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| Thread ID: 86810 | 2008-01-29 19:17:00 | Help for junk mail - spam, my solution | Roscoe (6288) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 635141 | 2008-01-29 19:17:00 | Do you receive junk mail - spam? Of course you do. What a silly question. To many people it is annoying in the extreme, so what are you going to do about it? Spam filters, etc, etc? Possibly. But, in my experience, there is a better way. Once they have your address, I'm not certain that you can do too much about it. My suggestion is to start again. Sounds a bit drastic, but I know it works. I have had my main present address for over two years and have yet to receive any spam. I know that it sounds incredible, but what I have done works. First, change your email address. The change does not need to be drastic and I think that your ISP will allow you to change. For example, if your present address is fredbare@whatever.com I would suggest you change it to fred.bare@whatever.com then, of course, tell all your contacts. Second, the people you advise of your new address should only be trusted family and friends. No-one else! Third, when you feel the urge to give out your address for whatever reason, use the address, fredbare@mailinator.com, but never give out your new address. Mailinator is a site that you can use when you need some information on a once only basis. Shortly after you have retrieved your mail that address will cease to exist. Go to www.mailinator.com and have a look. I'm certain that you will be impressed. I'm certain that spam filters/blockers etc are good and do what they say they will, but why receive spam in the first place? What do you think? Any better ideas? |
Roscoe (6288) | ||
| 635142 | 2008-01-29 19:23:00 | Constantly changing your address is a recipe for disaster and just annoys your contacts. It only takes one leak, or one instance when you need a long-term address to give to someone who might (possibly completely accidentally) abuse it, and suddenly the spam has returned and you've just gone back to square one. It makes far more sense to simply have an effective spam filtering solution - ideally based on the mailserver rather than your local machine, but obviously this isn't an option for everyone. |
Erayd (23) | ||
| 635143 | 2008-01-29 19:36:00 | Should a post touting mailinator.com be classed as spam? ;) | R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 635144 | 2008-01-29 19:44:00 | Changing your email address is a reasonable thing to do if you are getting a lot of spam and if you are careful who you give it to, can remain spam free for years. Most ISPs are using very effective spam filters these days so if you are still getting a lot of spam consider changing to another ISP with a good spam filter. |
Safari (3993) | ||
| 635145 | 2008-01-29 19:53:00 | I just use poptray. With wildcards, and a few domains Havent received spam for 2-3 yrs +. No need to go to any site or change email. |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 635146 | 2008-01-29 20:09:00 | Many years I used to get a lot of spam as I ran a couple of Faq on usenet. To bring that to a stop I changed my Login/Main Email with my ISP ONLY Me and my ISP know that email address. There was a fee for changing the main login name. My ISP allows up to 5 free email addresses (1 being my main login/email) And minimal extra fee for more than that 5. My family and I use the other 4 and I am able to change those via Web Login. Of those 4 only 1 started to get some spam so a quick login and change it problem solved. For anything like here I just use disposable email addresses. There are dozens of hosts that do these (excluding hotmail, gmail etc) Some require a login every x amount of days or weeks to keep them alive some don't. The disposable email addresses are good for sighing up to something, particularly if you need to register to download an upgrade to some program or sign up for a forum or two. If these disposable emails start getting spam then it is very easy to create another. It works for me anyway. |
Bantu (52) | ||
| 635147 | 2008-01-29 20:52:00 | [QUOTE=Roscoe;638952]Do you receive junk mail - spam? Of course you do. What a silly question. To many people it is annoying in the extreme, so what are you going to do about it? Spam filters, etc, etc? Possibly. But, in my experience, there is a better way. "Touch wood", since switching ISP's, I have not had any. With Xtra I had to logon to their website Spam folder and delete 90 to 100 spam emails every day, if you didn't they would build up to the extent that Outlook Express would state there wasn't enough space to download. Paradise don't appear to have such a Spam folder, so lets hope good emails have not been lost, the one thing with Xtra's Spam folder you could pick up any emails that were good and there quite a few. Lurking. |
Lurking (218) | ||
| 635148 | 2008-01-29 21:22:00 | Paradise do have a spam folder (per Webmail login) so you can check for messages that have gone astray. However they delete after 30 days or so... I find the best spam filter is a gMail address. It is extrremely rare that gMail gets it wrong - in fact I can't remember the last time I got a spam via my gMail address... |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 635149 | 2008-01-29 21:43:00 | Constantly changing your address is a recipe for disaster and just annoys your contacts. I don't constantly change my address simply because once was enough, although I would imagine that it would not only be annoying for your contacts, but for yourself as well - I couldn't be bothered. R2x1: Just to keep you happy there is also www.bugmenot.com, www.spamgourmet.com and www.spambob.com.;) I mentioned mailinator because that is the one that I most frequently use.;) Lurking: Good to hear that you are doing ok. Just keep your address to yourself, close family and friends and spam will continue to be an unknown to you as well. Drive you mad having to delete all that spam. I also have a hotmail address (not my main address so I don't mind) and they have a spam filter. I have noticed that you need to check the email deposited in the junk folder as it does not always know which is which. Bantu: That is my main use for a disposable address, to sign up for a download or something similar. And another good solution from you. Thanks. Safari: Is that what you did? And so you too are spam free? Great! |
Roscoe (6288) | ||
| 635150 | 2008-01-30 07:04:00 | johcar, you are right, right next to the Inbox. Nothing showing in there. Lurks. |
Lurking (218) | ||
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