www.tanwater.com Keeping Spam to a Minimum
Spam is unwanted email. It is sent out by electronic mail to your inbox. There are several things you can do to keep
spam under control. The most important thing is to keep the spammers from getting your email address. Many of the web
sites you visit will want your email address. Some will not let you continue unless you give it to them. Never give
your primary email address to a web site. That is where the spammers get most of their addresses. Only give your primary
email address to trusted friends, family, and those you conduct business with. Never respond to a spam message. This only
lets the spammer know that yours is a viable email address. Some spam messages offer a link where you can click to
unsubscribe. Do not click it. This will let the spammers know that you at least looked at their spam. They will then
send you more. You can obtain secondary email addresses to
give to the web sites if you must visit them. Use one or two of the free web based email addresses for this purpose.
Most of the mail you get in these secondary email addresses will be spam and you can just block delete it. If there is
too much spam coming into a secondary email address, simply close it down and open another one. Some ISPs (Internet Service
Providers) offer email filtering. The filters will trap most of the spam and you can delete it before it jams up your
inbox. Some spam will get through, but very little. If you are already getting too much spam, about the only thing you can
do is close the email account and open a new one under a different user name.
Scanning Email Attachments
Here are a few suggestions to help prevent you from opening an infected email attachment. Don't open any attachments
from people you don't know and check attachments from people you do know. A virus could have gotten on your friend's
computer and sent itself to you.
Set up an attachment checking folder.
You should have an empty folder in My Documents where you can drop any email attachments you receive. Never
open the attachments in your email program (if you open them at all). Name the empty folder anything you want
(mine is named Dropzone) and keep it empty if possible. You don't want to go looking through 100 files for the last
attachment you dropped there. Delete the attachments when you finish with them or move them to another folder.
When you have made your new folder, go to it with your Windows Explorer and click on Tools / Folder Options. Click
the View tab and remove the check mark from the entry for Hide Extension for Known File Types. This will
allow you
to see the full file name, with extensions, for files in your new folder. Click the Apply Button. Now click on the
folder display options (VIEWS) icon of the toolbar and select DETAILS. This will make all files display
the full details
including full file name with extension.
Now you can start dropping attachments in your new folder.Don't move the entire email, just the attachment. Click the
paperclip, top right corner of the message, on the center bar. A drop down will open. Don't click the attachment numbers.
Click on Save Attachment, then Browse to find the folder you made and hit Save. The attachment will
be saved to your
attachment
folder. Unless you change it, your attachments will be saved to the same place each time. After the first time you save,
there should be no need to browse each time. You can go through all your emails and save the attachments as you go,
then check them all at one time, but use
caution. Some attachments may have the same name and you could overwrite one. If you are not using Outlook Express, the attachments can usually be saved by right clicking on the attachment name and choosing the Save or Save As option.
Now to check the attachments. Hit Start / My Documents / Attachment Folder Name to get to it and perform the checks.
When you check them, first look at the filename extension. If it ends with .exe ,
.vbs
, .bat , .pif, or
.scr you
might wish to reconsider opening it. Also beware of zipped files. These are
the file types that are most often used
to carry virses. After you check
the file type, highlight the filename and hit the anti-virus scan button. With some AV you may have to right click the
file name and select Scan with Anti Virus. Look carefully at the scan report to be sure there is no infection. If no
infection is found it is time to open the attachment. If you do find any infection, delete the attachment immediately
without opening it, then dump the Recycle Bin. Also go back to your email program and double delete (delete then delete
again from the deleted emails file) the email which carried the attachment.
While this looks like a lot of trouble, once you get set up and in the habit of using this method, it is simple.
Just think how much trouble it would be if your computer got a virus.
Phishing Emails
Phishing is an email scam which attempts to get people to reveal their bank account or credit card information by
email. Thousands of phishing emails are sent out by spam mail and if only a few respond, these will be used to
withdraw money from the victims accounts or set up identity theft schemes. In some cases the phishing emails will
contain a virus which infects the victims computer and returns account information to the criminals. Some of the
phishing viruses might even load a key logger to gather information.
Never open email attachments from suspect financial institutions. The emails might include a link to click on
and respond. Don't click it. If the financial institution is one you do not do business with, it is most likely
a phishing email. If it appears to be from your own bank or credit card company, do not respond to the email.
Contact your bank or credit card company at their own web site. Don't use any of the addresses from the
suspected phishing email. Use contact information (web or email address) from your own records. It would be
best to place a phone call to the bank or credit card company using a known phone number (not a phone number
found in the suspected phishing email). A bank or credit card company would not normally ask you to confirm
your account number or credit card number by email. Be very cautious in responding to any email and never
give account numbers or credit card numbers unless you initiated the contact and it is with a trusted company.
If any account information is stored on your computer it should be encrypted. It would be best to store the
account information on a removable disc (floppy or CD) and remove it from the drive any time it is not in use.
Use the same caution with storing social security numbers and other personal information. Extreme caution is
in order when conducting business on the Internet. The criminals are very clever and you must not be taken in
by their schemes.
Hoax Email
Some people write a lot of emails and other people just forward a lot. Some of the email you get will be cute or funny and
you will want to send it to friends. Everything that comes into the "In Box" does not need to be forwarded and some of it
should not be forwarded. There are a lot of hoax emails making the rounds. Some of them have been in circulation for years.
Many of them contain just enough of the truth to be believable. They are usually something you would like to believe.
Some of them contain doctored pictures. Some of the hoax emails can do real damage. There are virus hoax emails in
circulation which try to get people to delete essential parts of their operating system. Don't be gullible and help spread
lies. It not only clutters up people's mail boxes,
it slows down the Internet to have millions of meaningless emails making the rounds. If you get an email which tells
about a deal that is too good to be true or tells some story on a celebrity, check it out before forwarding it. You can
type a couple of the key words into a search engine and get some facts. That is not saying everything on the Internet is
fact either. Be selective in gathering information. If an email asks you to send money to a stranger, don't fall for it.
The scam artists know just how to write stories about cute 5 year old girls in need of an operation. There are hoax emails
in circulation about nationally known companies and some terrible thing they have done. During an election year millions
of hoax emails go out about the politicians. Don't forward an email which could be a hoax and damage some person or company's
reputation without first doing a little research on it. There are several websites which deal with hoaxes. Most of them
have search functions on their home page to help you quickly find the information you are looking for. Type two or three
key words in the search box and hit Enter. These websites also contain information that is true. If it has been circulated
in an email, there is a good chance it can be found on one of the hoax websites. While on the subject of forwarding email,
if you must forward it, clean it up first. Nobody likes to get mail with seven "greater than" symbols on each line. There
is a free EMail Stripper available which will quickly and easily
remove all the > > > > > > > from your email. The new version is called GAIA Tidy Mail and is
still a free download.
Symantec Hoax Page
About Internet Hoaxes
How To Spot An Email Hoax
Hoax Busters
Don't Spread That Hoax
Snopes.com
Truth Miners
Graywolf / 2004