The Internet is flooded with soliciting eMail messages distributed to millions of email addresses. These messages are known as "SPAM" or "UCE" (unsolicited commercial email). Spammers fill mailboxes constantly with a huge amount of unwanted messages, not only overloading the Internet and server resources, but making mail retrieval very slow and difficult for you. If you are experiencing an unusual number of unsolicited emails there are several things you can do. If you don't understand why you are receiving these emails, or how the spammers got a hold of your email, please click below and read this excellent spam primer, or if you just want to continue on, skip this and read down a little further.

1. Never click "unsubscribe" - this option at the bottom of a spam email message is a trick. Only if you remember subscribing to the sender and you know for a fact that the sender is reputable, only then use the unsubscribe option provided. Otherwise, unless you get more than a few emails over time from the same place, they will be using your unsubscribe to send you more information.

2. Never use the standard mailto: tag on any of your web pages. One way that spammers get your email address is with automated programs (spam bots) that scan and extract emails from your web pages. These bots do not actually open your web page, they look at the HTML code behind the scenes of your web page for the "mailto:" HTML tag. Once your email address is harvested, it is sold to other spammers.

3. Never buy anything from a spammer! Search and find a reputable company that sells the product you are considering purchasing.

4. Never view or even pre-view a suspicious message while online. Embedded pictures in the message are pulled from the spammer's servere telling the spammer that you received the message (even if you don't reply!). Turning off HTML in your email program so you don't receive the embedded images will remedy this.

5. Never use a first name or dictionary word for your email address. Spammers tend to attack servers guessing email addresses based on common names and dictionary words.

6. Always realize that you may have ok'd the spam - if you have ever provided your email address to a company that stated in it's privacy policy that it will provide your information "to affiliated sites"... this means that if they affiliate with 10,000 sites, then you may get 10,000 or more pieces of legal junk email. We do not feel this is ethical of companies to do, but it's the basis for a large number of the spams that people get. Millions of people have wanted to win contests or prizes, only in many cases to find out that their emails have been harvested.

7. Always make sure if you use a web-based for on any of your web pages that it DOES NOT require the "<input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="you@YourDomain.com"> HTML tag or you are defeating the purpose. Spam bots can harvest your email address from the HTML code in your web page using this method. Once your email address is harvested, it is sold to spammers.

8. Spend time complaining about spam, responsibly and appropriately. But be aware that this will cost time, money, or both in order to achieve a slimmer email in-box. Many huge hosting companies that allow email relaying receive so many daily spam complaints that they may not respond to your complaints. The majority of Spam originates from countries outside the USA where Spam laws are lax or non-existant.

9. Do Get a disposable or extra email account (like GMail, Yahoo or Hotmail) to give to "suspicious" sites (even if they have a privacy policy that you like).

10. Stay informed - technology, laws, and tricks are evolving. A good place to start is http://spam.abuse.net.