Say No To Spam

Couple of days ago when I checked one of my email inbox, I was so surprised since there were some mail sent by my email to everybody in my address book. The problem was I never made any of those emails. I guest a spam bot has hijacked my email and used it to send spam messages to my friends using my own email so that my friends will think that it was recommended by me. This is one of the example how spam can be cruel to you.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines spam as "unsolicited usually commercial e-mail sent to a large number of addresses."

Based on my own experience and reading on this topic, I would like to recommend some actions you can do to fight spam:

1. Never put your email address in any website in full form, for example: john.smith@yahoo.com because spam bot usually travels from one site to another site just to find the email addresses so it can send spam messages to those email addresses. If you really have to give your email address so that people can contact you, it's better you give it like this: john.smith at yahoo dot com or any other way so that only human can read your email address, not a robot.
2. If you really have to put your email in your website, it's better you make it an image first. You put your address in a canvas and then save it as a .JPG before you show it in your website.
3. Never give the password of your email to anybody, including those so-called trusted services like online social network who says it will invite your friends automatically if you just give them your Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail password. I just don't believe that they or any third party will not use your email and password for spam.
4. Always periodically change your passwords. Maybe the best way is by reminding yourselves to change your password every 3 months. You must also use a strong password. To make a strong password, your password should be more than characters and it should contain the combination of letters and numbers.
5. You must have at least 3 different email addresses used for 3 different purposes. Email 1 is your personal email. Let this email only known to those who are close to you like family and friends, so big time it will be spam-free. Email 2 is your business email, the one that you give to the people to whom you do business with. Email 3 is your special email that you will use only for online purposes, like registering to any websites or joining a mailing lists. So, if you have spam attack, it will only come to Email 3. If you think that there is too much spam around, just close the email and make a new one. By separating your email based on its function, you can change Email 3 anytime without telling anybody that you change your email since you use different email for communicating with your close associates and business partner.
6. The last one is, install an anti-spyware program to your computer. It will help a lot.

I hope those recommendation will help you. If you think so, please bookmark this blog in one of the social bookmarking services. Thanks.