Stop Junk Mail Article Discussion

I've got a question about spam SMS messages. The article says text back with STOP or STOP ALL to stop the messages, but surely this is exactly the opposite approach to email spam whereby the last thing you'd want to do is let them know your address actually exists?

Surely it should be illegal for a company to sign you up to an SMS service without your explicit consent - then there would be no such problem.

Use the Bcc field for avoiding multiple contacts in emails:
Just a quick thought. When you send out a message to all your contacts (like those wonderfully amusing chain jokes, charity appeals and thoughts of your day) put the addresses in the Bcc field. This can help (only help - it's not foolproof) to hide addresses from others. I always let people know I don't want my email address included in a round robin 'To' field. It's a data protection issue. Might seem fussy, but you run the risk of being contacted by people you don't know, or spammers. Do you really want to know friends of friends? There's facebook for that.
And never ever hit 'Reply to All' unless you're really lonely.

For email spam use a disposable email address:

spamgourmet.com
or
soodoonims.com

Sorted!

You can even install a firefox extension to auto-generate the emails so you never have to type.

gropinginthedark wrote: »

Superscaper's approach doesn't address one problem:
"I give a personal address only to people I know personally and are friends and family."
What if one of those gets a trojan on his PC that broadcasts their email contact list. It happens. Someone I know with an obscure email address (very unlikely to be "guessed") just got 14,000 junk mails over the weekend because her or one of her correspondents has a compromised PC.

My approach is this: I give out an email address that includes month and year (e.g. [EMAIL="fred.july08@example.com"]fred.july08@example.com[/EMAIL]) and tell people to change the date as necessary. I put these instructions in my email footer/signature.
I keep monitoring the mail from previous months reminding correspondents of the change and close any address that start to get spammed.

Any solution where the sender has to remember things is never going to work or will be more trouble than it is worth.

I suggest that you use a gmail, yahooo or gmx to pick up your mail from whatever.example.com, you can use their mail filter to put certain mail in folders in the online version and then use your mail client (outlook etc) to collect the remaining messages. You can even collect mail in Google then use GMX to collect from Google. Gmail has Marmite mail client (you either love or hate it) but it can't be beaten for spam collection.

I use Yahoo for things like online forums, I subscribe to one that gets over 30,000 emails a year, I don't want to read all of those but by using Yahoo mail filters I can sort 99.9% into folders leaving personal mails in the inbox and all the others sorted into nice logical folders for me.

For your family friends trojan remember this, if the account you or your family use had admin rights then a trojan can run and multiply. So go to control panel, create an admin account called something like Yadmin and set a password. Then login to that account and change all other accounts to limited user. Now you only use the Yadmin account to install software or a new device. If you get prompted to enter your admin account you know that something is trying to install something on your computer and you decline to provide the details. The trojan may still be on your machine (a quick virus scan will find it) but it can't do anything. I set my Yadmin account to not be able to browse by setting a proxy of 10.10.10.10 (or other address that does not exist). I also set the background for the Yadmin account as bland and boring so I always remember I am in as an Admin.

If I need to download something to install I do the download in my limited account and then login or run as admin to install it.

I set this type of system up for friends who bring me their infected PC's and they never get infected again even if they do not have an anti virus program installed. (I still recommend using a free one. It is ideal for kids because if they have to ask you to install something chances are they don't need it.

Suzkin wrote: »

I'm a homeowner and appear to live in a highly rented area. Every day I receive a bundle of pizza (etc) junk mail unaddressed to me, and posted by ad hoc local delivery people (I don't know where they come from). I always end up binning the mail, although it's a task I'd rather not have to do.

Any way I can deter these people? I've put up a poster on my door before, and some people have ignored it, and still posted the mail, and if course, errecting signs and notices on ones fron door looks rather tacky in itself?!

99% of these are distributed with your mail by the post office. A little known fact is that you can call the post office and opt out of receiving these. It may take a few weeks to kick in but it works. Then put a small tape from a Dyno type machine on your letterbox saying "No leaflets - all vendors will be reported and blacklisted"

Now when you get the odd leaflet you call the person advertising (usually on their 0800 number). You tell them that you have opted out and there is a clear notice on your door. Tell them you may be in the market for their windows (or whatever) but they are now blacklisted.

Now it may not stop all but it will stop most and you can spend as long as you like wasting their money on their 0800, for some I get them talking on loudspeaker then I ask them to guess what the sound is - it is me shredding your leaflet.

This is the link to opt out of post office leaflets:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400126&mediaId=500081