Systems Blueprint, Inc.

Spam is unsolicited "junk" e-mail sent to large numbers of people to promote products or services. Sexually explicit unsolicited e-mail is called "porn spam." Also refers to inappropriate promotional or commercial postings to discussion groups or bulletin boards.

Usually, end-users register their e-mail with a service to receive legitimate newsletters, information, or for shopping online. Once their e-mail is in a public database, it is subject to receive SPAM.

There are several laws and regulations being drafted, and/or have been enacted to prevent or limit the amount of SPAM end-users receive without their permission.  For more information visit: www.spamlaws.com.

Receive a few SPAM e-mails a day is annoying, but receiving dozens to hundreds of unwanted e-mail is wasting your time and resource. Businesses are losing millions in fighting the battle against SPAM and time employees spend filtering e-mail. While you cannot completely eliminate SPAM, you can do a few things to prevent and minimize the amount of SPAM received.

• DO NOT use your private or business e-mail address for public Internet usage.  To register for these services create an Internet based account like Yahoo or Hotmail and use that as an active e-mail account.
• DO NOT register your primary e-mail address with any organization, online shopping service, or public domain. Once you do, you will begin receiving unwanted e-mail immediately.
• Never purchase any items advertised with SPAM.
• DO NOT post your primary e-mail on a web site.
• READ THE FINE PRINT. Read the PRIVACY and MARKETING OPT-OUTS statements supplied by the service you are registering with. Normally, en-users overlook these statement. However, they contain important information that specifically addresses how your private information, including your e-mail, will be used.
• Configure your e-mail editor (Eudora, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, etc.) to filter unwanted e-mail. Or, use SPAM filter applications like Symantec's Internet Security or McAfee Spam Killer. While, these techniques can catch up to 90% of unwanted e-mail, it may also filter legitimate e-mail. Thus, end-users must be careful to scan their filter box before deleting.
• Never respond to unsolicited e-mails. Once you do, they perpetrators know your address, and will not only continue to send more spam; but, also, they will harvest your address to other spammers.

  What to do if you receive SPAM?

Until law and regulations are passed protecting users from unwanted or junk mail, SPAM is part of the e-mailing experience. However, their are some measures that can be implemented to reduce your frustration and times spent on junk mail.

• Ask family and friends not to add your e-mail address when forwarding jokes and other e-mail spamming messages.
• Setup a code in the subject line from those who you want to receive e-mails from. For example, you may have the subject line always begin with their last name. This will also help to prevent your e-mails from accidentally being filtered.
• Setup filters. There is no perfect SPAM killer application, it cannot read your mind on what is legitimate or not. Some are easy to use then others. Regardless of the application used, they all need to be trained. It is worth your time in the long run to setup rules and parameters on your SPAM filtering software.
• If you are receiving a lot of SPAM, your only course of action may be to change your e-mail address and protect it. Choose a less vulnerable email address that cannot be easily generated by a computer using standard names and formats.

 home | about us | advanced search | contact us | faq | services | software downloads |support 
 Copyright Systems Blueprint, Inc. 1996-2008. All rights reserved