|
|
| Spam Blocking Information |
|
|
|
|
All About Spam
Spam is annoying. Period. Why people would want to send all of us stupid messages about buying prescription drugs or getting some outrageously good mortgage rate is beyond me. Well, not really. You might ignore those emails. But not everyone does. And that's why they're sent. Emails cost so little (or nothing) to send. So sending out a million of them could be a cakewalk. Let's say one out of every 1,000 recipients falls for their ploy. Someone just got 1,000 new customers! How in the heck did those spammers get your address in the first place? Well, they actually use a variety of techniques. They use programs called spambots to search the web and pick up any email addresses that could be listed on websites. They use what's called the "Dictionary" technique, where they take a well-known email extension (earthlink.net, for instance), and make up all kinds of possible user names to go with it. For example, with me they could try the usernames "kara", "kara1", "kara2" and so on, until they can confirm one of those connected to an earthlink.net extension is a valid email address. Kinda like going page by page through the dictionary. Ever fill out a registration form on a website and find a little checkbox, probably near the bottom, asking if you want to receive additional information, newsletters, or something of that nature? Often the box is checked, and in order NOT to receive the info, you have to UNCHECK it (or else). Well if you miss those types of boxes on the wrong kinds of sites, your email addresses may be handed to spammers on a silver platter. Well, almost. Often a zillion email addresses are sold for next to nothing to spammers on CDs. (Couldn't you almost call those silver platters?) Many internet service providers (those guys that keep you connected to the internet so you can send and receive email) use a variety of methods to block spam before it ever gets to you. Nevertheless, we all know that some spam inevitably gets through to our inboxes. That's when we need to take a proactive stance and install some sort of software to filter it out! � 2005 by Kara Glover Feel free to reprint this article in newsletters and on websites, with resource box included. If you use this article, please send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: [email protected] For help on installing anti-spam software, check out this article on Kara Glover's website: http://www.karathecomputertutor.com You can also find more articles, tips and tutorials on topics such as Microsoft Word., Excel, and PowerPoint there. Kara is a Computer Tutor and Troubleshooter.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Protect Your Email ID from Spammers? You must be one of them experiencing a lot of unwanted emails flooding into your mail box every day. It is annoying, and a "daily" problem for many. Demand for Spam? It exists Do you like spam? No, I'm not kidding. Everybody knows what spam is, almost everybody seems to have learned by heart simple advice like "do not click ?" "do not respond?" , "do not buy?" but-- The Anti Spam Challenge ? Minimizing False Positives Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it doesn't work like it's supposed to, business suffers. Anti spam software is designed to protect your inbox from unwanted messages, but unless your system is properly trained even the best software misses the mark and flags legitimate messages as spam. These messages are referred to as "false positives." Customers Demand Internet Privacy ... and you'd better sit up and take notice! Customers concern over Internet privacy issues is on the rise, and for good reasons. How Can I Stop Getting Spam? Are you getting too much spam? We all are, but if you're a webmaster the word spam takes on a whole new meaning. Stop Spam: How To Escape The Spam Hell-Hole If you're anything like me, you're pretty sick of it, and just want it to stop. What? Spam, of course. This article gives you a solution to radically, and quickly, reduce the amount of spam messages you receive to a bare minimum. I Must Be The Luckiest Person Alive! Spam I must be the luckiest person alive! My inbox is just crammed with good news, great advice, and millions in accounts just needing the ok from me. Right now, I've two million euros just waiting to be claimed. Some lotteries don't even need participation to return a winner, it seems. Spam - Its Whats For Breakfast The first thing I do every morning when I wake up is head for my computer. It holds the secrets to my day. I read my e-mails from several accounts, check my schedule on my Outlook calendar and even find out how much money I can spend that day from my bank's Web site. I'd be lost without my computer. Why Is Spam Such a Problem? Spam can be a lot more damaging than you might think. Obviously, they are the most annoying thing that you can receive through your inbox, but it goes deeper than that. If you are like the millions of other internet email users, you know that sending and receiving email is a free service that comes with your internet service. Is Spam Affecting Your Business Email? 5 Ways Spam Is Affecting Your Business And what we can all do to prevent it. Internet Theft and Fraud My friends in the web hosting business have recently informed me that the big problem this year (2004) is security and fraud. I have read that currently the F.B.I. receives over 9,000 complaints per month pertaining to bogus email and websites. Why is this happening? Are just a few 'bad apples' doing it, or is it the result of a lopsided world economy where the underprivileged are finally striking back like the infamous Robin Hood? Whatever your moral view, I've got the strange feeling it stems from a growing unconscious greed in the social consciousness of modern society. People worship money, not spirituality or love. Am I wrong? Blackhole or Fail - Which One Is Better For Your Mail Server? Very often SPAMMERS take advantage of catch-all email setup on webservers. Every email no matter what the recipients email address is will be caught by the default email account. It is highly recommended not to use catch-all email accounts and to discard SPAM send to non-existing email addresses. SPAM will clog up your SMTP server and consum resources like bandwidth and disk space in mailboxes. In most mail servers and web control panels (like cPanel) the user or admin can decide what will happen to emails with no existing recipient on the server. Refuse to the let emails onto the server and to let the sender's mail server deal with it (option: ":fail:") or to accept these incoming messages but then to delete them right away (option: ":blackhole:". The Trouble With Spam Is.... Each day we all face the same challenge. Spam. It doesn't matter if you're a home computer user or the head of IT for a multinational limiting or totally preventing the distribution of junk email to your computer(s) is now a daily chore. The Definition of Spam Spam can bring down your website faster than a speeding bullet, but what is spam? Originally, spam referred to unwanted emails. We all hate the tons of email we receive day after day trying to get us to buy that or click this. I can't go a day without someone trying to steal my personal information so they can get into my bank account. Does everyone else get the fake paypal emails? They look just like paypal emails, but usually if you look at the links they have ip numbers instead of paypal.com in the address. Obviously, letters from Nigeria, fake paypal emails, and the host of other either crooked or just plain annoying emails can clearly be defined as spam. Of course, email newsletters that have been subscribed to are wanted and would not be spam. I love getting my daily webmaster newsletters. They are great for helping me stay on top of what is going on in the website development world. ANTI-S*P^A#M: Protecting Your Web Sites Email Address(es) Did you know that there are software programs that view web sites and steal email addresses? It's called "harvesting" because they're harvesting your email address from your site. This may be one of the reasons your web site email address is receiving more s*p^a#m than wanted email. Spam: The Tasteless Internet Meat of Criminals Spam. You've all heard of the crazy pink meat in a can, but what's it got to do with the Internet? Well, it's also the namesake for a major problem in the World Wide Web-unsolicited junk email. Problem! We're talking serious pain in the butt both as a waster of time, space, and money. It is estimated that around half of all email received on the Internet is this sneaky illegal attempt at selling fake consumer goods, pornography, and a whole plethora of 'helpful' services. It's taking up half of all email on the Earth, and it's costing businesses' billions in wasted time, as well as filling personal email accounts to the limit so important messages aren't received. It seems everywhere there's a leap in technology for humanity, there's also a group of people who want to stretch the realm of criminal activity to another level. Is Your Website Blacklisted? A blacklist, as the name implies, is a list of people or companies who have met with the disapproval of others. In the online world a blacklist refers to those people who have been marked as responsible for generating spam in a very big way. Blacklists are also known as blocklists. The Vanishing Mail Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out To Get Me? How To Stop Spam I imagine you have seen, heard about, or already know what spam is. But just in case you don't, it is unsolicited and unwanted emails that arrive in your email inbox from a person or company that you don't know. How Spammers Fool Bayesian Filters - And How to Stop Them Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than blocking individual IP addresses and creating rules based on keywords that spammers typically use. The increasing sophistication of spam tools coupled with the increasing number of spammers in the wild has created a hyper-evolution in the variety and volume of spam. The old ways of blocking the bad guys just don't work anymore.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2005 |