Spam, those unwanted, unsolicited and often nasty intrusions into your email programs are viscious facts of life. All of us at Tallahassee Freenet deeply regret the sorry state that countless thoughtless individuals have achieved by forcing this unwanted trash on those who use the Internet. The Internet and world wide web (WWW) began as one of the most promising tools for good in the new century, a means of providing a real equality of opportunity for humankind. Alas, that tool often becomes an instrument of torment instead. Unless you are willing to make some important changes in the way you use computers and reorder your priorities as to what you consider necessary or valuable you are basically stuck with spam for the moment.
To really take total control of spam requires lots of effort, energy, resources, time and a dollars. Most are unable or unwilling to meet these requirements. However, there are some simple steps which MAY (no promises here) lessen the amount spam you receive.
...Suggestions
1). First and foremost, DO NOT answer spam in any way. This means do not follow instructions when they say "click here to be removed." All you are doing is confirming that they have reached a live address. Most likely, you will merely increase the spam you receive. However, there are a few legitimate companies on the web who really do allow you to "opt out." It is best to research the company before you click to be removed.
2). Most free email accounts aren't really free. They gather information about you with or without your knowledge and use it to target you with specific advertisements and other forms of spam. Yahoo, Hotmail, Eudora 5 or higher and many other programs require that you use cookies, a procedure whereby you allow them to place information on your machine and retrieve it at will. You are told it is for your convenience so you won't have to keep logging in, typing in passwords and so forth. They also require you to enable java script, another program that surrenders control of your machine to them. Yes, there are many legitimate uses of java script but again, research and decide if you really want the service offered in exchange for loss of privacy and control--it is worth it to you?
TFN accounts really are free, do not require the use of cookies, the use of java script or other hidden controlling devices or programs on your computer. TFN is free thanks to the efforts of a few dedicated individuals who spend time raising funds to meet its basic expenses, but TFN is often hard to reach using its dial up numbers. Tallahassee in particular and most major communities in Florida, Georgia and Alabama do have independent inexpensive "Internet Service Providers"(ISP). Fees can range from as little as $6.95 a month to $18 or $20 dollars. Most merely provide quick reliable access to get on the Internet and WWW without constant busy signals and slow download speeds. Your TFN account is yours free for life as long as you reside in FL, GA or Al. It is an address you never have to change--ever. By using an independent ISP, you never encounter busy signals, dropped connections or slowness, unless the whole system is running slow due to some technical issue, usually quickly resolved.
3). Use web based mail. The TFN home page, http://tfn.net provides a very reliable web based mail program that allows you to see your mail before it is downloaded and to delete the stuff you do not want on your computer. Spam can be deleted and blacklisted. Some web mail programs bounce spam back to the sender. You can access the TFN web mail from any computer anywhere in the world that is on line.
4). Learn to "cut & paste" messages you intended to forward and do not include countless lists of email addresses in the message. There are many special programs, "engines," on the web called "harvesters" which actually harvest each and every email address (edress) they encounter. The more your edress is circulated, the more spam is likely to find its way to your address. Ask your emailing friends to delete unnecessary addresses in the message body and to quite their mass mailings with your name on it. If its worth sending, its worth sending correctly and carefully.
5). GET HELP. Lots of help is available--download the free version of Zone Alarm to block unwanted intruders or harvesters into your machine. Go to the Gibson Research page http://www.grc.com and learn many and various steps about how to secure and protect your computer. Be pre-warned that GRC is text extensive, slow to plow through but extremely well worth it. Purchase a commercial Firewall and use it correctly. Look at other browser options in addition to Internet Explorer (Microsoft) and Netscape. Use "Adaware" or "Spybot" to locate and remove spyware and other viscious programs on your machine. Use "Mailwasher" to first check your mail and reject and bounce back unwanted spam & trash. All these have free basic versions that work fairly well. All have full versions for a reasonable price that work spectacularly well.
6). Quit Giving Permissions. Most of you have actually given permission to spammers to spam you... Before loading anything onto your computer, please, oh please, take the time to read carefully the EULA--End User License Agreement. If you have a weak heart, have your pills ready when you read the EULAs. Most music download programs, most children's software and major companies such as Bruderband tell you that you are giving them permission to have full access to your machine and its contents to use as they see fit...no kidding--read the EULA! Web site that require you to sign in with your email address are the sources of a large amount of spam--do you really want to view that particular site? Did you know that several companies actually use your machine, yes YOUR MACHINE, to store materials for others to download. The program is called BrilliantDigital (one word). For the horror story of the century, go to your favorite search engine and type in as one word without the quotemarks "BrilliantDigital" and be prepared to be scared witless by what they are doing with your permission. Quit Giving Permissions.
7). Quit being afraid of computers. It is nothing but a box of millions of on/off switches that merely do what you tell it to do with the assistance of a few well chosen programs. Learn the lingo and take control. Learn to speak to it (your machine) properly--own your machine or it will own you. It may seem foreboding and hopelessly confusing at first but start with just one task and follow it and all its connections, links, instructions and so forth and soon, its logic will became easier to see and control. A good starting point, if you don't have the world's slowest connection, is to go to http://www.grc.com ... wait for it to load and scroll down to "Test My Shields." Here you will quickly learn the weaknesses of your particular machine. Next, follow the "Probe my Ports" links to learn how to secure your machine from many intrusions.
8). Use common sense--think before you click, click and click some more... Also, be sure that you have your original operating system disk before making any changes to your computer. If you purchased a computer from Freenet or some other reliable vendor, most likely you will have a directory on your machine with the original disk in it. Usually it is called W98cd, Win95_cd or Win98 or some similar designation. Be sure to locate that directory first or have your original disk at hand. When changes are made to a computer, it often asks for the disk in order to make the change effective.
Courtesy of Sakim
MAINTAINED BY: Brian S. "Buddy" Baker
System Volunteer
TALLAHASSEE FREE-NETCopyright © 1996-2006 Tallahasseee Freenet (Unless Otherwise Noted)
Revised -- 6/17/2006 to HTML File
INFORMATION: Mail The Questions Team