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If You Have Received Unsolicited Commercial Bulk
Email or "Spam"
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DO NOT OPEN IT. The spam may contain viruses, worms, or trojan programs that can jeopardize your PC. Furthermore, most spam are created like a web page, which, upon being opened and read, allows the spammers to be alerted, thereby verifying your valid email address. If you must look at it, save the unopened email as a text file and view it in a text editor such as Microsoft's Notepad®. | |
Delete it immediately | |
NEVER open an attachment from anyone - even friends or family - unless you were expecting it. Email attachments are the #1 source of all viral and malicious software attacks over the internet. If it is an unexpected attachment sent by a friend, family member, or acquaintance, email them back asking them about it before you open it. | |
NEVER reply or click on an "opt-out" link in a spam. You will only alert the spammer that you have a valid email address. |
The true senders of spam are often difficult to ascertain. To start, you must look at the spam's email header information, which can be seen by viewing the Properties of the email. (Again, do not open the email - just choose to view the properties.) Reading the email header information is somewhat difficult due to the arcane language of the internet contained in it. If you wish to decipher the email header information, learn more about spam, or take action against the true perpetrators of the spam, please visit:
Fight Spam on the Internet! (Lots of information and resources about spam) | |
SamSpade.org (Online tools to help you find the true source of the unwanted email) |
To make the internet a safer, more fun place, practice these good-email tips:
Compose and send ALL of your email formatted as plain text. "Rich Text" formatting is email written in HTML, the underlying language of web pages. While HTML email can be more like a Word document, it can also contain viruses, and is larger in file size than plain text, creating congestion on the internet and downloading more slowly over dial-up modems. | |
Don't use false or forged email addresses. | |
Don't flame, i.e., ream someone out with profanity (unless you find a real spammer, then give it to them). | |
Use email attachments sparingly. If you are sending pictures over the internet make sure they are small in file size like a website picture. Good rules for formatting pictures are to save them at 72 to 150 dpi, use the JPEG format for photos and the GIF format for simple graphics, and keep the longest side's dimension at under 800 pixels - the smaller the better. For other attachments use only Adobe's Acrobat PDF file format or, again, plain text. Never use any Microsoft Office® file format (Word®, Excel®, PowerPoint®, etc.) unless the recipient has been alerted and is waiting for it; they can contain dangerous viruses, worms, or trojans. | |
Install and run anti-virus and anti-spyware software programs. Update them weekly. | |
Be aware of updates and security fixes to your PC's critical software, like the operating system, email, web browser, anti-spyware, or anti-virus software programs. Use a firewall program to block your PC's presence on the internet. |