>A friend is switching ISP's because her old one sold her email address so >often she now gets 100 spams a day! She is thinking about going with >Earthlink. Does anybody have anything nice to say about them? >Stephen
It may not have been entirely the ISP's fault. Some tips for remaining spam free: DON'T put your email address in your web browser. There are many unscrupulous web sites that will harvest your info (yes, they can do that) and use it. I always set mine with false data. Don't use your web browser's email program. Sure, it's handy to have an all-in-one program, but they're usually inferior products compared to stand-alone mail clients. I find Eudora one of the better ones - it's immune (so far) to many viruses that attack Micro$oft products, the cost for the full version is only $40 or so, and they also offer a free, fully functional "sponsored mode" (you get an ad box on your screen) and a free "lite" version - it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but works extremely well. Don't publish your email address on your website. Instead, offer a form-to-email which will obscure your actual email address from the spambots. You might also consider adding an anti-spam insert to your return email address and/or signature file when sending to a list or newsgroup that gets archived to the web. (ie, [EMAIL PROTECTED] could become [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Don't respond to spam that offer a "remove me" response. Often, those are just a way of verifying that you're a live address - and result in MORE spam, not less! Build spam filters in your email program. Eudora is great at this - I move a lot of junk (anything with Viagara in the subject, for instance) directly into the trash. I never have to look at it. And since I'm on a T1, the download time usually doesn't bother me. Once you're on the spammer's lists, you're on forever. I have account names that basically went inactive 7 years ago which still receive regular spam (and every now and again useful email, which is why I keep them around). Eventually, you may need to move on to a new address. Use an ISP that employs anti-spam safeguards. First and foremost, their own servers should be secure against relays by non-clients. Secondly, they should take action against spammer clients. Thirdly, they should employ RBLs (realtime blackhole lists) which automatically refuse mail from known spam sources and open relays. There are other spamtraps that can be employed from that level too.... If your ISP allows you more than one email name, use a secondary name whenever you're responding to forms on the web. You can wade through that email at your leisure, when you're expecting email, and it won't clutter your everyday correspondence. Finally, there are some services out there that can scan your email for viruses, spam, etc for a price -postini.com comes to mind. If things have gotten really bad and you absolutely need to keep your email addresss as is (ie, [EMAIL PROTECTED]) that may be the way to go. Hope that helps! -- Bill Christensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Green Homes For Sale/Lease: http://www.greenbuilder.com/realestate/ Green Building Pro Directory: http://directory.greenbuilder.com/ Sustainable Bldg Calendar: http://www.greenbuilder.com/calendar/ Sustainable Bldg Bookstore: http://www.greenbuilder.com/bookstore International Strawbale Registry: http://sbregistry.greenbuilder.com -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
