spam email

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Jacobs
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Jacobs

I use OE and comcast.net is the server. How do I block? Everything I've
tried does not help including comcast filters.

Thanks for any assistance...Jim
 
Jim said:
I use OE and comcast.net is the server. How do I block? Everything I've
tried does not help including comcast filters.

Thanks for any assistance...Jim
Click to expand...


While it's not possible to completely eliminate spam (unsolicited
commercial email), there are some precautions and steps you can take to
minimize it's impact:

1) Never, ever post your real email address, as you've done one this
post, to publicly accessible forums or newsgroups, such as this one.
For years now, spammers have been using software utilities to scan such
places to harvest email addresses. It's a simple matter to disguise
your posted email address so that these software "bots" can't obtain
anything useful. For example, insert some obviously bogus characters or
words into your reply address, for example: "(e-mail address removed)0m."

2) Never, ever reply to any spam you receive, even to "unsubscribe" or
"remove" yourself from the spammers' address lists; you'll only compound
the problem. If spammers had any intention of honoring the your desire
not to receive spam, they wouldn't have become spammers in the first
place. When you reply to a spammer, all you're doing is confirming that
he/she has a valid, marketable email address.

3) Be especially leery of any offers from websites for free software,
services, information, etc, that require your email address, or that
require your email address so you can "login" to access the offered
service and/or information. Many such sites are supplementing their
income by collecting addresses to sell to the spammers. For instance,
subscribing to CNN.COM's Breaking News Service will garner you a lot of
additional spam. (Of course, not all such sites have under-handed
motives; it's a judgment call. If the offer seems "too good to be
true," it's most likely a scam.)

4) DO forward any and all spam, with complete headers, to the
originating ISP with a complaint. Not all ISPs will make an effort to
shut down the spammers, but many will. One tool that makes forwarding
such complaints fairly simple is SpamCop (http://spamcop.net).

4) Another useful tool is MailWasher (http://www.mailwasher.net). This
utility allows you to preview your email before downloading it from the
server. Spammers can even be blacklisted, so that any future emails
from them will be automatically deleted from the server.

5) Within Outlook Express or whatever other email client application
you use, add any spammers to your Blocked Senders list, so the their
messages are automatically deleted from the server without being
downloaded to your PC.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
I use OE and comcast.net is the server. How do I block? Everything I've
tried does not help including comcast filters.

Thanks for any assistance...Jim
Click to expand...

The only "true" way is to not use email. Unfortunately, we are in the age
where email is important and we need to use it.

Several things to help with "spam"

1) Never post to newsgroups while using your true email account. If you have
the chance, set up a newsgroup only email account. This way, you can set a
"mail rule" in OE which will delete all emails coming into this "newsgroup
only" email account.

2) If you can only have one email account, "scramble" your email address (ex:
(e-mail address removed).) This will stop most automated email address harvester
utilities from picking up your email address from newsgroups. A lot of
spammers use utilities to scan for email addresses in newsgroups. They feel
that since people "freely" posted the addresses in newsgroups, it "free" for
them to use.

3) Look at installing local SPAM filter utility which you must also
monitor/train. SpamPal is a free utility and there are other out there.

3a) I also use PopTray, which lets me to "preview" the email headers before I
download my emails. If I detect a spam mail, I can delete it before it
arrives in my OE Inbox.
 
Jim said:
I use OE and comcast.net is the server. How do I block? Everything I've
tried does not help including comcast filters.
Click to expand...

First step is NOT to publish your real email address in USEnet. And, of
course, other places. Use a disposable email address.
 
Plato said:
First step is NOT to publish your real email address in USEnet.
And, ofcourse, other places. Use a disposable email address.
Click to expand...

Few of the responses in thread have been useful to the OP.
They're about what to do _previously_ not to get more spam.
They don't address what to do _now_.

I share his problem. Comcast has recently been flooded with spam.
They use bogus, different, random "from" addresses. Blocking on
the sender is useless. They use random, legitimate words in the
subject and body. Everything is random and different.
Comcast's filters don't stop it.
 
ll said:
Few of the responses in thread have been useful to the OP.
They're about what to do _previously_ not to get more spam.
They don't address what to do _now_.
Click to expand...

First step is NOT to publish your real email address in USEnet.

Second step is to get a new email address. And do NOT give it to
websites, USEnet, or other. Use a disposable email address for public
use.
 
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