| How to defeat spam at the roots | | | | human readable though). As an example for use |
| Just about everyone goes trough the hassle of | | | | your[dot]name(at)example[dot]com, this will not stop all |
| removing unnessecary spamin their inbox every day. If | | | | the bots but you will get less spam for sure. |
| you have a fresh and unused email address andwant | | | | 4. If you have your own domain you should use the |
| it so stay clean of spam mails then you should | | | | catch all function and use email addresses like so you |
| consider these steps bellow. | | | | can always block that specific address when |
| But to understand why you should consider these | | | | someone begins sending spam or sold your address. |
| steps we will talkabout spiders (also known as: | | | | 5. If you only want to read some information on a |
| bots,address harvester,parser,the list goes on..) first. | | | | register only bulletin board or site you should use a |
| Never think your email address is safe because a | | | | disposable email address like . |
| human beeing has to register or do anyother fancy | | | | 6. Use a good antivirus and mal-,spy- and adware |
| stuff to see your address. And please consider that | | | | detection tool. They often steal your addressbook and |
| today almost anythingis beeing spidered by google and | | | | resell the addresses, including your own. |
| other bigger search engines. That means that | | | | 7. Do not use those fancy and 99 percent useless |
| enteringyour email address in private guestbooks or | | | | browser toolbars. They often include malware and/or |
| bulleting boards is not safe at all,because it is indexed | | | | spyware that can even capture data you enter in web |
| by these engines. Most email address harvester start | | | | forms. |
| their searchin the big indexes like google,dmoz or | | | | You are on the safe side if you do not blindly trust the |
| yahoo. | | | | sites which want you to enter youremail address. If |
| In these days you can automate about everything a | | | | you use your email address for direct contact with a |
| human can do except writing semaphoricallycorrect | | | | serious business or companythere is most likely no |
| letters or articles. Even if you display your email | | | | harm. Deactivate HTML rendering of your emails in the |
| addressas an image on your bussiness website the | | | | mail client of your choice. |
| bots will be able to decipher itand get your mailbox | | | | If you use a email address from a free service like |
| filled with unnesecary spam. | | | | GMX, Yahoo, or your local provider. There is mostlikely |
| A good script or bot can even knock out these fancy | | | | an option which lets you filter spam on the server. This |
| captchas. | | | | way you can stop spam before its in yourinbox. Its |
| 7 steps how you can avoid getting your new email | | | | always better to block aggressive and explicitly allow |
| address awash with spam. | | | | the sender addresses you want. This way |
| 1. Do not enter your real email address in guestbooks | | | | youprobably loose a mail or two, but it is not an email |
| or bulletin boards (even if they are register only). | | | | from someone you really need to receive mails. |
| 2. Do not activate images or even html emails in your | | | | There are also some good blacklists out there. If you |
| email client. When loading images there is the risk that | | | | can configure your mailserver to use them (or your |
| you will send your identification to the spammers | | | | mailclient) thenyou really should. These blacklists grow |
| server and he will set your email address to valid (and | | | | everyday and are pretty well up to date. One of them |
| probably resell it). | | | | is SpamHaus (just google for email blacklist). |
| 3. If you really want to give your email address away, | | | | It depends on your needs but the more of these steps |
| you should obfuscate it as much as possible (still | | | | you can follow the less spam you will get. |