Stop Junk Mail Article Discussion

DavidP24

gropinginthedark wrote: »

Yes but you started by saying "...but to get zero spam emails without using any spam filters I do the following...".
My friend just got 14,000 spams in a weekend because her "friends and family" address got compromised (over 100MB in her inbox).
Yes some people do struggle with the concept of a monthly-changing email address but by keeping the old ones running for a while I can spot the offenders. I actually put an autoresponder on after a few months so they get a bounce with a helpful message. I'd still not claim to get to zero spam but very few make it.


They'll get used to it, an estimated 50% of email addresses are dropped in the first 2 years of use. (Not only due to excess spam but also job and college accounts that end when the owner moves on or ISP accounts that end when the customer changes provider).

Using auto responders is no good, it tells them that your email is live and they will sell it on. The best response is to not even open them (as they can detect this depending on your mail client).

Once an email is on a spammers list the best thing you can do is dump it. Setup an online account and use the online account to collate your mail from your dumped account, the online account will usually seperate most spam (pass it through 2 or 3 if you have to). Remember it is a once only process to do this, so if you have an account with your ISP called john.smith@MyISP.Net you simply set your online client to collect the mail from MyISP.net by providing it with the password and login. You then set your email client to pick up cleaned mail from Gmail, Yahoo, GMX or whoever.

Meanwhile you create some new accounts as follows:

JS4899@gmail.com say for banking
JSretail@gmail.com for shopping
JSSocial@ymail.com say for facebook etc
JSmith411@gmx.com for work

and so on

You then create an online account at https://www.GMX.COM to consolidate all of these new accounts so you can see all your mail in one place but use mail filters or rules to move the messages in folders upon arrival, but set it to "leave the message on the server".

This allows you to use the consolidated account whenever you are away from your desk or on holiday. You can still download messages from individual accounts to your mobile (e.g. just the work emails).

For your old account use the mail filters to weed out any good or bad emails, so any email with "accident helpline" goes to trash. Any email from a trusted supplier can go to a folder until you have told them your new (specific) email.

Finally create an online account for all you online activity such as posting on forums like these. Use that for anything online where you really could not care if someone writes to you from that source.

All of the above are totally free, some online accounts require you login once every 3 months.

DavidP24

TEAMTRADER wrote: »

It should be illegal to forge an IP address but the responsibiltyl falls to the ISP. Perhaps ISP registration is necessary to start controlling this area!
THEN WE SHOULD SEE THE END OF SPAM!!!!

You will never see the end of spam, there are some good initiatives out there but every time they invent a solution you can be sure the spammers will find a way. Spamming is big business and mostly operates via criminals. They have been know to fight their corner (look at what happened to Blue Frog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Frog )

Just consider this, Chip and Pin was supposed to end credit card fraud, yet on the radio last week they said that in the UK there is over £2.4m a day in fraudulent transactions.

The banks have the most to lose but they can't stop technology so they add another layer; a password for online use. If you still get hacked you are deemed to be responsible for giving your pin and password.

Ginger_Nut

superscaper wrote: »

I've posted this quite a few times but to get zero spam emails without using any spam filters I do the following:

"I set up about 300-400 email addresses on my domain forwarding to a central address. Of those 300-400 unique email addresses I gave to different companies etc I currently get zero spam without any filters. When in the past I started receiving some phishing emails I could delete the entire email address and not use it any more. It also told me specifically which company passed my details on by which address they were sent to."

So every time I give an address to a company it is unique ([EMAIL="amazon@mydomain.co.uk"]amazon@mydomain.co.uk[/EMAIL] etc). I give a personal address only to people I know personally and are friends and family. That one may possibly attract some spam but nothing like just giving out one address to anywhere. It was pointed out previously that setting up 300+ email forwarders over time is time consuming but I'd argue that it's only an extra minute or two when you fill in a form on a website and compared to the time endless spam filtering and checking spam folders in case it caught genuine mail takes I think my method is far more time saving (and so ultimately money saving). And the idea of looking through spam folders in case of false positives seems to me to defeat much of the purpose of spam filtering. Hence why I'd rather use a method that required no spam filtering.

It's ok for some one like you who has there own dormain but most of us use a public e-mail address and don't have that option.

Hemel_Saint

Want to Get your own back on Sales Telephone calls.

Simple Tell the sales-caller that you're partner would be really interested, and ask them to hold the line whilst you go and fetch them.
Don't disconnect the call.... just leave them hanging on waiting for you to fetch your non-existent/pretend partner to come to the phone.


...and if you really want some fun with them. Whist they are 'holding on' ....go back on the phone every couple of minutes or so, saying something like "just give them a minute", "they are just coming, hold on..." "they are just on the loo" etc.... etc...


These sales people are tasked to make and complete the calls in a certain time.... they hate having to hold on!!!
...and the call costs them too!!!


go on, have some fun with them... you will end up winning...

I used to get weekly calls from Kwick Fit Insurance.... they suddenly stopped after a few times!

Hemel_Saint

.... oh and Junk Mail?


just post all the paper back to them in the prepaid envelope (unsigned of course)!
It costs them each time you send it back through the post....

savemoney

Best way to get rid of tele sales I have found is get a device called truecall I never get telesales now most come international calls are are blocked unless I allow it too and for other calls accept family/friends all have to tell em who they are before I even speak

As for junk mail most dont come with prepaid envelope anyhow. I bin it

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Is there a sign for "NO TAKE AWAY MENU'S-CHARITY BAGS-"

terlan

make your own "NO TAKE AWAY MENU'S-CHARITY BAGS" sign at www.online-sign.com its been mentioned before on the forums, its totally free to create and print any type of sign. no sign ups no credit cards and no ads. great example of a free web service.

superscaper

Ginger_Nut wrote: »

It's ok for some one like you who has there own dormain but most of us use a public e-mail address and don't have that option.

I'm hardly special (and certainly not flush with money), absolutely nothing stopping you from getting your own and with many free emails you can add unique references anyway using the principal. E.g. [EMAIL="my.name+amazon@gmail.com"]my.name+amazon@gmail.com[/EMAIL], [EMAIL="my.name+moneysavingexpert@gmail.com"]my.name+moneysavingexpert@gmail.com[/EMAIL] both go to [EMAIL="my.name@gmail.com"]my.name@gmail.com[/EMAIL] but you are still using unique addresses.

I wasn't exactly "showing off" about having my own domain (I've got quite a few) and they don't exactly break the bank (couple of quid a year for owning a domain). They have other advantages as well, such as being independent of ISPs and rule changes of companies (e.g. if Microsoft decided to shut down your hotmail account there's nothing you can do).

linuxsapien

its true ya know. Few quid a year for your own domain, use that with google apps and you have as many email addresses as you like, compelte with AWESOME junkmail filters, that really work! Ive had the same domain for about 6 years now.