SolveYourProblem
eLearning Series:
Stop SPAM eMail Once & For All : Free Guide
10 Pages
Cookies
and temporary internet files
Spammers use a
software program called spiders to access and harvest your
email address. These spiders basically just wander around
the internet and into active browsers searching for your
email information. To be more specific, they are looking
for the @ symbol so that they can attach themselves to email
addresses.
These spiders
are very intelligent, but not intelligent enough to know
the difference between a legitimate email address and a simulated
address. They grab everything and harvest the information
to their own database. They can also sometimes grab information
from your browser that is not an active or viable email address.
These come in the form of cookies and temporary internet
files.
If you don’t know
what cookies and temporary internet files are, they are they
are the record that your computer takes of your online surfing.
It is how your computer is able to bring up recently typed
in information and quick launching any sites that you want
to revisit.
The reason the
spiders harvest your cookies and temporary internet files
is because the cookies are saved in a manner that resembles
an email address. Cookies look like this: MBrown@anywhere.com
they usually take on the registered name that the computer
is registered to and doesn’t leave a website’s name.
You could gather
up to 50 cookies a day depending on how many websites that
you visit during the day. Since the spiders don’t know the
difference between real email addresses and cookies, you
would do better to clean out your cookies and temporary internet
files at least twice a week; more if you surf a lot. Here
is how to do it from windows.
You can begin
by double clicking programs, then accessories, then system
tools, and then click disk clean up. Click okay when that
box comes in and you can delete your old files and cookies.
You can also remove your cookies and temporary internet files
by:
Right clicking
start, click settings, then control panel. Go into your internet
options icon. In there you can follow the instructions for
you to clean up your computer by deleting both cookies and
temporary internet files.
It is a relatively
easy thing to do once you get used to it. In doing this,
you are getting rid of the extra files on your computer that
these spiders are looking for. It is just an extra precaution
that is good to take.
Contest Entries
An alluring way
for companies to get your email information is to post contests
for things that you would have an interest in winning. Of
course in order to enter, you must provide your email information
so that they can notify you if you win.
What they don’t
tell you is that you are also leaving yourself open to spam
from them. Most people know that this is the plan, and many
think that this is worth it, but if you don’t, you should
think twice before signing on the line.
This also applies
to gift offers and subscriptions. It can be a real bother
to go through all of the effort it takes to sign yourself
up for a contest that has been set up specifically to harvest
your email address.
Before signing
on for any contest, you should always check the company that
is offering it. Some of these contests are legitimate, and
some of them are set up specifically to get your email address.
It’s a really tricky business. The prize may not always be
worth the amount of spam you receive.
Remembered Email Information
A common practice
among the more sophisticated spam artists, is to get a good
grip on those internet users that have a habit of saving
their sign in information to their email addresses. It is
very rare, but some people do have the knowledge to pick
up your login information.
If you can avoid
it, you should try not to save your information like that.
It might save you seconds from putting in all of your information
manually, but it also leaves you vulnerable to getting snooped.
You have to understand
that some spammers get together with hackers and then you
have a real problem. That is when their spam can be dangerous
to your computer. When spammers do this, they can sometimes
be detrimental to your computer’s health to even open the
email because it could be an automatic virus that is in your
inbox instead of just an annoying ad.
Public
Posting
When signing up
for one of the many free email addresses that are out there,
many people decides to add themselves to the public profile
list that the email provider offers. Generally, you leave
your basic information and screen name. However, what you
rarely notice is that you also leave your contact information
as well.
Someone that has
little else to do with their time can easily search through
public profiles and get your email address at will. The common
user will take this information in order to have a chat with
someone that shares their interest, but a person that wishes
to send you spam can also contact you whenever they want.
In general, you
will want to avoid filling out any forms that require you
to give out personal information like that. You should always
read the company’s privacy policy as well. I know they can
be a bit long winded, but true spammers want it that way
because they depend on your not reading it. This is how they
sneak in the fact that they plan on sharing your information
with other companies, if in fact they do.
 
> Home > Stop
Spam Main Page
|
