Let's face it, spam (unsolicited e-mail) is an enormous problem!
In the USA, the Federal Trade Commission has enacted a campaign to eliminate spam. The FTC is asking anyone who receives spam to send it to uce@ftc.gov. Put that address in your address book and just start sending them the spam, especially the spam you find most annoying. Some states in the USA have policies on spam, and you can learn more at www.spamlaws.com
You can get software that runs on your workstation that helps with spam. The software compares the addresses to "white lists" and "black lists" of people you "do" and "don't" want to hear from, as well as looking for keywords such as "inkjet" Some of the more popular tools include Norton Internet Security 2003 from www.norton.com and SpamKiller from www.spamkiller.com . The biggest problem of using tools like these is that they generate a lot of "false positives" which means they identify some of your good mail (typically 2 to 5%) as spam. This means you could easily miss 2 of every 100 "good e-mails" sent to you. Those 2 e-mails might be really important. Of course, the products allow you to see the e-mails that got blocked so you can search through them, but isn't that the point of using the software in the first place? You shouldn't have to "double check."
If you have a large network, you might be interested in IronMail 210 from www.ciphertrust.com and/or Postini Perimeter Manager from www.postini.com. While these products perform very well, they are only cost effective if you have a large network.
So, if the desktop tools catch too many "false positives," and the good tools are expensive, what should you do if you have a small office or just want to protect your one computer at your home?
Some people's ISP (Internet Service Provider) e-mail providers have even started filtering spam. Most have a way that you can view messages that have been filtered. It is a good idea for you to at least glance at those "filtered" messages now and then to be sure you aren't losing any legitimate e-mail.
Another useful tool is to set up your own filters in your e-mail package. For example, I have my Eudora software set up to eliminate any e-mail that includes the word "inkjet." Of course, then the companies start putting the letters, "I-n-k-j-e-t" in the e-mail to get around the filter. That's ok, I just make a new filter. It isn't foolproof, but is better than getting "real" e-mails deleted by being misidentified. Setting up filters in Eudora is very simple, as well as Outlook. My friend Kristie Tamsevicius of http://www.webmomz.com found a great source for learning how to set up filters (called "rules") in Outlook. Click here to see the information: http://www.sitedeveloper.ws/tutorials/spam.htm By the way, Kristie is joining me at the Miami, FL "World-Class Business Seminar" April 22-23 and I hope you can too.
There are also some simple things you can do to reduce the amount of spam you receive. For example, don't answer spam. That just verifies that yours is a good e-mail address.
Opt out if you opted in to e-mail, then it is OK to opt-out. For example, Foster Institute pays services such as www.worldwidelists.com and www.listopt.com to advertise our e-zine and gather names. People have to "double-opt-in" which means they ask to be signed up, then are sent a "we want to double-check that you really meant to sign up for this e-zine" e-mail that they must reply to in order to confirm they really meant to sign up. Requests to unsubscribe are taken seriously and the only people who received this letter are people who either signed up at www.fosterinstitute.com or www.mytechcoach.com or double-opted-in through one of the other services.
Spam is such a huge problem that there are bound to be better anti-spam tools for the desktop arriving soon. Keep your eyes out, and Foster Institute will keep you posted via this site on updates.
E-Savvy Newsletter