Spam

Internet Tip

How did Tagged Get My Email Address?

by on June 16, 2009


Although technically neither spam nor phishing, those aggressive emails from Tagged claiming a friend has sent you photos are certainly pushing the limits of netiquette. Ask Leo explains how Tagged.com got your email address and know your friend’s name, and why you should simply ignore them.

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Internet Tip

How to Use Email Aliases with Gmail

by on December 24, 2007


With a single Gmail email address, you can create an unlimited number of alias accounts to help sort and track incoming mail. Your email aliases can be created either by adding dots to your address or by tacking on a “+” phrase. For example, if your email address is myname@gmail.com, you can also use my.name@gmail.com or m.y.name@gmail.com, and so on. The plus used after your name can be used to track mail from specific sources. For example myname+somesite.com@gmail.com could be used when requesting information from “somesite.com.” For more, read these articles from Consuming Experience or MakeUseOf.

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How to Use Gmail as a Spam Filter for Your Pop3 Email

November 13, 2007

In addition to being an excellent choice for web-based email, Google’s Gmail can also be used as a spam-filtering front end to your existing email client. For two slightly different approaches on how to do this, read Dylan at Mboffin or John Zeratsky.

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Stop Instant Message Spam

October 9, 2007

As spam instant messages (IM) become more and more prevalent, it’s a good practice to configure your IM software to only accept messages from people you know. In AIM, click on Edit, Settings, and then click on the Privacy settings, and then choose “Only Allow Users on my Buddy List.” For instructions on how to [...]

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Forwarded Emails

August 28, 2007

In addition to the sheer annoyance of receiving forwarded emails with hundreds of email addresses visible in the body of the message, warning you about something or another (and urging you to email all your friends), there is a high probability that the message itself is simply not true. Next time you get one, instead [...]

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E-Card Spam

July 31, 2007

In recent months, e-card spam infected with a virulent computer worm has increased. How do you tell the difference between a valid e-card and a virus? Never open a greeting card sent from an unnamed friend, neighbor, classmate, schoolmate, partner or family member. Two things to look for are whether you know the sender, and [...]

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What is a Botnet?

January 23, 2007

Recent increases in spam mail can be traced to botnets. According to Leo Notenboom, “a botnet is a networked collection of computers infected with software that can be remotely controlled to awaken and perform some task. Typically that task is to send email. Lots of email. Lots of spam.” You can protect yourself from getting [...]

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Using Gmail as a Spam Filter

June 19, 2006

If your inbox is overrun with spam, and your ISP (or corporate mail server) does not offer a spam solution that works for you, you can try using Google’s free email service Gmail as a front-end spam filter. Read more in this article from Jeremy Zawodny: Using Gmail as My Spam Filter.

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Email Graphics

November 8, 2005

Posting your email address on a web page in a machine readable format is simply asking for trouble because thousands of robots crawl the Web looking for email addresses to add to spam mailing lists. One way to avoid this is not use text or HTML (which is machine readable) but instead put your email [...]

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Neo-Nazi Spam

May 23, 2005

Coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II, email users around the world have found their email boxes stuffed with German Neo-Nazi propaganda. In what appears to be the first time spam has been used to promote a political viewpoint, the Sober Q worm replicates itself on infected machines and sends [...]

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