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Managing e-mail accounts


What can I do about SPAM
Spam is one of those things that nobody wants, but probably has plenty of. From offers for prescription drugs, to mortgage refinancing, to sexually explicit con-tent, spam can leave us having to sift through mounds of trash to find the few messages we actually care to read. Although eliminating all junk e-mail may be impossible, there are several steps than can be taken to all but eliminate spam from your inbox.

Protect Your E-mail Address
One of the best strategies for avoiding spam is to protect your personal e-mail address. Your best defense is for the spammers to not even know you exist, but this is a difficult task to accomplish. Many spam mailing lists are created by harvesting e-mail addresses from web sites where your information may be displayed. Newsgroups, bulletin boards, and chat rooms are just a few examples of places where spammers may run scripts to collect anything that resembles an e-mail address. Many sites, such as bulletin boards, have safeguards to protect their members, but it does nothing if these members post their personal information in one of their posts, their signature, or somewhere else that puts the information in plain sight. In addition, signing up with unknown sources for online contests, mailing lists, and similar occasions where you need to provide an address as part of the registration process may also ex pose your address to spammers. Using your best judg ment is your best defense. If you want to keep your mailbox clean, keep your address private, only giving it out to trusted parties

Create a Spam E-Mail Account
Protecting your e-mail address is easier said than done, and if you find that it is impossible to keep your personal e-mail address completely private, a separate account may be the solution. Referred to by some as a - "throw-away" account, this email account doesn't have to cost you anything, as suitable e-mail accounts are available for free from places such as Hotmail and Ya hoo. This throw-away account is the best choice when you are unsure that your privacy will be protected. Use it when registering with newsgroups, bulletin boards, sweepstakes, or in any other situation where you're not quite sure your privacy will be protected.. Since you are not expecting any important mail at this account, if it becomes over run with spam, you do just as the name suggests and throw it away for a new one.

Message Rules in Outlook / Outlook Express
Most people use either Outlook or Outlook Express as their e-mail client, but all of these people may not be familiar with creating message rules in the "Tools" drop down menu. Rules allow you to manually filter the delivlevery of e-mail, and can be created to analyze the sender's , name, subject line, and message body before processing. For example, a rule can be created so that any mesesage with a particularly offensive word in the subject line is automatically moved to the Deleted Items folder, or even better, just deleted from the server before download.
Another option provided by Outlook and Outlook Express allows the user to add senders to their "Blocked Senders" list. No rule needs to be created, and in a few clicks, a sender of unsolicited e-mail can be added to your personal blocked senders list. Whenever mail arrives from this sender in the future, it will skip the inbox and go straight to the Deleted Items folder.

Spam is a nuisance that impacts people on several levels. Even if the content is not inappropriate or offensive it is a waste of time and money. Although some spam solutions claim to eliminate 100% of all unsolicited mail, my experience tells me that this just isn't realistic. That said, protecting your e-mail address and implementing the appropriate spam filtering solution should nearly eliminate spam from your life.

My Computer's Acting Weird
Spyware refers to any software that continuously gathers the information through user's Internet connection without his/her knowledge or consent, usually for advertising purposes. [On the Internet where spyware is sometimes called a spybot (spelled all lower case) or tracking software]. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be mentioned that the majority of freeware and shareware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, it has the ability to monitor keystokes, scan files on the hard-drive, install other spyware programs, read cookies, change the default home page on the web browser, consistently relaying this information back to the spyware owner who will either use it for advertising or marketing purposes or sell it to other interested party. Spyware can also gather information about Email addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.

Besides user's privacy, spyware steals information by using the computer's memory resources of user and also by eating bandwidth as it sends information back to the "spyware owner through the Internet connection. Even more,the applications running of spyware in the background can lead to system crashes or general system instability.

The installation of spyware on your computer can be initiated by visiting a website, viewing an HTML e-mail message or by clicking a popup window. The download process is unannounced so that you will remain unconscious that your computer has been infected by spyware. The deceptive method of filling your computer with tracking software you didn't request is called a drive-by download. If your computer starts to behave strangely or displays any of the symptoms listed below, maybe your computer has been infected with spyware or other undesirable software.

• Expensive phone bill
Your phone bill includes expensive calls to 900 numbers that you never made—probably at an outrageous per-minute rate.

• My computer seems sluggish
My computer suddenly seems very slow when opening programs or processing tasks. The practice that the resources these programs use to track your activities and deliver advertisements can slow down your computer .The applications running of spyware in the background (backchannel) can lead to system crashes or general system instability. lf you notice a sudden increase in the number of times a certain program crashes, or if your computer is slower than normal at performing routine tasks, you may have spyware or other unwanted software on your machine.

• Endless pop-up windows; random windows error messages appear
I see pop-up advertisements or random windows error messages all along. Once your computer is infected, spyware will sit on your cornputer and do a series of things. Often you get pop-ups in your browser window at random. lf you see pop-up ads all along while your turning on your or even not brousing the web maybe your computer has been infected with spyware or other undesirable software.

• Reset home pages
My computer redirect to unwanted web site, and browser's homepage suddenly changes. Spyware or some undesirable software has the ability to change your home page or search results. Even if you know how to reset these settings, you may find that they revert back very time when you restart your computer.

• Unexpected toolbars in your web browser
My web browser contains additional toolbars. Spyware and other undesirable software can add additional toolbars to your web browser that you don't want or need. It seems to be difficult to completely uninstall,even though you know how t get rid of these toolbars , they may retum each time you restart your computer.

• Unexpected or new icons task tray
At a time when you're not doing anything online, the send or receive lights on your dial-up or broadband modem blink just as wildly as when you're downloading a file or surfing the Web. Or the network / modem icon in your system tray flashes rapidly even when you're not using the connection.

• Certain keys fail to work in my browser
For example: the Tab key
Everything appears to be normal The final sign is: Everything appears to be normal. The most devious spyware doesn't leave traces you'd notice; so scan your system anyway.

The Rim Internet, Whiite Mountains Online & White Mountains Computers, has operated in Lakeside since 1989. Now located at 3045 W. Hwy 260 In Lakeside, Arizona.