Tomorrow's World


The Google seach for illustrates a lot of the problems with getting spam messages and the simple precaustions that can be taken :-

  • Never Put an E-Mail Address Directly into a Web Page

    Yes! I did! But then the spammers have my e-mail address, so a little bit extra spam doesn't really bother me, as I have other methods of dealing with anything that gets through.

    If you want people to e-mail you directly off the web site, then you can either encode the e-mail address using a programming language called Java or use a simple form powered by a web-based system such as FormMail for example.

    The second method is preferably, as at some point the harvesters will start reading encoded e-mail addresses.

  • Never Put an E-Mail Address Indirectly into a Web Page

    I did that in the PowerPoint presentation. Google reads that type of file with ease, just as it does Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word.

    At present the harvesters may not read these files, but just as with encoded Java, they will one day!

  • Create a Special E-Mail Address for Groups and Lists

    If you can always use a separate e-mail address to subscribe to groups and lists on the Internet.

    Then if it does get harvested and starts to get a lot of spam, you can change your subscribed e-mail address and bin the old one. The spam will still be sent, but no-one will receive it!

There are also simple precautions that you should take with your e-mail system :-

  • Never Send an E-Mail to Large Numbers of People as a Single Message

    Look at the next joke, story or piece of information that someone send to you with perhaps twenty e-mail addresses in the To or Copy fields. Are the recipients all known to you? Are any of them famous? Are any of them a spammer?

  • Always Make Sure You Have the Latest Virus Protection

    Viruses can send all of your e-mail addresses and those in your address book to spammers. So keep protected!

  • Never Respond to a Spam E-Mail

    It only encourages them!

    Don't ever try and stop spam by replying to a remove e-mail address. In many cases all you will be doing is confirming that you exist!