What is the best way to avoid spam?

Question

I get more than one hundred mails everyday in my bulk folder, and it's driving me nuts.
Is there any way to stop these? Simply deleting them at getting on my nerves quickly...

I am afraid of opening the mails in fear of opening a virus.

Answer 1

Spam is any message or posting, regardless of its content, that is sent to multiple recipients who have not specifically requested the message. Spam can also be multiple postings of the same message to newsgroups or list servers that aren't related to the topic of the message. Other common terms for spam include unsolicited commercial email (UCE) and unsolicited bulk email (UBE).



The individuals who send spam are typically people who purchased or harvested a list of email addresses. They send messages from numerous different addresses to all areas of the Web.



All mail originating from an ISP has an originating IP address embedded in the full address headers. This address helps to identify the sender of the email and track the individual to his or her service provider. Individuals who use an ISP address in their spam are forging mail headers if the originating IP line is absent in the spam.



The best way to prevent spam is to be careful with your email address. Spammers often create mailing lists by using scanning programs to search postings to Internet bulletin boards and newsgroups. One way to prevent this is to add an "x element" to your user ID when posting a message to any bulletin board or newsgroup. For instance, instead of [e-mail], your email address could read [e-mail] or [e-mail]. Try to be as creative as possible with both the placement and use of special characters. That way, even if a crafty spammer uses a user ID-scanning program, you'll have a better chance to beat it. (Just remember to remove the "x element" if you answer a post with email.)



Also, don't give out your email address without knowing how it will be used. Read the terms of use and privacy statements of any site before telling them your address. If you can't find their privacy statement, don't tell them your address.



If you get spam, do NOT reply, even if the message offers to unsubscribe you. A reply simply tells the spammer your email address is active and you'll get even more junk email. Please reference the article below What should I do if I get spammed? for more information.



Report spam abuse. When you forward us the email, please be sure to include the full header. Without it, we can't tell where the email came from. Every complaint that is sent to us by Yahoo! members will be investigated. However, if the email does not come from an Yahoo! member, we will forward it on to their provider so that they may take action.



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What should I do if I get spammed?



For starters, do not reply to a spam email, even if the message offers to unsubscribe you. Never respond to the spam email's instructions to reply with the word "remove." This is a ploy to get you to react to the email and will alert the sender that your email address is open and available to receive mail, which greatly increases its value. If you reply, your address may be placed on more lists, resulting in more spam.



Never click on a URL or web site address listed within a spam email. This could alert the site to the validity of your email address, potentially resulting in more spam.



Never sign up with sites that promise to remove your name from spam lists. Although some of these sites may be legitimate, more often than not, they are address collectors. The legitimate sites are ignored (or exploited) by the spammers, and the address collection sites are owned by spammers. In both cases, your address is recorded and valued more highly because you have just identified that your address is active.



Report spam abuse. When you forward us the email, please be sure to include the full header. Without it, we can't tell where the email came from. Every complaint that is sent to us by Yahoo! members will be investigated. However, if the email does not come from an Yahoo! member, we will forward it on to their provider so that they may take action.



A note about "forged headers": spammers have become innovative by altering header information in order to avoid detection. By using invalid email addresses or forging incorrect domain names, spammers can go undetected for days because spam complaints are sent to the wrong ISP. That's why it is really important that you send the full header when you forward a spam email message.

Answer 2

What email are you using? Are you using web email, like Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc... or are you using Outlook or Outlook Express?



In any case, you can filter out specific email. You can block domains that you think are spam, that helps a lot. If you use an email client such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or Thunderbird, and such, you can setup custom filters that filter out custom words, and automatically get thrown into the spam folder.



Also getting a second email account for spam services is not a bad idea if you sign up for a lot of newsletters, and other various things.



Don't replay to any of the spam, that only lets the spammer know you have that email address.

Answer 3

There is no way to make the incomming flood of spam stop. Just let them sit in your Bulk folder and ignore them - Yahoo automatically deletes oll the old stuff. Oh, and you are smart not to open them - why take chances.

Answer 4

try to open it and click on unscribe link to unscribe the message so that they will not send you next time. and also you can report spam to many site as they provide such facility in the link in the inbox

Answer 5

you'll need to open then then use the "remove me" link that will probably be at the bottom of 90% of the mails...]