Do you know any Nigerian princes or have you won a lottery you haven’t entered? Stopping spam going to your email is only possible if you don’t use the internet.
Spam is slang for junk email from unsolicited commercial bulk messages. Usually from businesses trying to gather leads. But it also is used by corrupt individuals tricking you to infect your computer if you click on a button or link.
The better way to reduce spam is to set up filters in your email preferences. Depending on what email server/service you use to send and receive your email, it should filter unwanted messages to a spam folder for you. But that doesn’t always work, because the hackers try to trick the filters and may still end up in your inbox. And conversely, some legitimate messages can end up in your spam folder, if they set off a false positive trigger.
Our goal is to reduce those errors, because we won’t be able to completely stop spam.
Educate your Email Filter
If you find spam in your email inbox, don’t delete it at first. Select it and click on your mail client tab in the toolbar above it indicating that the message is spam. If you are using gmail for your email, you can click the checkbox for that bad message and click “Report Spam” in the toolbar (the Stop sign with the exclamation point, next to the delete button).
You can also teach your email to allow real messages to go to your inbox. Go through your spam folder every few days and click the “Not Spam” button for real messages that ended up in the spam folder. It will learn from its mistakes if you help it to.
Don’t respond to any spam messages
If you know its spam before you click it, don’t open it. If by chance you open it and then see it’s spam, close it. Don’t click any buttons, links, or download any kind of files.
If you got the email and spam file from someone you know, contact them ASAP and let them know their account was hacked or compromised.
Guard you email
If your email is on your website, you will most certainly get spam. The more your address is out there, the more spam you’ll get.
It’s a double-edged sword. You need to be accessible to prospective clients who want to contact you, but you don’t want spam.
With our websites, we can install a work email for you that will be professional and you can use it exclusively for work. We can have it automatically forward you messages to your favorite email address, or we can set it up as another email client for you to log into.
Spam is a nuisance, but with a little effort and diligence, you can reduce the amount of spam going to your inbox. The main takeaway from this article is to not click a link that you have any inkling or suspicion that it may be a spam.
Stay safe on the web.