Spam. It's that unwanted e-mail invading your inboxXbut is it always unsolicited?
Did you know that one type of spam is called a "self sending spam"? Yes, we are sending it to ourselves V literally. It's a spam message where the "From:" address is your own e-mail address, or a variation of it. For example, jennjones@abc.com receives e-mail "From" jennjones@abc123.com. Sometimes it has your exact e-mail address in the "From:" field, to appear as if you sent the message to yourself. Ironically, you may have.
Whether it's an ad for a "Sea World Sweepstakes", or an offer to "Lower Your Mortgage"; if you reply or sign up to an e-mail list related to it, left your e-mail address on a request more information web form, tried to unsubscribe from an e-mail, or freely give away your e-mail address on your personal or business website, you could actually be the cause of all your self-spam woes.
Are you a self-spammer?
Senders of self-sending spam rely on content inducing curiosity and a positive emotional response making it more likely for you to open or respond to a message. Often the steps you take to stop spam are the steps that add more e-mail to your inbox. Find out if you're contributing to self-spam and how to stop it from entering your inbox by reading these "You are a self-spammer ifK" statements below:
- You open e-mail from someone you don't know or from a sender that seems to be yourself. Each time you respond or do business with a spammer, your e-mail address is likely to be sold to other spammers. To avoid this problem, delete these e-mails and never respond. Responding to spam also tells the spammer that they have a valid e-mail address and you (their potential customer) are checking it.
- You use the "unsubscribe" option. Unsubscribing lets spammer know your e-mail address is valid, your account is active, and that you actually read your e-mail. If e-mail is spam, the "unsubscribe" link is more likely to increase the amount of spam you receive. You should never reply to spammers. Instead, help yourself and others by filing a spam complaint with the spammer's ISP. If you don't know how to trace the spammer's ISP, use the SpamCop spam-reporting service to file spam complaints for you.
- You advertise your e-mail on your website. If you list or link to your e-mail address, expect to be spammed. Address-harvesting robots spider your site to extract them. Remove your e-mail address from sites wherever possible. This will significantly cut down the amount of spam you receive if you have a website.
- You use your real name for your e-mail address. Don't let spammers make use of word lists and lists of first names and surnames to generate their e-mail addresses. Make it more difficult for them by choosing a relatively long e-mail address (8+ characters). And never sign up for an e-mail address your first name or last name (e.g. brown@xxx.com). Instead, add your initials and some numbersX (e.g. mbrown44@xxx.com).
- You don't keep up-to-date virus and spyware. Installing Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software and keeping your virus and spyware definition files current, can prevent exposure to a wide-range of online threats. Visit the HP Personal computing center to check out Symantec Security Check; a free service designed to help HP customers determine their Internet security needs.
- You don't use your filters. Much like a sink filter catches gunk that clogs drains, e-mail filters can do for your inbox. Most e-mail applications allow you to block specific messages. When an offending e-mail comes in, simply set your filter to block their address.
But don't just stop at one filter. Use every filter you can think of. For instance, if you notice that many of your spam messages have the words "Get rich quick" or "No Payments, No finance charge" in them, you can program your e-mail to automatically delete all messages with those phrases in them.
It's important to remember to add communication which you've signed up to receive to your "safe list". This will help you organize the information you really want in your inbox and help yourself take action on the unwanted spam. For details on how to add approved addresses to your address book, visit Hewlett Packard E-mail help.
Learn more about HP Labs research and the experimental system that gives delivery priority to e-mail simply by separating out and delaying suspected spam to keep your e-mail flowing freely.
For more information:
Steps to protect your PC
Hewlett Packard E-mail help
HP Hosted Exchange
HP Personal computing center
