means that you did NOT ask for it, so as such there is nothing to stop people asking you if you are interested in their product or service BUT the fact you did NOT ask them first makes their approach SPAM.
They may well approach you in the guise of respectability, saying as such " here, I know you did not ask me, but I think it is something you would be interested in" is an insult to you and a clear intrusion of your privacy.
In practice some Spam does succeed and people DO BUY from Spammers, thus making their efforts profitable and worthwhile. whilst spammers can make money they will continue and numbers grow. Some experts suggest it is more profitable to be a spammer than try and run a legitimate business!
These are some tricks spammers use to try and convince you they are legal. Examples are taken from genuine emails we have received, this does not imply that any or all the senders are spammers, just that their emails maybe seen as such, or improved on.
We also include some legitimate mailers to whom you have (at some time) requested to be added to a mailing list such as an ezine or newsletter, where the sign off process is less than ideal, but designed to keep you subscribed.
Examples suggest the sender has some LEGAL RIGHT to spam you!!!!!
Example 1
Anti-SPAM Policy Disclaimer: Under Bill s.1618 Title III passed by the 105th U. S. Congress, mail cannot be considered Spam as long as we include contact information and a remove link for removal from our mailing list. If this e-mail is unsolicited, please accept our apologies and click on the following removal link: mailto:pete@000link.com?subject=Remove-Exchange or reply back with REMOVE in the SUBJECT with this email address.
If this email came unrequested it is SPAM no matter how the spammer may try and justify it. Whilst the link is to a valid domain such a request may well just confirm your email as valid, which the firm can then use to send more spam. If the removal system is valid then it only works if the reply comes from the same email as used to send to.
To be legal the remove instruction should specifically include the email which the email was sent TO or a link to some file reference or other form of entry.
In all cases a confirmation of removal should be made if indeed a clear sign of or opt-out feature exists. Some such removal emails are invalid and just bounce, others do not generate any form of reply.
? why should you take the time to ask to be removed, chances are this is a one-off email anyhow.
Example 2
If you no longer wish to receive our regular updates then please CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO REMOVE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION:
http://www.anydomain.com/unsubscribe.html?email=jonny.pickard@anydomain.com
In the above spam emails are clearly sent BY the same company as suggested by the email recipient. Clearly people who receive this email cannot unsubscribe as ALL EMAILS in the sign off link are the same.
The suggestion is the recipient subscribed to this spam newsletter (selling car leasing) which they did NOT
Clicking the above link takes you to an unsubscribe box where you could replace your email with the one shown, but since all emails were sent TO "undisclosed recipients" we assume this is a way of collecting NEW emails for future spamming.
If this example was an ethical company it would have a VALID email clearly shown as BOTH the recipient and sign off link, clicking the link would sign off the subscriber and email a confirmation as well as onscreen.
Example 3
Welcome to Inside Fine Living, which you asked to receive while visiting FineLiving.com, one of our sister sites or the HGTV Dream Home Giveaway. We protect your privacy. If you wish to unsubscribe, click here to remove your name. Enjoy and we hope to see you again!
The problem we have this one one is the email is sent to a NAME so we cannot be sure as to what email address is used on the list
Trying to unsubscribe requires the user to enter a valid email address for that newsletter which they may not always be able to do
The ideal is for either
a) the recipients email to be shown in the "to" element of the email
b) the sign off link is personalised specific to the recipients email
"one of our sister sites" is somewhat vague - chances are you may not recall subscribing to this newsletter at all, although the statement implies you did.
Can anyone send you unsolicited email which is NOT SPAM?
Unsolicited means that you did NOT ask for it, so as such there is nothing to stop people asking you if you are interested in their product or service BUT the fact you did NOT ask them first makes their approach SPAM.
They may well approach you in the guise of respectability, saying as such " here, I know you did not ask me, but I think it is something you would be interested in" is an insult to you and a clear intrusion of your privacy.
In practice some Spam does succeed and people DO BUY from Spammers, thus making their efforts profitable and worthwhile. whilst spammers can make money they will continue and numbers grow. Some experts suggest it is more profitable to be a spammer than try and run a legitimate business!
Thursday, December 14, 2006
How Your eMail Address Book Can Get You on Spammers' Lists
By Maurice Clarke
How can your email address book can get you on spammers lists?
In your email client you will have an address book for regular or favourite contacts.
Although you can opt to ADD people you REPLY TO automatically it is wise to set this feature OFF and either
Be prompted to add new contacts you reply to into your address book OR Turn the feature OFF and add only when you decide to without any prompting Lurking dangers
Suppose you email a large number of contacts from your address book using the TO or CC (carbon copy) feature so that ALL recipients can see the emails of those you email. You may be forwarding a message you received which you feel could interest others.
Your contacts when the receive such an email from you can, by clicking REPLY ALL email all these contacts, or their emails captured for later use.
When emailing several contacts from your address book ALWAYS use BCC (blind carbon copy) this was each recipient does not know who or how many others were mailed with the same message.
Some devious virus software can be dropped onto your PC (without your knowledge or consent) which results in your address book emails are either emailed with spam messages or the emails off loaded and added to spammers lists. Anti-Virus software which is UP-TO-DATE should capture such attempts to steal your address book, but many users still have no or too little protection, or failed to keep virus definitions up-to-date.
Recommended Anti-Virus software includes
http://www.symantec.com Norton Anti-Virus
http://www.mcafee.com Mcafee Anti-Virus
http://www.grisoft.com AVG Anti-Virus
Typically anti-virus will automatically scan email both RECEIVED and SENT by you.
It is also recommended you run a WEEKLY full system scan to check for any viruses which have evaded the scanning system.
Most products also include or offer as as extra ADWARE scanning which stops emails and web sites feeding you ads or web site links.
Whilst you may adopt good practices one or more of your address book contacts may be lax in their email security management. It would be useful to email this page to them, which you can BCC to your address book contacts.
How can your email address book can get you on spammers lists?
In your email client you will have an address book for regular or favourite contacts.
Although you can opt to ADD people you REPLY TO automatically it is wise to set this feature OFF and either
Be prompted to add new contacts you reply to into your address book OR Turn the feature OFF and add only when you decide to without any prompting Lurking dangers
Suppose you email a large number of contacts from your address book using the TO or CC (carbon copy) feature so that ALL recipients can see the emails of those you email. You may be forwarding a message you received which you feel could interest others.
Your contacts when the receive such an email from you can, by clicking REPLY ALL email all these contacts, or their emails captured for later use.
When emailing several contacts from your address book ALWAYS use BCC (blind carbon copy) this was each recipient does not know who or how many others were mailed with the same message.
Some devious virus software can be dropped onto your PC (without your knowledge or consent) which results in your address book emails are either emailed with spam messages or the emails off loaded and added to spammers lists. Anti-Virus software which is UP-TO-DATE should capture such attempts to steal your address book, but many users still have no or too little protection, or failed to keep virus definitions up-to-date.
Recommended Anti-Virus software includes
http://www.symantec.com Norton Anti-Virus
http://www.mcafee.com Mcafee Anti-Virus
http://www.grisoft.com AVG Anti-Virus
Typically anti-virus will automatically scan email both RECEIVED and SENT by you.
It is also recommended you run a WEEKLY full system scan to check for any viruses which have evaded the scanning system.
Most products also include or offer as as extra ADWARE scanning which stops emails and web sites feeding you ads or web site links.
Whilst you may adopt good practices one or more of your address book contacts may be lax in their email security management. It would be useful to email this page to them, which you can BCC to your address book contacts.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Blocking Domain Spam Senders
By Low Jeremy
Spam blocking is not just for your wanting to empty your inbox of those cyber disruptions. It is also for the entirety of the Internet. Every step you make towards spam blocking is a step towards the development of the World Wide Web.
Blocking spam is impossible is you have absolutely no idea what spam is. Spam has various meanings. But to lessen, or to avoid any complications, spam is any type of junk mail or electronic mail that you most certainly never liked receiving. If you still do not understand what is being said here, spam mails are those messages that give you headaches every time you open or delete them.
These are the mails that are sent by those who have nothing better to do, more commonly called as spammers. They usually send you product commercials or advertisements from a particular domain. These domains should be marked and blocked, which is exactly what spam blockers do. Therefore, if you want to free yourself from those spam mail that you get from certain domains; a spam blocker is exactly what you need.
An effective tool for spam blocking is the Spam Assassin. It blocks spam mails that come from particular domains. If you will put this fine tool in its default arrangement, then that act will lead to its disablement. Rest assured, your email address will be free of spam from those annoying domain spam senders.
If you want to add specification when it comes to blocking domain spam senders, you can do so by being more specific in the subject line area. With this article is a process that will guide you by every step so that you can be able in performing this effective intervention against domain spam.
You will have to go to Email Filtering and click Add Filter. After that a drop down box will show. This is the first of its kind, and here, you must select Subject. In the second drop down box, click Contains. And in the third of its kind you are to type stop pornography, or whatever set of words or phrases it is or are that you want to block.
However, there is a slight disadvantage to this. Since this field is ultimately case sensitive, typing stop pornography in the desired typing space will not filter or block PorNogRAphY. But it is supposed that this disadvantage can be worked on and developed.
After that part of the process, click Discard, and then click Activate. After you have done everything that has been mentioned, you must click Go Back.
Blocking domain spam senders is not as difficult as you probably perceive it is. Actually, it is a lot easier. All you have to have is patience in being able to have the effective installation. Once you have been successful in blocking these disturbing domain spam senders, you will never have a problem with your email address again.
Spam blocking is not just for your wanting to empty your inbox of those cyber disruptions. It is also for the entirety of the Internet. Every step you make towards spam blocking is a step towards the development of the World Wide Web.
Blocking spam is impossible is you have absolutely no idea what spam is. Spam has various meanings. But to lessen, or to avoid any complications, spam is any type of junk mail or electronic mail that you most certainly never liked receiving. If you still do not understand what is being said here, spam mails are those messages that give you headaches every time you open or delete them.
These are the mails that are sent by those who have nothing better to do, more commonly called as spammers. They usually send you product commercials or advertisements from a particular domain. These domains should be marked and blocked, which is exactly what spam blockers do. Therefore, if you want to free yourself from those spam mail that you get from certain domains; a spam blocker is exactly what you need.
An effective tool for spam blocking is the Spam Assassin. It blocks spam mails that come from particular domains. If you will put this fine tool in its default arrangement, then that act will lead to its disablement. Rest assured, your email address will be free of spam from those annoying domain spam senders.
If you want to add specification when it comes to blocking domain spam senders, you can do so by being more specific in the subject line area. With this article is a process that will guide you by every step so that you can be able in performing this effective intervention against domain spam.
You will have to go to Email Filtering and click Add Filter. After that a drop down box will show. This is the first of its kind, and here, you must select Subject. In the second drop down box, click Contains. And in the third of its kind you are to type stop pornography, or whatever set of words or phrases it is or are that you want to block.
However, there is a slight disadvantage to this. Since this field is ultimately case sensitive, typing stop pornography in the desired typing space will not filter or block PorNogRAphY. But it is supposed that this disadvantage can be worked on and developed.
After that part of the process, click Discard, and then click Activate. After you have done everything that has been mentioned, you must click Go Back.
Blocking domain spam senders is not as difficult as you probably perceive it is. Actually, it is a lot easier. All you have to have is patience in being able to have the effective installation. Once you have been successful in blocking these disturbing domain spam senders, you will never have a problem with your email address again.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Spamdexing
By Andrew Symonds
Due to the widespread use of the Internet, business models have changed over the years. Instead of solely operating in a brick and mortar setting, businesses have extended their mode of operation to the electronic setting. As with the traditional means of doing business, competition is fierce in the electronic world. Website owners’ battle over page rankings in order to have more people know about their presence.
This has lead to various techniques and practices, which increase page rankings and promote websites. Though there are many techniques which are legitimate, there is what is known as spamdexing. Spamdexing is basically used to refer to the practice of creating web pages to increase page rankings without paying attention to the content or relevance of the site. Spamdexing, though known by all concerned as unethical and dishonest, is quite rampant today.
In order to spamdex a page, website creators have come up with a lot of techniques to increase their page ranking. One popular way to spamdex is to stuff pages with keywords. This in itself is not a bad thing. In fact, SEOs which are totally legitimate use this technique. However, in spamdexing, the pages themselves do not contain useful information. They are stuffed with so many keywords that oftentimes, the pages do not even make sense at all.
Another way to spamdex is to stuff metatags. This is similar to keyword stuffing except that the keywords are found in the metatags. In spamdexing, keywords need not be related to the site’s content.
Having mirror websites is another form of spamdexing. Different websites with different URLs but have the same content in them fall under this category. Spamdexing also covers URL redirections. These are instances wherein the user is taken to a different URL without him having to click on anything.
In order to combat spamdex, search engines have come up with complicated algorithms to determine a site’s page rank. Google is the forerunner in this respect. With their “intelligent” spiders, sites which make use of spamdexing cannot fool them by keyword stuffing and metadata stuffing. In order to circumvent spamdexing techniques, they have added extra stipulations such as the number of links (both incoming and outgoing). Search engines also assign weights to incoming links as a further measure in combating spamdexing.
Knowing the different practices and techniques employed in spamdexing will definitely help in avoiding such practices.
Due to the widespread use of the Internet, business models have changed over the years. Instead of solely operating in a brick and mortar setting, businesses have extended their mode of operation to the electronic setting. As with the traditional means of doing business, competition is fierce in the electronic world. Website owners’ battle over page rankings in order to have more people know about their presence.
This has lead to various techniques and practices, which increase page rankings and promote websites. Though there are many techniques which are legitimate, there is what is known as spamdexing. Spamdexing is basically used to refer to the practice of creating web pages to increase page rankings without paying attention to the content or relevance of the site. Spamdexing, though known by all concerned as unethical and dishonest, is quite rampant today.
In order to spamdex a page, website creators have come up with a lot of techniques to increase their page ranking. One popular way to spamdex is to stuff pages with keywords. This in itself is not a bad thing. In fact, SEOs which are totally legitimate use this technique. However, in spamdexing, the pages themselves do not contain useful information. They are stuffed with so many keywords that oftentimes, the pages do not even make sense at all.
Another way to spamdex is to stuff metatags. This is similar to keyword stuffing except that the keywords are found in the metatags. In spamdexing, keywords need not be related to the site’s content.
Having mirror websites is another form of spamdexing. Different websites with different URLs but have the same content in them fall under this category. Spamdexing also covers URL redirections. These are instances wherein the user is taken to a different URL without him having to click on anything.
In order to combat spamdex, search engines have come up with complicated algorithms to determine a site’s page rank. Google is the forerunner in this respect. With their “intelligent” spiders, sites which make use of spamdexing cannot fool them by keyword stuffing and metadata stuffing. In order to circumvent spamdexing techniques, they have added extra stipulations such as the number of links (both incoming and outgoing). Search engines also assign weights to incoming links as a further measure in combating spamdexing.
Knowing the different practices and techniques employed in spamdexing will definitely help in avoiding such practices.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Stop Spam
By Andrew Symonds
Over a decade ago, “spam” connoted a certain food product usually enjoyed for breakfast. Today, in the internet age, when people say “spam”, the first thing that comes to mind is junk mail, or those unwanted emails that come into your mailbox offering you all sorts of things from breast and penis enlargements to loans, to bogus offers. Spam tends to take up your mailbox space and eat up your bandwidth resources that it has become such a major problem and annoyance. Recent moves have been made by responsible individuals to push an anti-spamming law to punish those that commit it. And as spamming application grows sophisticated by the minute, the more effort anti-spamming advocates have to exert to thwart this perennial problem.
Individually though, how does one stop spam from coming through the emails? Read on below for some of our suggestions.
Normally, all email clients have built in spam filters and other similar programs to detect and stop spam. But often, these are not enough to protect emails from receiving those annoying emails because as mentioned earlier, spam has become more developed over the years. Fortunately, there are several other third party spam blockers and spam filters which you can download for free and then install on your computers. Some even have additional features that can easily flag phishing scams, or those emails that contain fraudulent messages supposedly coming from big banks and financial companies and are targeting your finances.
What is the difference between spam filters and spam blockers?
Spam filters – Identifies and stops spam which carry certain key words and spam texts before it even reaches the mailbox. The problem though, with many spam filter system is that it may potentially also block emails coming from legitimate accounts. So make sure that these spam filters are installed properly. Filtering emails does not guarantee a stop to spam, but it can make your Internet activity fairly easier.
Spam blockers – Identifies and stops spam based on assigned blacklist containing the spammers’ email addresses or ISP. The downside of this is some spammers often change their ISP’s and addresses and this may not be assigned in the blacklist. You have to make sure to update your blacklist often.
Whether it’s a spam filter or spam blocker, or both, it is best to monitor and identify what you need versus the features these applications offers before you install your choice into your computer.
The other thing you can do to stop spam is to keep your email addresses separate and private. As most people carry a work email and a string of personal emails, use it for specific purposes only (e.g. work email addresses must strictly be for work only). Then divulge your email address only to persons you would like to exchange emails with. This move should help you stop spam by half. Use a personal free mail service when signing up online forums, groups or filling out online subscriptions. An email address specifically for these can be regarded as a “throwaway” or a “dummy email” which could serve as a buffer between your other more important emails.
Stopping spam takes a conscious effort. Those email address have to be safeguarded by the user (you) to protect you from many of the harm that Internet use poses.
Over a decade ago, “spam” connoted a certain food product usually enjoyed for breakfast. Today, in the internet age, when people say “spam”, the first thing that comes to mind is junk mail, or those unwanted emails that come into your mailbox offering you all sorts of things from breast and penis enlargements to loans, to bogus offers. Spam tends to take up your mailbox space and eat up your bandwidth resources that it has become such a major problem and annoyance. Recent moves have been made by responsible individuals to push an anti-spamming law to punish those that commit it. And as spamming application grows sophisticated by the minute, the more effort anti-spamming advocates have to exert to thwart this perennial problem.
Individually though, how does one stop spam from coming through the emails? Read on below for some of our suggestions.
Normally, all email clients have built in spam filters and other similar programs to detect and stop spam. But often, these are not enough to protect emails from receiving those annoying emails because as mentioned earlier, spam has become more developed over the years. Fortunately, there are several other third party spam blockers and spam filters which you can download for free and then install on your computers. Some even have additional features that can easily flag phishing scams, or those emails that contain fraudulent messages supposedly coming from big banks and financial companies and are targeting your finances.
What is the difference between spam filters and spam blockers?
Spam filters – Identifies and stops spam which carry certain key words and spam texts before it even reaches the mailbox. The problem though, with many spam filter system is that it may potentially also block emails coming from legitimate accounts. So make sure that these spam filters are installed properly. Filtering emails does not guarantee a stop to spam, but it can make your Internet activity fairly easier.
Spam blockers – Identifies and stops spam based on assigned blacklist containing the spammers’ email addresses or ISP. The downside of this is some spammers often change their ISP’s and addresses and this may not be assigned in the blacklist. You have to make sure to update your blacklist often.
Whether it’s a spam filter or spam blocker, or both, it is best to monitor and identify what you need versus the features these applications offers before you install your choice into your computer.
The other thing you can do to stop spam is to keep your email addresses separate and private. As most people carry a work email and a string of personal emails, use it for specific purposes only (e.g. work email addresses must strictly be for work only). Then divulge your email address only to persons you would like to exchange emails with. This move should help you stop spam by half. Use a personal free mail service when signing up online forums, groups or filling out online subscriptions. An email address specifically for these can be regarded as a “throwaway” or a “dummy email” which could serve as a buffer between your other more important emails.
Stopping spam takes a conscious effort. Those email address have to be safeguarded by the user (you) to protect you from many of the harm that Internet use poses.
Friday, November 24, 2006
The Use Of Spam Blockers
by Andrew Symonds
Today, it is not only viruses that need to be looked out for when a person using his personal computer to surf the web. With the fast evolution of technology also comes newfound nemesis such as Spyware and e-mail spam that can make life miserable for any Internet enthusiast. Thus, the demand for spam blockers has become rampant to help aid people from getting mischievous problems from the web. Much of the spam blocker programs are available on the web. There are sites that offer these spam blockers as free and packaged, but the real quality spam blocker software are the ones that compile more than just basic security and safety from computer users. Free spam blockers are usually offered from the giant search engines and leading security software developers for people who are completely less educated on how spam blocking can be done and the threats that they are exposed to from such inconvenient spamming, that ordinarily can come in many forms such as unsolicited e-mails and messages.
Spam blockers are usually offered to aid in e-mail security and verification for incoming messages. Ideally, most people would receive unknown e-mails from people who use spamming as one measure of enhancing so-called Internet marketing measures. While spam blocking may have a lot of things to consider, most of which are screening such e-mails, spam blocking is slowly gathering headway in helping protect people from such risks. There are a number of anti-spam blocking aids and spam filters that can answer the cry of victimized e-mails of people on the web. The development of such spam blocking software has been a welcome sigh of relief to clueless web exposed users. Getting tons of unknown e-mails, largely coming from online signups from sites that really have something more than just a pure signup in mind, are only some of the many sources of spamming.
The level of education that most people need to be able to understand the importance of spam blocking software has to be defined. Spam blockers are developed for a reason. These said spam blockers do the necessary initial screening for incoming e-mails or messages before they are allowed to be placed in the main inbox of most e-mail clients. Some would use online free spamming blockers, creating a little discomfort, but safe from discomforts of unwanted spam messages.
E-mail authentication or security checks are a good way to control spammed messages. It is only normal to expect receiving unsolicited e-mail messages coming from unknown sources, thus called spam in most cases. The content of these e-mail messages are usually special offers or too good to be true messages. The purpose of these unknown spammed e-mails is to solicit and gain hits and sign-ups from various sites that are aching for the needed attention to boost up their rankings. There are cases wherein spammed messages can be mistaken for authentic and sincere offers made by groups. Leaning on free-mail spam blockers alone is not enough and as stated earlier, the proper classification of spammed messages apart from authentic messages cannot be easily segregated. Either way, the owner of the e-mail box needs to manually classify if such message are really solicited or not, and with the help of free spam blockers, this can be controlled and contained to avoid getting conned out of scrupulous e-mail messages that find their way into their e-mail accounts.
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