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Since the Internet service provider has bribes Spammers

2008-11-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

The engine of spam e-mails. You must be able to send many of them there on an ongoing basis to stay in business. "As a high-profile spammers can send 80 million pieces of spam every day. Yes, a person.

Internet service providers in the online world have pledged to stop spammers sending such large quantities of e-mail through their e-mail server. Do they really keep their word? While the end user sees is that spam is still to come. There must be some mistake. There is.

In soft white underbelly of the Internet, there is something the so-called pink contract. The word pink comes from the famous canned meat junk e-mails to his name. A pink contract is simply a trade agreement between the ISP and the spammer. The spammer agrees to pay the Internet service provider to ignore the junk email passing through their mail servers.

Without doubt, this is a bad business for the ISP? Now the answer to the questions are: Yes and no, this is bad news for the people, the junk mail and is not good news for ISPs bank balance sheets. A month has passed, the amounts paid ISP $ 10,000 upwards. Given that the average duration of "working at home spammers average of 100,000 U.S. dollars net per year, the figure is small change for the meimost providers of spam (the boy who earn $ 200,000 - $ 400,000 per month).

But... Can Spam Act 2003... Which certainly make a difference? Of course, Each Internet service provider in the United States may be in serious, serious trouble for signing pink contracts. The problem is that there are a large number of locations around the World Wide Web to the outside world and the vast majority of pink contracts are signed with Internet service providers overseas, where U.S. authorities have no jurisdiction - China and Russia are perfect examples.

There is no moral to this story. Spam is a major problem was that finally taken seriously by government agencies. However until they start imposing prison sentences or seizure orders on those individuals and companies in the pink contract business the problem can only continue.

Phising

2008-09-19T07:41:00.001-07:00

Phishing

Recently, I received my e-mail from the bank / credit card company, ebay and Pay Pal say that my account may have been compromised, and I need to confirm my address and a password to obtain access.

Spam now has a new and more frightening variant, it is called phishing and criminals and hackers who seek despite consumers to reveal account numbers and passwords have done it.

Usually, after receiving an e-mail as those mentioned above to reputable companies, most of us race to respond as quickly as possible. However, in most cases you find that you will not assist any person other than the criminal who wrote that e-mail and has nothing to do with the bodies.

What is phising?

It is when someone creates false e-mail that claims to be from a bank or other authority, but is in fact designed to collect sensitive information such as passwords. This process of stealing information used for fraudulent purposes is the last issue of plague users of the Internet. It is a phenomenon known as e-mail phishing i.e. "fishing" for important information.

Like Spam, phishing messages are sent to the widest audience possible, it is not uncommon to receive a message asking you to confirm account details of an organization that you do not have faces. May you be asked to set your eBay account when you have not yet had one!

In addition to collecting sensitive information many phishing messages try to install spyware, Trojans etc. allowing hackers to gain backdoor entry into computers.

Types of phishing emails:

Some phishing e-mails requesting a response by e-mail.
Some e-mail includes a form for collecting information you are told to fill out.
Some even include a link to a Web site that resembles the site you plan to visit, but is actually a clone of the original site.

Number of phishing sites reported in March, 2005: 2870
Number of brands hijacked by phishing campaigns: 78
Contains some form of target name in the URL: 31%
Countries hosting the largest number of phishing sites: United States of America
Source: http://www.antiphishing.org

Phishing attacks can be very sophisticated. Some time ago, vulnerability in Internet Explorer allowed hackers to display a false address while redirecting the user to an entirely different site making it almost impossible to distinguish a phishing attack from a legitimate email.

Possible solutions:

New technologies can provide a better way to fight against phishers. One option being studied by a large number of banks is the use of a secure token, a small electronic gadget that generates a unique password to be entered each time a user logs on the website. It would be a phishing attack useless because without possession of a token, it is impossible to access the account. This approach is somewhat similar to that used at ATMs around the world where you need to have both the card and PIN to use the machine.

One option is to use a technology that people know that PASSMARK act as a second password. After entering the user name a single pre-selected by the user is displayed before s / he is asked the password. If the image is not displayed, the user can come to know that he / she is not on the authentic site. Another option that many organizations are exploring is using text messages instead of e-mails. Text messages cost money to send, if spammers are less likely to participate in the process to facilitate the distinction between legitimate messages and false.

Anti-Spam Case Study leader claims service

2008-09-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

When disaster, many insurance companies tend to be flooded with new demands. These surges in customer demand can be overwhelming, and that's where Pacesetter Claims Service, an independent adaptation, comes in.

Founded in 1997, Pacesetter Claims Service is a well-established company with offices in five different states and Puerto Rico. They are dedicated to provide additional support companies such as American Family Mutual Insurance and Farmers Insurance Group need in the aftermath of a catastrophic event.

Having several offices across the country, and no way to predict where and when the next disaster will strike, immediate and effective communication such as e-mail is essential to the success of Pacesetter. With the company dealing with more than 100 150 e-mails per day that are not only valid but also possibly contain critical information from multiple sources, filtering junk mail becomes essential.

According to Pacesetter IT Coordinator David Borg, more than 80% of their email was a bombardment of Spam. Pacesetter could not afford to have their employees wasting time sorting through these unwanted emails. They also did not want to risk the possibility of inadvertently filtering of legitimate messages. They need a highly efficient, highly accurate anti-Spam software solution to their problem of Spam.

Solution
Choosing Securence was an easy decision for Pacesetter Claims Service. Securence offered everything Pacesetter was looking for: accuracy, ease of use, excellent customer service and profitability.
"The representatives have remained in touch real closely at the beginning to ensure that everything goes well," said Borg, who also likes the option that Securence is a service rather than a demand he has to
install and maintain itself. Perhaps most importantly, Borg is impressed by the accuracy of Securence e-mail filtering software. "During our 30 day trial period," Borg said, "we have not had any false positives, and the few junk e-mails that are no escape because we could not completely sure things on our end. We are extremely satisfied. "

By selecting Securence, Pacesetter Claims Service was able to reduce their junk mail over 80% with nearly perfect accuracy..

Other information you can refer here..

Securence offers anti-spam software, antivirus software and internet filtering software for business and consumers.
http://www.securence.com

Evict the Spammers from Your Inbox (Spam Blocking)

2008-08-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

Blocking Spam and other email threats from entering your gateway
Spam, generally defined as unsolicited commercial email is a powerful advertising channel for many products and services. Accordingly, spamming has become a profitable business, driven by the low cost of sending an email compared to other direct marketing techniques. The high return on investment for stammers led to a huge volume of Spam in personal and business e-mail boxes. Consider this: Leading a campaign of direct mail costs an average of $ 1.39 per person, which means that a response rate of only 1 of 14 is required to achieve breakeven on a $ 20 gross profit. Selling the same question by email unsolicited Spam costs only $ 0.0004 per person, which means that a response rate of 1 in 50000 is the seller return the balance, above all that is gravy. With profit margins of this type, it is easy to see why spammers will try to get anything past anti-Spam technology to deliver their messages in your inbox.

Types of threats spam

The recent emergence of fraudulent Spam variants such as phasing and spoofing pose a risk even greater than the volume of Spam clogging mail servers. Stammers use techniques such as spoofing and phasing to deceive users into opening messages that at first glance seem harmless.

Phising

Phising is a specific type of Spam message that offers personal information from the beneficiary. Phishers use of social engineering techniques to mislead users to believe that the message comes from a trusted sender, making these attacks are particularly dangerous because they are often victims with a disclose social security numbers, bank account information or credit card numbers. In a six-month period from November 2003 to May 2004, phishing attacks increased in frequency than 4000%, and the trend continues up.

An example is a phishing e-mail that appears to come from a bank to request that users connect to their account to update or correct personal information. When users follow a link embedded in e-mail, they are redirected to a site that looks and behaves as expected the Bank website. However, unbeknown st to the soon-to-be victims of identity theft, the site is actually controlled by fraudsters who sent him and all information entered by the victim can now be used in a variety ways, none of them good.

Spoofing

Spoofing is a form of deceptive Spam that hides the field of spammer spam or point of departure. Spammers often hijack the areas of well-known businesses or government entities to make spam filters think the communication is from a legitimate source.

Today, spammers are more cunning than ever, and began to mix the two elements of phishing and spoofing in their messages, other spinning their web of deceit. The combination of toxic spoofing and phishing presents a major threat that most can deceive anyone to provide personal information to a foreigner.

Toothless Legislation

On January 1, 2004, President Bush signed the law "Assault control of the unsolicited and Pornography Act 2003 marketing", "CAN-SPAM Act". If well intentioned, CAN-SPAM has done little or nothing to curb the flow of unwanted e-mail. In fact, it is estimated that 97% of all spam sent in 2004 had violated the law, and the USA still far from other countries in terms of the origin of spam, with CipherTrust research revealing that an astonishing 56.77 % Of spam comes from the United IP addresses. Although CAN-SPAM was designed to reduce the overall volume of spam, exactly the opposite happened: In 2004, spam represents about 77% of all email traffic, and phishing attacks continue d ' increase exponentially, with studies showing an increase of 4,000% in November 2003 to May 2004.

Anti Spam software for the office

The dramatic increase in the volume of spam has caused a sharp increase in stand-alone anti-spam software solutions for the office, with all the different levels of effectiveness. Some anti-spam filtering software uses text on the screen for incoming messages known characteristics of spam, while other solutions rely solely on reputation systems that monitor and classify e-mail senders by IP address to function of sending their behavior. Other anti-spam software uses "challenge-response filters" to block mail unapproved until the sender responds (manually) a challenge for messages sent to their email accounts to verify his identity.

Given the number of different methods of filtering spam, no desktop software solution anti spam is actually able to stop the spam before it reaches your inbox. The only way to successfully fight against spam is to create an anti spam "cocktail" including reputation services, text filters, constant updates and a host of other best-of-breed methods of blocking spam. Equally important, an efficient system to fight against spam solution should reside at the gateway e-mail, not in the office. Without the protection of the gateway, mail servers enormous quantities of waste bandwidth and storage space for processing each message, or not want, and end-users face the unenviable task of deciding what to do with the countless spam messages that manage to achieve them.

Take a comprehensive approach to fight against spam

Although it takes a person only a moment to address a message and identify it as spam, it is difficult to automate the human process, because no message feature identifies spam. In fact, there are hundreds of different message than May an e-mail is spam, and an efficient system to fight against spam solution must be able to use several techniques for detecting spam.

In addition to efficiently identify spam, companies must be assured that legitimate mail is not blocked by mistake. Even a false positive, or incorrectly blocked by email, can have a significant impact on business today. Accurate spam blocking requires a combination of tools to examine various criteria combined message in real-time research and intelligence data.

By combining several technologies spam detection screening as text, reputation services, traffic analysis and other best-of-breed technology and the solution to bridge the e-mail device in a hardened, companies can regain control of the inbox.

Use A Spam Filtering Tool To Manage Spam And Save Hours Everyday

2008-08-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

For best of us to change our e-mail to get rid of spam is not absolutely an option. This is because our email addresses are accepted and acclimated by abounding of our contacts and May additionally be printed on business cards and added documents. We absolutely do not go to addition abode because of some clutter mail in our mailboxes. Fortunately, there are actual able agency to action adjoin spam and was acclimated as a apparatus for clarification spam.

The apparatus that I accredit to is alleged MailWasher. It is a apparatus that I can not do without. I use it for about 2 years now and my absolute operating shows that 72% of e-mails accustomed are automatically deleted by MailWasher. For added advice about the artefact on MailWasher, amuse visit: www.BSDRegister.com/products/MailWasher

MailWasher is a affairs that operates at the source, ie, it connects anon to your inbox on the server and supports the e-mails. It's actual altered from the use of cyber banking mail filters in your e-mail software such as Outlook or Thunderbird. The capital aberration is that MailWasher antibacterial e-mails on the mail server so you never accept to download them. Accepting a clarify in Outlook beggarly that the email allegation aboriginal be downloaded to your computer, again advised and advised accordingly. For these letters advance of the virus, it could able-bodied represent a threat.

MailWasher is accessible to install and takes a few minutes. It is a 30-day charge less balloon of the software so that we can accept abundant time to adjudge if it works for you. Initially, I started to advance my own spam filters and accept some success, but again I stumbled on an articulation on the armpit, which is an articulation area, an ardent user of its action charge less filters. I downloaded and installed these them and never attending back. The aggregate of spam has been particular began to admission steadily until the 72% it is today. This agency that on average, 3 out of 10 emails I accept are accepted and are accustomed through MailWasher. The blow is alone at the antecedent and I do not accept to absorb time downloading them. This is a big botheration if you use Internet access.

There are abounding checks in the software. You can specify the e-mails are automatically deleted after your ability or you could accept the affairs mark for delete, but you can attend at them in case. This is advantageous aboriginal until you get an acceptable abstraction to him. There are abounding added options that lie amid them. The acceptable affair is that they are all on a screen.

It is an abstraction of a banish and white. You can acceptation your absolute abode book from Outlook with a brace of clicks and added email programs as well. These go in what is alleged a white list. MailWasher will acquiesce all e-mails through actualization on the white list. It marks or automatically annuls all those on the blacklist. Adding or removing either addition account is an actual simple point and bang exercise.

MailWasher additionally allows the enactment of accepted filters. These methods are to specify e-mail as legitimate. For example, if you analyze all e-mails from your aggregation area name as legitimate, again all letters from your co-workers will be accustomed to canyon after your accepting to anniversary person. This is accomplished application a framework such as "* @ youworkdomain.com." It can additionally be acclimated for any blacklisted area such that all letters are anon apparent for abatement or deleted automatically based on your settings.

MailWasher is a affairs absolute and not baffle with your e-mail software. It sits in the arrangement tray and done its job diligently. In my case, he checks my inbox every 10 account and cleaning. I accept my e-mail software configured to retrieve letters alone back I allegation so that MailWasher has the greatest befalling to do its job.

MailWasher additionally added advanced, one of them actuality article accepted as "Origin of spam." There are servers on the Internet that lists the addresses of accepted spam. Back you accept a bulletin from one of these addresses, it is automatically apparent as spam and deleted after your filters alike be invoked. It is a arresting arrangement and is chargeless with MailWasher. A huge 14% of e-mails I accept are articular in this way and automatically deleted.

MailWasher is an basal apparatus in my e-mail arsenal. If spam is a botheration for you, it could be done for you. Download your chargeless balloon today and use it for 30 days. If you like it, you alone pay $ 37 in my book is a baby amount to pay for all time adored every day.

The Bad Guys Are Phishing For Your Personal Information

2008-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Do you know what "phishing"?

No, it does not mean that you take a pole and head to the end to capture some phish.

The official Webopedia definition of "phishing" is as follows:

The fact send an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user to surrender private information to be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a website where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security and bank account numbers, the legitimate organization already has. The website, however, is false and set up only to steal user information.

Hameçonneurs prey on ignorance, fear and emotion. They also play the number of games. The more they bait by unsolicited e-mail, the more they catch phish .. Spamming by large groups of people, the "phisher" counts on his mail be read and believed by a percentage of people who donate their personal and credit card information.

The latest attempt by identity thieves to steal personal information of eBay members hit my inbox earlier this week and I must say, it is quite convincing. Even this old dog did a double-take before realizing that identity thieves are phishing for my personal information.

The sender of this e-mail address is listed as: eBay - rivernick and the email subject line reads as follows: Question of an eBay member.

The email begins: "Question of an eBay member - Respond now. EBay has sent this message on behalf of a member via eBay My Messages. Responses sent by electronic mail will not reach the eBay member. Use the button Reply now below to respond to this message. "

Listen to me: Do not touch the button

Of course, e-mail was not sent by an eBay member or sent via eBay messaging system, as it appears.

The email then takes on a threatening tone.

It reads as follows: "Question of rivernick: I am still awaiting payment for my point for about 7 days. What happened? Please send me as soon as possible or I report you to eBay. "

The recipient is then invited to respond to this rather disturbing e-mail by clicking on "Reply now." button.

This will lead you to a Web site designed to look like eBay where you will be prompted to log in using your eBay user name and password.

Once you pass this point, you will be prompted to update your account information before proceeding. Unknowing souls will offer not only their eBay password, but personal and credit card information, and without even knowing they are on the verge of having their personal information stolen.

The only thing that makes this scam is so effective the alleged threat by eBay member "report eBay.

The email prey on the fear of most eBay members that they are in danger of receiving negative feedback. Many eBayers you prefer a cut ear than letting the negative comments. It is this emotion that the new phishers are hoping to hook.

The phisher bet that most people will be horrified by the threat of being reported erroneously on eBay or they will be ticked off that some jerk threat by mistake.

Anyway the phisher counting on a percentage of people have a knee-jerk reaction and connection to the false site eBay, it has established a clear difference.

I have yet to see what percentage of people who receive these e-mails fall for phishing scams, but if a phisher is 1 f recipients to turn their personal information, it is probably a phishing expedition success.

I've warned about these phishing scams before, but we will examine it once more.

Not directly respond to an e-mail that appears to come from eBay, PayPal, Amazon, or other anyoen asking you to click on a link in the e-mail to update your account information. If there is any doubt in your mind whether or not the message is really from eBay, for example, open a browser and enter the URL http://www.ebay.com. Never click on a link in the email to respond.

NEVER believe that an email supposedly from another eBay member is real. Again, do not click on a link e-mail response. Open a browser and go directly to eBay and connect If the email is a real member, there will be an investigation file in your eBay account.

You should be aware that the bad guys over there who only spend time trying to find new and innovative ways to steal your information.

Be paranoid. Be aware. But do not be fooled.

The phishers will cast their line, but you do not have to take the bait.

Here is your success!

Are opt-in e-mail lists still valuable in this age SPAM?(spam-blocking)

2008-07-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

One of the things that the introduction of blogs has done is to cause an exodus of sorts-mail newsletters or ezines online publishers the mere publication of information on their blogs.

It is not too difficult to understand why online publishers, blogs adopted so quickly and enthusiastically. In fact, SPAM monster seemed to slowly squeeze the life of their business online. To meet the challenge SPAM most ISPs have implemented anti-spam filters that are so powerful that they often filter the mail that has been requested, especially electronic mass opt-in nature. This means an increase in the number of rebounds and undeliverable mail.

With the advent of blogs there were an easy way of all this concern. Ezines could easily be posted on blogs and FAI did spam filter touching. And what is more e-mail aspect of feed-back has not been lost because readers could easily post a comment on the blog. The great advantage by e-mail here was that we could see another comment readers and quickly support or disagree with him. Blogs have revolutionized the publishing better than any other tool in the history of mankind.

Thus, blogs have newsletters and e-mail opt-in e-mail lists obsolete? The answer is a resounding "NO". Nothing could be farther from the truth. Even when a publisher online offers them every week or every day content to a blog, which is the best way of maintaining and increasing traffic to the blog?

In fact, even with a Web site, there is no other more effective means to support the heavy traffic that the harvest email addresses. This is done by offering and electronic newsletter or e-mail kinds of courses. This builds up a valuable opt-in e-mail list that you can use again and again to direct traffic to your site. You can even sell them something. As internet marketing experts often point out, money is on the list.

That is why advice from experts affiliated to set up their own sites or blogs to play a key role in their efforts to market their affiliate site. This is simply because it is a huge waste of disk, so a lot of traffic to your site affiliated and end up having only a tiny part, register your affiliate program. By driving traffic through your own website, you have the opportunity to collect e-mails and putting in place an enormous value targeted opt-in e-mail list that you can still put on the market even affiliate program later. In fact, research has clearly demonstrated that most people buy only after several meetings repeated the same product or service.

Even with the introduction of very useful tool blog and changing business models by many online publishers, opt-in email lists remain the most valuable marketing tool online.

The Cybermagic of Whitelists (spam-blocking)

2008-07-21T01:24:00.000-07:00

Before we begin always deeply into the meat of this article, it is important to explain some standard terminology to ensure that the rest of the article makes sense.

* An IP address is a number that shows your location on the Internet.

* A blacklist is a list of IP addresses that your anti-spam software to block incoming spam.

* A white list is the exact opposite of a black list.

A white list is a pre-defined list of IP addresses, which it is allowed to send mail and receive e-mails from each other. Blacklists exclude known and suspected spammers. White Lists can be used to exclude all but known IP addresses. Think of it like this. A white list is like a phone book in the possession of a small group of people who only wish to speak directly with each other. They do not want someone just ring. Not only that, but the entire group will need to approve new phone numbers before they appear in this exclusive phone book.

To send an e-mail to White List You must be approved by the owner of the White List. This is a lot like the ban on dual systems legimiate eZines and mailing list owners. White Lists are the nightclub bouncers of the virtual world - if you're not on the list, you is not getting in. Simple but very effective.

A real world example of a White List would be if only two companies wanted to exchange email each other. These companies could implement a white list, that the IP address only for the two e-mail servers, want to send e-mail to each other. That would mean that all e-mail from an IP address is not on the whitelist would be returned to the sender. For companies, they can ensure that workers are only dealing with work related e-mail and chat with their friends.

The advantages of White Lists are many, but proper management of the White Lists is equally important. Abuse of White Lists will only lead to more headaches for everyone involved with missing e-mail, angry customers and IT departments do overtime just the tip of the iceberg.

If you would like to learn more about spam then past http://www.spam-site.com today.

How Spammers Fool Whitelists - And How to Stop Them

2008-07-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Stopping spam effectively over the long term requires a lot more to block IP addresses and create rules based on keywords that spammers generally use. The increasing sophistication of spam tools coupled with the growing 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 do not work anymore.

Examination and spam-spam blocking can illuminate how this development is underway and what can be done to fight against spam and retrieve e-mail as the efficient, effective communication tool, it should to be.

One of the methods used to fight against spam is the whitelist. The white lists are databases sources confidence email. The list May contain e-mail addresses, IP addresses or trust areas. The e-mails received from a source white are allowed to pass through the system the user the mailbox. The list is built when users and administrators email manually add reliable sources the whitelist. Once built, the catch rate of spam can be close to 100%, however, whitelists produce an excessive number of false positives.

It is virtually impossible to produce an exhaustive list of all legitimate senders of e-mail because legitimate messages can come from any number of sources. To overcome this difficulty, some organizations have established a challenge-response methodology. When an unknown sender sends an email to a user account, the system automatically sends a challenge to the sender. Some challenge-response systems require the sender to read and decipher an image containing letters and numbers. The image is designed to be unreadable by a machine, but easily recognizable by a human. Spammers do not spend the time necessary to pass by a large number of challenge-response e-mails to file the address and go to those users who do not use such a system.

White lists are only partially successful and impractical for many users. For example, problems can arise when users register for newsletters online, order products online or register for online services. If the user does not remember to add a new e-mail source of their white list, or if the domain or IP address is entered incorrectly, the communication is doomed to failure. In addition, whitelists impose barriers to legitimate electronic communication and are considered by some as simply crude.

White lists are not widely used by email users and administrators as a tool to fight against spam because of the high number of false positives, and difficulties in creating a complete listing of e-mail sources. Because white lists are not widely used, spammers can not develop countermeasures against. As with other techniques to fight against spam, white lists are most effective when used in combination with other anti-spam tools.

The solution
When used individually, each anti-spam technique has been systematically overcome by spammers. Grandiose plans to rid the world of spam, such as charging a penny for each e-mail received or forcing servers to solve math problems before delivering e-mail, have been proposed with few results. These schemes are not realistic and would require a large percentage of the population to adopt the same anti-spam method to be effective. You can learn more about the fight against spam by visiting our website at www.Ciphertrust.com and downloading of our white papers.

7 Ways Email Can End Your Business Relationships Before They Start

2008-07-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

All too often people forget that they are anonymous on the Internet World. Your friends and colleagues may know that you as a tireless worker, a great friend and loving parents, but I do not know. For me, you're just a font. You're a font in an e-mail, or in a forum. If I access to your site, then you are whatever impression the website. But largely, you can anonymously. So, if you want to create confidence in your Internet business relationships, make it your goal to paint a professional image by e-mail.

I am a copywriter, so I constantly combing the Web for possible clients and cohorts. Recently, I have some Internet personalities have me scratching my head in confusion. If we had a fruitful business relationship? I'll never know, because within a few days after crossing paths, they managed to attain one of the "Seven Scary" - that is, the seven fastest ways to frighten people away from e-mail. Let's review them now.

1 Scare tactics

Send an e-mail from a cryptic address. There is nothing that says "unprofessional", as an e-mail request from Binky24 "or" Shanaynay_7 ". E-mail addresses, such as this strikes me as one of two things: 1 someone young and stupid, or 2 a spammer. I understand if you do not have a website and is still, after all, as a writer, many people contact me to help them start their businesses. But at least show your first and last name. Enter the contact information and a brief background. If nobody knows you are, it is unlikely they will do business with you.

Scare tactics 2nd

Send an e-mail, contains virtually no information. Yesterday I responded to a post on Craigslist that requested an editor. In my e-mail, I changed my name, contact information, a little background information and directed potential customers to my website. I asked a few questions about their needs. In response, I received a line and a very little, that. See why I do not plan to contact this person again?

Scare tactics 3rd

Are you sending too many e-mails! Want to make people believe that you have absolutely zero going on? Then send someone a barrage of e-mails, only after they met. I recently had a rush of e-mails from potential customers - nine overall, in the course of a day. YIKES! This is a busy world. The people have no time to pore through your information. Organize your thoughts and send us an e-mail maybe two, max.

Scare tactics 4th

Send e-mail from a personal nature. Never, ever send e-mail jokes or personal anecdotes to someone you plan on running a business with over the Internet. I do not care how promising the first phone conversation was or how "friendly" it appears. This screams unprofessional behavior, and even a little disturbing. Many marketers swap information, and that's fine. But it should only be used in moderation. There is a fine line between helpful information exchange and e-mail harassment. Not cross.

Scare tactics 5th

Send an e-mail to the group, and forget that a blind copy. I was recently signed to work for a company that contracts, writer. I liked the spirit in which business was conducted and the owner of the website are the honest approach. But there is no such thing as too much honesty. The first project came through by e-mail - and I could see the names of all writers, was in competition with me to work! Not only that these problems have written all over it, but nobody wants their e-mail address will be shared. A privacy is the hallmark of a real business. Implement, and assure people their information is safe with your company.

Scare tactics 6th

Send an e-mail, you have not checked. We are all in a hurry, it's true. But haste is waste! If the information about the theme of "barbecue girls," You can only some unexpected feedback! Double check your message can ensure that the recipient can respond. Ultimately, you get an answer to the question you asked - and not one you did not.

Scare tactics 7th

Send an e-mail, which is either too excited or too strict. People Are People - and I have met people from both ends of the spectrum. These are, "so excited to make your acquaintance that they can not stop crying !!!!!!" and those who apparently are so wrapped in themselves that they can not save a polite hello. My advice: Take the middle. Keep it friendly yet professional, and do not go to extremes in your correspondence.

Will not frighten people away with your e-mail? Then avoid the "Scary Seven!" Especially on, what, when, where, how and why your message and make sure all information that will help your future colleagues to get to know you better - a website link, some articles you have written your CV, etc. Do not be overly intrusive in e-mails, and to avoid over-or under-valuations to communicate. Over time, you'll get the feel for the kind of e-mails respond to the people. And if that happens, you can click your way to cultivate fruitful Internet business relationships!

The Trouble With Spam Is....

2008-07-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

by: Niall Roche

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 sheer frustration that spam causes combined with the number of lost man hours adds up to junk email being a very real problem for all involved. You have to filter through all the junk to find your own personal or work email. This on its own is annoying enough. When you consider the security risks from spyware, trojans, diallers and attempted identity theft spam becomes much more than just an annoyance - it becomes a minefield for any computer user.

So what can you do to block spam? The first step each user should take is to simply limit the number of people who know your personal email address. If you have a work email address then just use it for work. For home users only distribute your email address to people you know and trust. This simple move can cut your spam problems by 50%.

But what about all those online forms I need to fill in? No problem. Use a free email service like Hotmail or Gmail for this purpose. Treat it as a throwaway account that you can use as a buffer between your true personal email address and the rest of the world. Let it fill up with junk email and then just login once a week and delete everything you see.

Your password. It's amazing how many people set the password for their email account to abc123 or something similar. These passwords are incredibly easy for spammers to guess and would give them easy access to your mail account. The password for your email account should follow corporate standards of being 6 - 8 characters long and be alphanumeric (a mixture of numbers and letters). Make it longer if you can. Using a weak password is just asking for trouble.

If you're already receiving a ton of spam then you'll need to invest in a spam blocker. There are free spam blockers you can download and also also their paid equivalents. A great spam blocker can cost you as little as $30 and you'll see an immediate reduction in the amount of spam you're receiving.

Over and above installing software on your computer (especially for Mac users as your choices are limited) you could sign up for one of the web based challenge response spam blockers like Mailblocks or SpamArrest. Both of these services are ideal for somebody who's on the move a lot. Also because they're web based there's no software to install so they're perfect for Mac or PocketPC/Palm users.

Taking a pro-active anti spam stance is the next step. If you get junk email from people then check the mail headers and report any offensive email to the hosting company or ISP involved. Never, ever reply to spam directly. This simply confirms to the spammer that your email address is active. Also never click on any hyperlinks in any junk email - this again confirms your existence and can lead to a virus being downloaded directly onto your PC. Filter the spam, report the abusers, delete the remaining junk email.

Spam can be stopped. Not by some corporate giant or genius programmer. It can be stopped by each of you individually. Spammers rely on the widespread availability of email addresses and for people to reply to these emails or click on the links within the emails. The sooner people stop reacting emotionally to spam and simply filter, report and delete the offensive mail itself the sooner the lucrative market of bulk email will dry up for the spammers.

About the author:
This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews spam blocker software and other anti spam utilties.

Spam - How to Report it

2008-07-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

I’m sure you find spam just as frustrating and annoying as I do. So I’ve done some investigation in how to report it to get these people hopefully in a bit of strife! And put spam to an end or at least lessen it ;-)

You see, I actually didn’t realize for a while I was actually making the situation worse. You ever receive those spam emails where you KNOW for sure you NEVER signed up to receive their emails and then they provide an unsubscribe link down the bottom?

Anyways, here I was clicking the unsubscribe button on all these annoying spam emails thinking I was getting my email address removed from their database where all I was doing was confirming that my email address was active and I was reading their spam emails.
Here is how YOU can report these spammers (and hopefully lessen the amount that drifts in and out of our inbox’s every day).

Report Spam Here:

http://www.spamcop.net/

It will show you how to get the details and IP addresses of the spammers to forward to SpamCop in order to file your report against them. Please make sure before doing this, that the email you report as spam “really” is spam and not something you joined on to receive. It's just as bad to falsely accuse someone of spam just as it is to receive spam!
Make sure before you join anyone’s mailing list that they have a privacy notice that allows you to unsubscribe at anytime you wish. And states clearly they will not rent nor share your email address with any third party.
If you find this information helpful please feel free to forward it on to your friends. They can join my mailing list simply by sending a blank Email to scams@aweber.com

About the author:

Join my mailing list simply by sending a blank email to scams@aweber.com (And yes you can unsubscribe at anytime and I will not rent nor share your email address with any third party, spam annoys me just as much as it annoys you)

Avoid, Shun, Thwart, Prevent, and then Filter Spam

2008-07-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

by: Nick Smith

Email is rapidly becoming the standard means of communication among businesses, associates, and even friends. While many people have now been using the internet and email for years, there are thousands of new users on the internet each day. With inexpensive web hosting, free email services, and the blog burst upon us, getting your own slice of the internet pie has never been easier.

Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking for a refresher course, or you’re new to the internet and email and want to start off right, here are some easy steps to follow to reduce the amount of spam you receive.

Don’t choose an obvious email address. Spammers will generate lists of email addresses based on common names. A common list would be something like: nick@yahoo.com, nick1@yahoo.com, nick2@yahoo.com, etc. If you create an email account with less obvious combinations of your name plus some numbers, chances are better that you won’t find your way onto one of these lists.

Treat your personal email address with care. Only give out your personal email address to close friends and family who you trust. Give your direct business email only to clients and other contacts you trust to only use your address for legitimate business purposes.

Use different accounts for different functions. Create different aliases with your business’s domain name or create a few free accounts from free email servers like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Excite, etc. Use one account that you don’t care about for posting to forums or discussion groups. Use another to subscribe to newsletters and newsgroups. When any of these addresses starts to get spammed too heavily, simply delete the account and switch to a different one.

Remove your email address from your website. Between blogs and cheap web space, it seems everyone has their own piece of cyberspace. Before you put a link to your email address on your site, remember that spammers have bots that harvest these addresses. They will even find addresses printed in plain text. Consider using a web-based form for communication from you website, or place your address as a gif or jpeg.

Do not open, respond to, or purchase from spam. Interacting with spam in any of these ways indicates to the spammer that not only is your address valid, it’s also active. Do not respond with “unsubscribe” in the subject line, or click on any links to remove your name out of the database, as both of these are common ploys to confirm your email address. Remember, because sending email is so inexpensive, spamming can be profitable even if only a small percentage of people purchase what they’re selling. Don’t support what you’re trying to stop.

Finally, Filter you incoming email using filtering software. Even if you guard your email address religiously, you’ll likely still receive spam. Filtering software is usually inexpensive and effective, but there are some important features to consider with any filtering package:

• Make sure you can control what comes to your inbox and what gets deleted. The best programs create a spam folder for you to review before permanently deleting emails.

• The software should block images from incoming emails. Many jpegs in spam actually hide code that notifies the spammer when the email is viewed. Blocking images will not only keep offensive content off your screen but will also help prevent more spam in the future.

• Choose software that provides you with updates - as new spamming techniques are created and proliferated, filtering software should keep up.

While eliminating spam from coming to your email address is nigh unto impossible, following these simple steps will mean you’ll have to spend less time deleting spam from your inbox, giving you more time for the important things of life – like reading this article.

About the author:
Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10x Marketing - More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. Find more information about how to filter spam at ContentWatch, Inc.

What Spam Blocker is Best For You?

2008-07-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

by: Niall Roche

With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week it's getting tougher for consumers to make informed choices in their purchases.

There are 3 basic types of spam blocker:

1. Integrated
2. Standalone
3. Online

We'll look at each type of spam filter and at the end you should be able to decide what spam filter is right for you.

Integrated spam filters
This type of spam filtering software is the most common. Once installed it sits "on top" of your existing email software and installs a new set of buttons into your email software. In future when you collect
email you'll see options for marking email as Spam, marking the email as Not Spam, Bounce the email back to sender, etc. The description and position of these buttons varies from one product to the next but their purpose remains the same.

Most integrated spam filters automatically place suspected junk email into a separate folder on your PC for you to review or
delete later on.

The newer integrated spam filters are also "intelligent". They can basically learn the difference between what is
spam and what is not and delete the junk email you don't want.

The most popular integrated spam filters are:

iHate Spam
Spambully
Spam Inspector

Integrated spam filters are most popular amongst people who want a one click solution to collecting their personal email and filtering junk email at the same
time.

Advantages:
One click solution.

Disadvantages:
Software specific. Some work with Outlook and Outlook Express only.

Standalone spam filters
These are less common than their integarted counterparts but that doesn't make them any less useful. A standalone spam filter is basically a separate piece of software installed on your PC that you use to check your email for spam.

Standalone filters have the big advantage of being able to preview your email on the mail server before it's downloaded to your PC. This one single feature has the
huge benefit of allowing you to just download the email that you want as opposed to downloading all of your email, including the spam, and then sorting through it.

Using a standalone spam filter is a little more work simply because it's a separate piece of software that you have to run
before you open up your email software. Most standalone filters do allow you to configure them so that your standard email
application is opened once you've chosen what spam to filter. This suits some people and not others.

The most popular standalone spam filter is:

Mailwasher Pro

Advantages:
Doesn't rely on specific email applications to work properly.

Disadvantages:
Two step process. Load standalone filter and then your email application.

Online spam filters
There are really two types of online spam filters. One is for business use and one is for home use. A typical example of
a business type product is iHate Spam server edition where the software deletes junk email directly from the mail server before the end user even sees it. Large companies employ this type of technology.

Home users will be using Spam Arrest or similar. Spam Arrest offers an inventive solution to spam whereby any email sent to
the users account has a challenge request sent back to it which the sender must authenticate. The automatic junk email software used by spammers can't currently deal with this type of response.
Any failure to authenticate the challenge email results in the junk email being left to die in cyberspace. A user is authenticated with Spam Arrest only once for security just to make sure the software
doesn't become a nuisance.

The most popular online spam filter is:

Spam Arrest

Advantages:
Users are guaranteed to only receive the email that they want or requested.

Disadvantages:
Any techncial problems with the Spam Arrest server and you have no defense against spam.

Now you've seen what spam filtering options are available to you just ask yourself which one suits you most. If you're still not sure drop by www.spam-site.com and check out our product reviews - we have something for everyone.

About the author:
This article was provided courtesy of Spam-Site.com which reviews and tests spam blockers for the business and end user.

Let The Email Wars Begin

2008-07-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

by: Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Things just got a lot hotter in the hyper-competitive world
of online email providers.

In response to Google's announcement that their soon-to-be-
launched "Gmail" service will offer users 1 gigabyte of
email storage, Yahoo! announced an upgrade of their free
email service to allow users 100MB of free email storage
along with other enhancements.

Microsoft's Hotmail will surely also announce a free
upgrade in email storage space.

On the surface it might just appear like a simple case of
one-upmanship, but it actually represents major forces
digging in online and preparing to do battle.

It appears Yahoo! simply wanted to take the issue of email
storage space off the table as a consideration for users as
to which email service to choose.

Google enjoyed considerable media and public attention over
the past few weeks with the media marveling at how Google
intended to give hundreds of megabytes more space to its
users than Yahoo! or Hotmail.

With this move, Yahoo! made storage a "non-issue," but the
real war has only just begun.

Email ranks as the number one most popular online activity
according to virtually any survey you care to read.

When people go online, they spend the single biggest chunk
of their time sending, receiving, and reading email.

Online email providers understand that eyeballs on a page
looking at advertising and responding to offers is what
makes them money.

By increasing loyalty among email users in order to
repeatedly draw them back to the same website (often
several times a day), email service providers like Yahoo!,
Hotmail and Google can keep people looking at revenue
generating ads.

Despite the best efforts of government regulators, private
organizations, software filters, ISP's and others, over
half of all email sent online rates as unsolicited
commercial email (SPAM).

Besides storage space, Google, Yahoo! and Hotmail will
start claiming that their spam filters rate better than the
rest.

These online powerhouses hope to attract users with the
promise of cutting down and even eliminating the avalanche
of get-rich-quick, pornography, and ink-jet cartridge
offers (among others) that bombard virtually anyone with an
email account more than 15 minutes old.

This will, however, lead to another problem that many of
them won't talk about, which involves filtering legitimate
email as spam.

Unfortunately, the sword cuts both ways on this issue.

So where does it all end? Never! Hotmail will enter the
fray with expanded storage capacity as well as the promise
of less spam and a more "friendly" interface to make your
email life even easier.

Yahoo! and Hotmail will most likely copy Google and start
serving context sensitive advertising based on the content
of each email message as it get viewed.

Privacy advocates will weigh in to claim that all of the
filtering and serving of ads based on an email message's
content violates our rights to privacy and heralds the
arrival of "Big Brother."

But all this jockeying for position and enticing users from
one email service to another actually represents a great
boon for the average Internet user.

It will force three of the Web's biggest players to wake up
and improve their services after 2 or 3 years of "business
as usual" and we can all expect a few valuable innovations
to result.

About the author:
Jim Edwards, a.k.a. TheNetReporter.com, is a syndicated newspaper
columnist, nationally recognized speaker, author, and web developer.
Owner of nine (9) successful e-businesses as well as a professional
consulting firm, Jim's writing comes straight off the front lines
of the Internet and e-commerce.

Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to
your website for weeks, even months... without spending a
dime on advertising! ==>

The Hidden Dangers of HTML Email

2008-07-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

As a veteran Internet user, I can honestly say I remember a time when HTML email was not possible. Back then RTF wasn't available either and for that matter, email programs did not even wrap lines for you or allow file attachments.

Today however, I receive a steady and annoying stream of email in all shapes, colors and sizes. Almost all promotional advertisements and many newsletters come in Html format.

Now, Spam is annoying, Spam in droves even more so, but Spam with "twirlygigs" is intolerable -- and dangerous. HTML is for websites. I visit them all the time and enjoy their various amusements. Email however, is a tool. A communications method used for getting work done. I get plenty of regular email, hundreds of pieces a day usually, due to the support, consulting and writing services I provide. If all of those emails are in HTML format then I'm stuck looking at potentially hundreds of web pages and thousands of graphics.

HTML email takes extra time to download, and for me it takes extra time to read. You see I don't trust HTML email. I've coded many websites in my day and I know that scripts can be hidden in the pages. Now when you couple that fact with the daily news about viruses and worms being sent, well that's just downright scary, so I do not allow my email program to automatically open HTML formatted email. Now I rarely use Outlook and Express (sorry Microsoft but they feel just a bit too dangerous to me now days) however I'd rather be safe than sorry no matter which email program I use. So, I have my email software configured to show all HTML messages as attachments.

Having the email converted to an attachment allows me to immediately see if there are any other files included with the message. And let me tell you, this has saved my butt time after time! I've lost count of how many times I've gotten email with the HTML attached, and malicious code, worms and viruses attached right next to it. If my email program was configured to "conveniently" display HTML as a web page, then a lot of those attached files would have opened on their own and done who knows what to my system.

So, if you receive a lot of email yourself, be careful what you allow to come in. If you run a newsletter or Email update service of any kind, please be courteous and at least ASK before sending HTML formatted email. And when you do have permission to send HTML email, don't include heavy graphics, scripts or other file attachments.

Text may not be as glamorous, but it's a heck of a lot safer and much easier for your readers to glance through.

About the author:
(c) 2002 Kathy Burns.

Want a Fully Operational Web Site Business in Less than 15 Minutes? Check Out The TurnKey Niche Profit Sites!

This article is provided courtesy of The Guru Gazette Niche Marketing Blog - - You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.

Email Marketing: Affordable Internet Marketing Technique

2008-07-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

by: David Riewe

Email marketing is labeled as a killer method when it comes to effective low-cost Internet marketing endeavors. This is because it is the most widely-used and has the best reputation in bringing targeted traffic to websites. It is used to stay in touch with your customers or prospective customers, send out invitations, or make special offers.

It's as easy as writing an e-mail that may be in a form of a newsletter or a plain announcement, and sending that to as many targeted recipients as possible. However, there's an ideal way of going about it. Email marketing is not just about writing any email that you will be sending to anybody. To clarify that, here are some simple tips in doing email marketing the best way possible.

1. Join the "Can Spam" campaign.

Email marketing is not at any rate tantamount to spamming. You are not supposed to send information that your email list will not have any valuable use for.

2. Make your email list open it.

Your email might get lost together with the hundreds of emails that inbox owners are confronted with everyday. Improve your subject line by using extra white space creatively, adding text symbols, starting each word with a capital letter, asking compelling questions, not making any unbelievable claims, and not using the word FREE.

3. Keep it real.

Not including any too good to be true statements is not only applicable to your subject line. Your email content must never embody any promise your business can't keep. Make your offer genuinely of value to your recipients.

4. Don't go too low.

If you inform your customers regarding discounts, minimal discounts are not that effective compared with substantial discounts. But never offer discounts that are lower than your profit. It will defeat the purpose of this email marketing effort.

5. Make it eventful.

It's not about contradicting the advice that you should keep an email short and sweet. This tip is on including seminars, conferences and other events in your email. Businesses that require training benefit much from this method. With these RSVP-requiring emails, repetition is important. Just make sure that an ample interval is considered before sending out a reminder email.

6. Post news.

Sending newsletters and postcards provides useful information for your subscribers. These are the best forms of reaching out to your customers or prospects. You should keep the information short, simple and direct to the point for this feat to be effective.

With these simple ways of going about your email marketing endeavor, your business will prosper in no time.

About the author:
Little Known Minnesota Man Making Six Figures Per Year Online, From the Comfort of Home, Reveals His Top Internet Money-Makers.

Six Tips to Get Rid of Spam Email

2008-06-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

by: Alex Fir

1. Ignore Spam Email

Do not open an unsolicited email. Spammers are just playing a numbers game. They simply send out like a million emails and hope that at least a third of them stick.

Spammers try to gather as many email addresses as they can. They don’t even know if any of the addresses are active. It is when you answer them that they know whether or not it is an active account that is checked often.

2. Do NOT Click On the Unsubscribe Links

It is natural for you to want to click on the link at the bottom of the email that promises that you can be taken off of their email list, but do not think for a second that this is what happens.

When you click on the “click here if you wish to stop receiving these emails” link, the spammers simply change the name that sends it to you. All you have proven is that you are indeed opening and reading emails.

3. Use Various Email Addresses

Since it is unavoidable to receive spam, set up a “dummy” email address. You would use this address when you register for newsletters, order products, enter contests, and register your new software.

You would like to avoid using you primary email address, or the email address that you receive from your ISP for things like that. This is the email that you would give your contacts or “safe people”.

4. Don’t Post Your Address

If you have a web site, avoid posting your email address in your “contact me” section.
Since spammers scan through web sites and look for the @ symbol, write your email address with the word “at” instead.

That makes it a bit more difficult for spammers to find your email address because they use special software that searches for the symbol, and not just the words.

5. Do Not Purchase from Spam

The absolute worst thing that you could do is buy something from spam. Just imagine how perfect the world would be if everyone gathered together to refuse to buy things that were offered in an unsolicited email. Spammers would be out of business the moment that they realized that they weren’t getting anywhere.

6. Beware of Free Trial Software

For every legitimate download, there are plenty that are designed to get your personal information, which will eventually lead you to more spam. This is particularly popular from free trial software as well as free software.

Spammers use this method in a similar manner as they would use a gift promotion and contest sign in. That is one of the most beneficial ways for spammers to get you on their hook.

About the author:
Visit Stop Spam Center for the latest news and information about how to block spam.

Do You Get More Spam Than Real Email?

2008-05-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Do You Get More Spam Than Real Email?

by: Matt Garrett

The unsolicited junk or bulk email that you receive is known as Spam. Spam is a very serious problem the people have to deal with daily. Sometimes the junk emails exceed the regular email messages that we receive in our email account. Spam filter can be a solution for you to get freedom from Spam mails. There are different types of software to keep out the Spam emails from your inbox. Spam filters can monitor the emails that come in your inbox and prevent any Spam mail from entering in to your inbox.

The Spam email that you receive is due to the inappropriate usage of mailing list. The mailing list consists of email ids of different people and all of them can be flooded with bulk or junk emails. Many companies send out the Spam email massages to a large number of people who do not ask for such massages. Spamming is considered to be very bad netiquette as it amounts in violating a person’s privacy. Netiquette demand that no email id can be used without the user’s permission.

Many Spam filters are designed to help people who are constantly bombarded with junk or bulk mails. Spam filters make use of filtering technology to filter the contents of the incoming emails. Spam filters can effectively help a person by sorting out these types of incoming emails.

Different types of Spam filters can be helpful for controlling spam. Content based Spam filter is one type that can be used by you. The filter scans the content of the email, and searches for tell tale signs for Spam in the message. Content based Spam filters have however not been very effective in controlling the bulk or the junk messages. The main reason for this being that the spammers had devised ways and means by which they can communicate their message despite the presence of such filters.

Spam filters that are prepared these days are designed to give advanced protection against unsolicited emails and spammers. Bayesian filter technology is another effective way of controlling these mails. Bayesian technology is not like other filtering methods that search for Spam identifying words in the header and the subject line. The Bayesian filter uses the entire perspective of an email when it looks for characters or words for identifying a Spam. Another feature of Bayesian Spam filter is that the more it analyzes the incoming mails, the more it learns to identify Spam mails.

Spam mails can sometimes bombard you in such a manner that you may end up receiving more Spam than the regular emails. Most email service providers have Spam filter software enabled in their sites. All you need to do is select the options of setting the Spam filter for your emails according to your liking. You can mark the sites from which you want to receive or not receive mails in your inbox. Setting the options for blocking the bulk or the junk mails is entirely your prerogative.

About the author:
Author – MattGarrett

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5 Zero Cost Solutions to Spam

2008-05-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

5 Zero Cost Solutions to Spam

by: Niall Roche

Spam is a daily nuisance for all of us. It doesn't matter whether you're employed or unemployed. It doesn't matter if you're a CEO of a multinational or if you're a work at home parent - spam affects us all.

There are dozens of porgams available for fighting spam. The major problem is that most of these programs cost money.
What I'm going to do is show you 5 different ways of combating spam - all free.

1. Don't give out your personal email address.
This is stating the obvious but it's the first big mistake people make. DO NOT use your personal email address for
sign up forms, competitions, surveys or any other nonsense that may result in you being spammed. It's much easier to prevent spam, by never giving out your personal email address, than it is to cure the problem once you're on 100's of junk email lists.

2. Use a free email account
Set yourself up with a Hotmail, Yahoo or any other free email account and use it as a spam holder account i.e. use it on all those popups or sign up forms that you *suspect* may try to spam you. You can then periodically check your free email account for both legitimate and spam email and
delete the rubbish you don't want. This single step can save you countless spam related headaches.

3. Use a disposable email address
You could also try a disposable e-mail address from www.spamgourmet.com. This is a brilliant idea. Once you've registered your forwarding email address (your personal
email address) with them you can then create
self-destructing email addresses that stop working after receiving a specific number of emails.

4. Use a free spam filter.
Unfortunately even when you follow all the correct steps you can still wind up getting junk email. There's only solution at that point - install a spam filter on your PC.
The best free spam filter I've come across so far is Mailwasher. An excellent
program that won't cost you a penny.

5. Newsgroups and forums
Spammers love newsgroups and forums. They especially love the way people post their personal email addresses there. It doesn't matter if it's a paid, private or free forum spammers have their harvester programs hunting for email addresses every minute of every day. If you have to post
your email address then use the following format:

username AT domain.com. If that doesn't make sense then what I mean is instead of posting as test@spam-site.com you'd
post as test AT spam-site.com.

Spammers can harvest 35,000 email addresses per hour from newsgroups and forums - don't let your email address become one of those.

There you have 5 simple, free solutions to drastically reduce the amount of spam you receive every single day. If you want to learn more about fighting spam then
drop by spam-site.com.

About the author:
Need a spam blocker? Check out Spam-Site.com for spam filter reviews and spam related information.

Circulated by Article Emporium

7 Steps To Effectively Take Control Of Your Inbox And Reduce Spam

2008-05-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

7 Steps To Effectively Take Control Of Your Inbox And Reduce Spam

by: Balraj Dhaliwal

Everbody hates spam! I am sure spammers hate getting spam too, but they still continue to dish it out. Why? Because it is still effective. Believe it or not, many of us still click on the links or follow-up with the spam message. As long as we continue to do this, spam will exist. If everybody understood this and paid no attention to spam, the spammers will eventually give up because it costs them realy money to send out emails. It is hard to quantify what the cost of sending out one, two or fifty emails is, but 1 million or 5 million emails certainly has a cost that is not negligible. When the payback starts to get so small that the spammers cannot make a decent living, they will find something else to do. This day will come and I cannot wait for it to arrive.

In the meantime, what can we do about it. Well, I am not going to tell you that there is a perfect solution that will stop all spam, but what I will tell you is that there is a way to reduce the problem and manage it effectively using the 7 steps outlined below.

Step #1: Get Your Own Domain Name

Fighting spam effectively starts with getting your own domain name. For example if your name is Andy Williams, you would purchase a domain name called andywilliams.com, which is of course already owned by the famous singer. This has some unique advantages over using an ISP given domain name or a webmail service such as Hotmail or Gmail. It also has some minor disadvantages. Let's examine these.

One major advantage is that you control the entire email address. You could create emails addresses like andy@andywilliams.com, info@andywilliams.com, sales@andywilliams.com and so on. This is in stark contract to an ISP assigned name like andywilliams@comcast.net. If you wanted another one, you'd have to open up another account or pay extra for each additional ISP assigned address. If you ever decided to switch ISP's, you would lose that email address and have to start over using a new one, and inform everyone you communicated with about it - a very messy proposition.

Many get around this problem by getting a Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Gmail account which you can access from anywhere as long as you have internet access. These types of email accounts definitely have a place in your email toolchest, but do not suffice as your primary personal email address. One reason is that you do not have access to your email messages and address books when you are not online, like during a long flight. Anotehr drawback is that they do not allow you to export the online address books making portability very tedious.

I prefer owning my own domain name which I call my permanent email address. I will always have this email address as long as I renew this domain name every year. The cost of registering a domain name varies from $4 to $8 per year for most common ones. This is a small price to pay for the advantages it brings you.

The one minor disadvantage of owning your own domain name is that you need to manage it yourself, or have someone do it for you. This in my opinion is far outweighed by the advantages mentioned above.

Step #2: Create Private Email Adresses

A private email address is one that nobody but your inner circle knows about. Every person that you give your personal email address to is someone that you trust and want to receive email from.

Setup one private email address for every person who is going to need to receive messages. This could be you and 5 other members of your family or 12 employees that work for you. This part is quite straightforward, you simply login to your email control panel and create new accounts for each email address that is going to be used to receive email.

Step #3: Create Public Email Addresses As Aliases

A public email address is generally known to the public. It can be specific like andyw@andywilliams.com or generic like receptionist@andywilliams.com.

A public email address is created as an email alias. An email alias is not a real email address, but an address that gets redirected to a real email address. For example, you setup receptionist@andywilliams.com as an alias that redirects to mary@andywilliams.com. Whenever some sends an email to receptionist@andywilliams.com, it will end up in Mary's inbox. If you change receptionists, you simple modify the redirect for a very elegant solution. You can then publish this public email address on a website, in a brochure, on print advertising, business cards etc. without giving away your personal email address and without having to make much changes if Mary leaves and a new receptionist is hired. This is a huge benefit and maintains your privacy as well as those of others you have created email adresses for.

How does this help with spam, you ask? By using email aliases in a smart fashion, you could very easily shut down any spam that starts coming in. Let's examine how this can be done.

Step #4: Setup the Default or Catch-all Email Address

Your email control panel will have something called a "default address" or it is also sometimes called a "catch-all address". This is a valid email address that all unresolved emails go to. If you set this up to be your personal email address for example, then you will receive all emails that are addressed to "anything"@andywilliams.com, this includes sales@andywilliams.com, joe@andywilliams.com, andrew@andywilliams.com etc. Herein lies the secret to combat spam.

Step #5: Create Specific Named Public Email Addresses As And When Required

When you are forced to register on a website where you want to get some information from, you are usually asked for a valid email address. Well guess what, you now have an unlimited supply of valid email adresses. I usually use a specific format when registering at websites - it is "websitename"@andywilliams.com. So if I am registering at a website called www.get-rich-quick.com, I would use the address get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com as my valid email address. When the site sends me an email, it gets redirected to my personal email or whatever the default or catch-all address is.

Step #6: Send Spam Back To Where It Came From, If Possible

Here comes the real bonus, if you subsequently start receiving spam addressed to none other than get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com, you simple create an email alias for get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com and redirect the email back to exactly where it came from, for example georg-bush@get-rick-quick.com. You will then never get another email from anyone using that email address ever again. This is cool and is my favourite part. Bear in mind that spammers usually send email from an address that is not their own, so if you see an address like noreply@get-rick-quick.com, then you would redirect it somewhere else, for example a Hotmail address that you setup just for redirection purposes. Please exercise some discretion here because spammers often use the email addresses of real people and we don't want these innocent people getting redirected email.

Step #7: Be Diligent In The Ongoing Management Of Your Domain

If you do this diligently for each website where you register by identifying the website name, you will very quickly know which websites are selling email addresses and which ones honor their promise not to share your information. ALl this while, nobody by your personal inner circle knows your private email address.

A real-life example in my case: I use a specific email alias for my Paypal account which nobody but Paypal knows. I have never ever received spam on this address, but I have received hundreds of spam messages on other email aliases that I have created. All of these emails supposedly come from Paypal and address me as "Dear Valued Paypal Member" or something similar, warning me that my account is going to be closed or suspended unless I click on their link and update my credit card information.

I hope that I have given you some food for thought on how to manage the ever growing spam problem by protecting yourself by taking some initiative and getting your own domain name. The added benefit is that you now have a permanent email address no matter where you choose to live or which ISP you use to connect to the internet.

There are many other ways to fight spam which I will perhaps address future articles.

About the author:
Balraj Dhaliwal is an Internet Consultant for BSD Register. He helps customers with whatever they need to achieve their goals. BSD Register is well respected and liked by its customers because of its no nonsense simple approach to getting things done. Visit BSD Register at

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Top 7 Ways to STOP Junk Email

2008-05-29T11:45:00.001-07:00

Top 7 Ways to STOP Junk Email

by: Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Nothing makes me angrier than opening my email in-box to
find over 150 messages, wading through them all, and
discovering that 135 of the messages rate as nothing more
than junk.

The problem with junk email or "spam" (the popular slang
for unsolicited commercial email) only seems to get worse
with each passing day.

Luckily, we can fight back in ways that will actually cut
down significantly on the amount of spam we receive on a
daily basis.

Try these tips and see if they can't cut the spam you
receive down by at least half.

** Don't Respond

Much of the spam you receive contains an "unsubscribe" link
saying something like "To unsubscribe, click here." Do NOT
click that link.

Clicking it lets spammers know they've got a live email
address!

** Use Mailwahser

Get a program like "Mailwasher" from Mailwasher.net that
allows you to view the email you receive before you
download it.

The program makes it simple to delete dozens of emails,
including viruses, before they reach your computer.

** Use Your Filters

Your email program most likely contains filters you can use
to weed out emails containing the usual spam words like
"opportunity, $$$, sex, viagra" and a host of others.

You can set the filters to delete messages containing these
words before ever downloading them to your computer.

** Use An "Assassin"

Spam "killer" services offer users high-powered filtering,
often requiring a sender to prove their identity before an
email gets sent to the recipient.

One such service, SpamArrest.com, forces email senders to
go to a website and type in a random word before their
email gets delivered. This service has gained a lot of
popularity lately and seems reasonably effective.

** Use a Temporary Email

Maintain a public and private email address and never give
your private email to anyone other than family and friends.

Go sign up for a free email account with Hotmail.com or
mail.yahoo.com to use whenever you subscribe to a
newsletter or request a free report. That way, if the spam
ever gets too bad, you can simply abandon the free account
and open another.

Your private email address should remain safe because
nobody will know it except the people you trust.

** Never Post Your Email

Never post your private email address in forums, guest
books, news groups or on a website. Spammers use little
robots that comb the Internet looking for email addresses
they can collect and sell to others.

Always use a free account or set it up so you can shut off
the exposed email address once the spam gets too bad.

** Abandon Ship

Shut down your current account and just start over! This
may seem a drastic move, but it may represent the best
course of action if your sanity or your email box can't
handle another offer for sexual enhancements, a great
business opportunity, or a free cruise.

Notify everyone you want to know your new email address and
get on with life.

About the author:
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to
use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links...

Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to
your website for weeks, even months... without spending a
dime on advertising! ==>

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How To Avoid Spam Robots

2008-05-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

How To Avoid Spam Robots

by: Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite the fact that Federal legislation (the CANSPAM act) made it illegal, harvesting email addresses from the web using automated robots remains alive and well.

Spammers who need fresh email addresses release software spider programs that comb the Internet and suck email addresses off Web pages, guest books, and anywhere else you might post your email address.

Once they get your email address, spammers will trade it around like 5th graders with a new pack of Pokemon cards at recess and you can expect the avalanche of email to begin flooding your inbox.

In order to combat this still rampant practice of stealing email addresses from websites and sending people email they don't want, the following tips should help protect you.

** Break It Up **

Obviously the best way to avoid getting picked up by an email harvester is not to post your email anywhere on anyone's website (including your own).

If the only way someone can get your email is if you give it to them, that creates a similar situation to operating with an unlisted phone number.

If telemarketers can't get your phone number, they can't call.

If you must post your email address, post it in a way that a robot won't recognize it as an email address. Instead of posting YOURNAME@YOURDOMAIN.COM, you can put YOURNAME (AT) YOURDOMAIN.COM and then, in parenthesis, put (replace AT with @ to email me).

Though it seems like an extra step for legitimate email, you'll find it a very effective technique.

** Use An Image **

Currently, online spiders (ANY spider, including search engines) cannot read text that appears in a graphic or picture. If you must display an email address on a page, then do it by typing your email address into your favorite graphics program and saving the image as a .gif or .jpg. Then post the image onto your web page so people can see the email, but spiders cannot. This too creates an extra step for people because they must type in your email address, but it's an effective solution if you must display an email address on your own website.

** Use An Email Form **

Another way to cut down on spam originating from your own website is simply not to display an email at all.

Instead, allow customers and prospects to contact you through a form where they fill in fields, click a button, and your website emails you their message.

A note of caution: make sure the form script you use does not keep your email address visible in the form code.

If the form code contains the email address, spam robots can find it even though you don't see it on the page.

** Make It Hard To Guess **

Sometimes you'll get unsolicited email because a spammer guessed your email address.

It's not a far stretch to imagine that someone probably has the email Jim@yourdomain.com, so spammers will do a "dictionary" attack on common usernames.

One way to defeat this is to place a "dot" (.) in your email address, such as Jim.Edwards@yourdomain.com. The dot makes it virtually impossible for spammers to guess your email address.

About the author:
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links...

Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months... without spending a dime on advertising! ==>

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Winning the War On Spam

2008-05-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Winning the War On Spam

For years I didn't worry much about spam.

But lately it's got out of control. Over half of my email is now spam, and it was growing by the week - until I took action.

This article shows you some strategies for winning the war on spam.

------------------------------------------------

How Do They Get Your Address?

------------------------------------------------

In the old days, spammers got their addresses mainly from Newsgroups - if you didn't post to Newsgroups, you were reasonably safe. But they're now using a much more efficient method to build their lists - email harvesters.

Email harvesters are robots that roam the Internet collecting email addresses from web pages. Examples are EmailSiphon, Cherry Picker, Web Weasel, Web Bandit and Email Wolf, to name just a few.

How can you protect yourself from email harvesters?

By 'munging' (mung = 'mash until no good') or cloaking your email address.

There are many ways of munging your address - the easiest technique is to use ASCII code for the punctuation in your email address (instead of symbols).

For the colon after mailto use : and for the @ symbol use @ and for the period use . . With this method, your email address would become:

mailto:yourname@yourdomain.com

but it will display as:

mailto:yourname@yourdomain.com

Your email address will appear exactly as it did before, and it will still be 'clickable', but email harvesters will ignore it and move on.

There are also JavaScript's that you can insert into your web page that will make your email address visible to humans but invisible to harvesting programs. Here's one that works very well: http://pointlessprocess.com/JavaScripts/anti-spam.htm

-----------------------------

How To Fight Spam

-----------------------------

The most important thing is never, ever, reply to spam.

Most spam contains an innocent-looking 'remove me' email address. Do not use it. Here's why:

Spammers typically buy a CD containing a million or so email addresses, but they have no idea how many of those addresses are active. So before beginning their marketing campaign in earnest, they send out a 'test message' to the entire list.

The test message contains an email address for removing yourself. When you reply to that address, it confirms to the spammer that your address is active and therefore worth spamming.

Worse still, the spammer may be distilling from that CD a list of confirmed active addresses that he will then sell to another spammer.

The key to dealing with spam is to report it to a 3rd party: (1) the affiliate program that the spammer is advertising, (2) the spammer's web host, or (3) the ISP the spammer used to connect to the Internet.

When you report spam to a 3rd party, remember to be polite - they didn't send the spam and they're probably just as anti-spam as you are.

(1) Reporting to Affiliate Programs

Many spammers are affiliates advertising someone else's products or services. So look for a website address that contains an affiliate link, something like this: www.affiliateprogramdomain/841526

Then just send an email to the affiliate program (abuse@affiliateprogramdomain.com), informing them that you are receiving spam from one of their affiliates.

Most affiliate programs have zero tolerance for spamming and will remove an affiliate spammer without warning.

Now, affiliate spammers don't want you to see their affiliate link, so many of them send their email as HTML. All you see in the message are the words 'Click Here and Order Now'.

But in your browser just click on 'View Source Code' and search for the letters 'http'. That will take you to the spammer's affiliate link.

(2) Reporting to Web Hosts

If the spam doesn't contain an affiliate link, it's likely that it is coming from the owner of the domain name. In that case you'll have to report it to the spammer's web host or their ISP.

To make a report to the spammer's web host just go to Whois, the directory of registered domain names: http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois

Type in the spammer's domain (the website address that appears in the spam) together with the extension (.com, .org, .net etc).

The host for that domain will usually be listed as the Technical Contact in the Whois record and there will be an email address for contacting them.

(3) Reporting to ISPs

To report a spammer to his Internet Service Provider, you'll have to look at the spam's 'extended headers'.

Extended headers show the servers that the message passed through in order to get to you. The instructions for viewing extended headers will vary depending on what email client you are using.

=> In Pegasus Mail, open the offending message and then

right-click and choose 'Show raw message data'.

=> In Eudora Light, click on 'Tools' in the top menu

bar, and then 'Options', and then select the

checkbox option that says 'Show all headers (even

the ugly ones)' and click OK.

=> In Outlook Express, open the offending message,

select 'Properties' from the File menu and then

click the 'Details' tab.

Reading and understanding extended headers is quite a detailed subject. Here's an excellent free tutorial on how to decipher extended headers: http://www.doughnut.demon.co.uk/SpamTracking101.html

As an alternative to these reporting techniques, you could use a web-based spam reporting service such as SpamCop (www.spamcop.net). SpamCop deciphers the spam's message headers and traces the mail back to its source.

Wishing you every success in the fight against spam!

------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
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