Work> Ban that Spam

Text by: Tanya Munshi

Don’t get trapped by unwarranted seductive flashes on your computer screen. Safeguard yourself with these critical tips.

Neha, a software engineer, gets to work by 9 in the morning. She switches on her workstation with a cup of coffee to spend her first 15 minutes of day checking her mails. But as soon as she clicks on the Inbox icon, it welcomes her with a flood of mails which she has no clue as to where they came from. Mails selling sleazy pharmaceutical products, to lottery, a cruise, the works! Neha spends nearly half an hour wasting her time in clearing her mailbox and then goes on to reading her official mails.

Every day, this is what happens with most professionals and general Internet users who needlessly spend a lot of time and effort clearing their mailbox of spam.

COMBATING SPAM
Spams are unwanted mails that flood your inbox with almost the same messages, compelling an Internet user to click on it when actually the user did not even wish to receive such mails. Also known as unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE), spams are sent in bulk through automated means to your inbox. Generally, spammers are on the hunt for valid e-mail addresses to which they can send spam e-mails. So, at no cost should you reply, click or click on the “unsubscribe” icon of any spam e-mail.

Though sending out spam mails doesn't cost a lot for a spammer, receivers trying to deal with spam tend to lose out on productivity, incur high expenditure and even succumb to fraudulent dealings through them.

1. Type in your e-mail address of the search bar of www.google.com. This will reveal all the sites where you have posted your e-mail address on any forums, newsgroups or sites.
2. By removing your e-mail address from such forums and avoiding signing up for newsletters, etc, you can prevent your mailbox from being spammed.
3. Before filling up a form in any site or bank, read the privacy policy carefully, as most reliable websites will never reveal your personal e-mail addresses.
4. The sites that don't mention such privacy policies are clearly better to be avoided. Yes, most spam mails may look genuine, but this is where you should use your judgement. Don't click or enter any information on unknown mails or e-forms.
5. Never click on any spam e-mails that come to you. You will unnecessarily open up a Pandora's box to your mail account. Unless and until you are sure of the validity of the e-mail address, do not open unknown mails to your inbox.
6. Just in case you click on a spam e-mail, you are in turn unknowingly sending a confirmation to your spammer that your e-mail address is valid.

Published in Woman's Era:
http://www.womansera.com/maga/article/index.aspx?fr=articles&it=55