Tech Tips

10 February 2007
How to Reduce Spam

If you are a website owner and your email appears as is on a website (you@website.com), there’s a good chance that email will be deluged with spam sooner rather than later.

Email-harvesting programs (spambots) search websites for emails, and once they locate address(s, you’ll quickly be added to their spam index - not the place you want your email address.

There are few steps you can take to limit the possibility of this happening:

   - Use an image with your email address instead of a link
   - Use JavaScript to encrypt your email
   - Use forms instead of posting email address

Another common way spammers get your email is if you use it to sign p for forums, newsgroups, online purchases, postings and sweepstakes entries.

Only share your primary email with people you know. Set up an alternate email to use for web transactions. Before submitting your email address, read the website’s privacy policy. Make sure it promises not to sell or swap your address. Also, watch out for pre-checked boxes saying you'd like to receive further info.
If you do start getting spam, don’t open it! If it looks like spam, it probably is. Spammers know if an email has been opened, so don’t do it.

Update your computer with virus protection to prevent spammers access to your personal information. If you have a broadband connection, install a firewall system to prevent spammers from hijacking your system to send emails from your computer.

Use spam filters in Outlook and Thunderbird; they’re helpful.

Conclusion: Be proactive protecting your email address and be suspicious of unsolicited emails.