Spam

[Guest cybercamel]

For some reason since the beginning of March I've been getting tons of spam. Now call me cynical, but it does seem to coincide with me not taking up an offer with Bigfoot (whom I use as my main PC email address) which offered me protection from spam, but at a cost!!!! Having said that it also coincides with me having to reformat my computer. :)

So what's the best way of stopping all this spam without paying Bigfoot anything, any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

I use a hotmail account as my spamtrap - I use that email address for any kind of NG/webboard posts . Set up a few message rules in your hotmail account to move all "modaco" and newsgroup replies to a special SPV folder (or whatever) and yer away, the rest of the inbox can just be deleted.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Another way is to try and create a more obscure email address worked for me :)

Also try and avoid some some of the better known ISP as well, I found tiscali is spam city :evil: I had more spam in the three months of signing

with them than the previous 6 years of using the internet.

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Another way is to try and create a more obscure email address worked for me :)

Doesn't really help if you're posting in NG's tho' - the damn spam robots pick the addresses up from there anyway; the can even see when people use [email protected] type sender-addresses and remove the _deletethis_ bit - clever but annoying :evil:

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

One of the first rules of network security: Obscurety != Security

:)

[Guest cybercamel]

Well I've given in, just signed up to Bigfoots anti- spam package for $5.95 a quarter. I hate to have given in, but it was getting ridiculous, 15 to 20 emails a day!!!!!!! :)

[Guest flashfodder]

Bigfoots notorious for spam.

I find AOL are pretty good when it comes to spam. I also have a hotmail account just for friends & a hotmail for the internet.

Even so... I get no more than around 10 spam emails a week on the dodgy hotmail addy.

[Guest siu99spj]

I personally find Yahoo! really good for Spam blocking (Occaisonally a little too good!). I also sign up to Yahoo delivers but choose no subjects so I get virtually no spam. This weekend I got 2 spam messages, and nearly everywhere I use have this mail address.

I also NEVER use the unsubscribe feature on the E-Mails. They usually use that to see if someone is at the address. They reply, suddenly the mail is active and you'll get plagued. Just delete the message and it'll stop, eventually.

Simon 8-)

[Guest capt_janeway]

Tiscali is rubbish for spam - I get over 100 spam emails over a weekend!!

BTW Spammers - I don't want a bigger penis or anti anging hormones!!

:twisted: :twisted:

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

It depends all on where you use your mail address - my ISP is Tiscali Denmark (Worldonline/Image Scandinavia as they used to be called) and I've *never*, in 6 years, received a single spam mail to my addresses there. The only places I've ever received spam are on my hotmail accounts. Hotmail accounts get spammed to hell and back anyway and, as I said earlier, I post quite a bit in the Newsgroups. It's also very much dependant on how much traffic the NG you're posting in generates - address robots search the groups with the highest message-count per day (dk.marked.privat.edb, for example).

I'll be buggered if I'll pay for anti-spam stuff :shock:

[Guest cybercamel]

I'll be buggered if I'll pay for anti-spam stuff

I used to think this, but now my 7yr old daughter, who is very computer literate, is showing an interest in emailing her friends. This is fine, but I don't want her seeing all the c**p that comes into my inbox. I've decided to give in and pay for the privilage, but it better work!!!!!!

[Guest siu99spj]

Might I recommend also checking Norton Internet Security (among others) then. It has the ability to reduce porn sites, ads and pop-ups. Its not perfect (Nothing is these days unfortunately) but it should reduce most of the crap your daughter would have to wade through otherwise.

If she's as computer literate as you make out though, she'll soon figure a way round it. My Dad gave up and just told me to be careful.

Good luck and all that!

[Guest cybercamel]

I'll check out Norton, probably will be worth it. Thanks.

She can find her way to all the childrens web sites with no problem and she's still innocent enough not to go looking for other stuff, thank god!!!!!

But like I said, all this rubbish that comes through my inbox at the moment is very worrying, :x so hopefully by signing up to this anti-spam will do the job. Fingers crossed!

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

I used to think this, but now my 7yr old daughter, who is very computer literate, is showing an interest in emailing her friends. This is fine, but I don't want her seeing all the c**p that comes into my inbox. I've decided to give in and pay for the privilage, but it better work!!!!!!

Why not set her up her own email? That's what I've done for my 3 anyway...

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Might I recommend also checking Norton Internet Security (among others) then.

NIS is OK - but only OK. It has a nasty habit blocking kids' sites too, simply because a cookie isn't rated correctly, an ad on the site comes from the wrong place or the site uses a java script that's not "approved" by Norton. NIS can be configured to allow access to these sites, of course, but it's very time consuming and really shouldn't be necessary.

[Guest siu99spj]

I've found the new one to be pretty good actually. I turned it onto PG just to knark my brother and he couldn't get to any of his 'sites'.

Unfortunately he's smart enough to figure how to turn it off (Well, I didn't password lock it).

Otherwise, I've found it can pretty much blank virtually everything. Admittedly I don't visit many kiddy sites but then again, why would I? Good suggestion about the E-mail though. You might want to ensure it don't get spammed before letting her play with it though.

[Guest cybercamel]

I'll probably set her own email account up in the future, but in the mean time I haven't had any spam for 3 days, yippee, paying for spam protection is working :)

[Guest Matt Kirby]

For some reason since the beginning of March I've been getting tons of spam. Now call me cynical, but it does seem to coincide with me not taking up an offer with Bigfoot (whom I use as my main PC email address) which offered me protection from spam, but at a cost!!!!

I got exactly the same thing - maybe they are selling the email addresses of non-subscribers :wink: ?

Anyway, I now use http://www.spampal.org.uk/main.shtml>SpamPal to filter all of my POP email. I does require a bit of setting up so isn't as easy as your email provider doing it all for you, and it doesn't catch everything (about 90% though), and it also occaisionally marks some legit mailing lists as spam.

Having said that I have put it on it's highest level and the only mail that it called spam that wasn't was Bigfoot's mailing list telling me about thier new spam removal service!

Oh, and SpamPal is is free! :)

Also - I think that some BT accounts now offer free spam filtering. I think that this is an area that will grow, ISPs using spam filtering as an added service to mark them out agaist the competition.

[Guest pisquee]

My main address is an Orange.net one ... this used to perfectly spam free, until the FT take over, and then as with everything Orange, it went pear shaped ... currently I get apporx 50 spams a day ... I emailed orange net about the problem repeatedly asking for server side filtering to be set up. They seem to have done it recently ... you can set up address and domains to be filtered (no keywords yet) So I spent hours setting up all the domains and addresses that send me crap, and I was happy. Until I noticed the spam kept on pouring in, and from addresses that i have already entered grrrr!

So as soon as it starts working (or orange turn it on) I'll be happy again and will turn SMS notifications back on.

[Guest Martin@Home]

Yes but now I know how to enlarge my penis AND become a millionaire in 2 weeks ! :)

[Guest adam]

Yes but now I know how to enlarge my penis AND become a millionaire in 2 weeks !

Really? Maybe you should email everyone in the world about it!! :)

[Guest Martin@Home]

oops.. rumbled :oops: