| Welcome | About Us | Contact Us | Useability and Accessibility |
| Website Solutions |
| Why WebGuild? |
| How Much is a Website? |
| Our Portfolio |
| Testimonials |
Call us on
0161 428 1102
for more details.
0161 428 1102
for more details.
Spam
|
All About Spam
It is unsolicited email which can sometimes contain quite offensive material, also emails asking you to confirm personal details (this is called phishing):-
You receive Spam because your email address has found its way onto the distribution list of spamming websites. The administrators of these websites are usually unscrupulous villains who build up their distribution lists using a variety of methods:-
It is also a way of circulating viruses (these are called trojans and worms) which serve no purpose other than to mess up people's computers and make their lives miserable. Why is it called spam? I don't know if this is true or not, but I like the explanation. It is thought to be derived from the Monty Python SPAM sketch in the 1970s. The sketch is set in a café where every item on the menu includes Spam luncheon meat. As the waiter recites the Spam-filled menu, a chorus of Vikings drowns out all conversations with a song repeating "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM... lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM. The excessive amount of spam mentioned in the sketch is a reference to rationing during the war where spam was one of the few meat products not rationed, hence it was widely available. Get it? Loads of it about! Can we stop it? In a word no. There are various anti-virus programs available, such as Norton which will block spam but the software has not been invented that will eradicate it completely. Don't be tempted to download spam blocking utilities off the internet, it may block some spam, but they are frequently used as Trojans for depositing adware and spyware onto your computer. "AdvertisementWARE" is software that periodically pops up advertisements on a user's computer. It displays ads targeted to the individual user based on key words entered in search engines and the types of web sites the user visits. The marketing data is collected periodically and sent in the background to the adware server. Adware is known as "contextual marketing. "Spyware" is software that sends information about your web surfing habits to its Web site. Often quickly installed in your computer in combination with a free download you selected from the Web, spyware transmits information in the background as you move around the Web. Can we do anything? Yes you can, just follow these simple Do's and Dont's Do not...... Read messages you believe to be spam. Delete it immediately. Reply to the message or unsubscribe to the email – these are just ways for spammers to find out if the email address is in use. Don't be tempted to reply telling them to stop sending you emails – it won't work. Use an automatic out of office reply facility in your email client. This can be inconvenient I know but it will automatically respond to spam emails again confirming the email address is in use. Purchase any of the items offered via spam. You may never see your goods once you have parted with hard earned cash and you are simply encouraging spammers. Believe the get rich schemes – there is no such thing, no matter how good or plausible they sound. Provide your email address if you don't have to. If it is optional do not provide your email address unless you are confident that the recipient is trustworthy. Don't forward chain-letters or petitions. Mass-mailings like this still constitute spam and the lists of addresses on them are later used by spammers. Never give out personal details such as your bank account over the internet, scrupulous sources will never ask for this type of information Do.......... Delete spam straight away. Just get it out of the way without getting irritated – easier said than done I know. Use the mail filtering tools in your email client. This helps you to spot spam, as most of it should filter into a Junk mail folder automatically. But beware, authentic emails can end up in your junk email by mistake, so if emails are important to you just check before deleting. Keep your email as private as possible only give out your email address when necessary to known trustworthy sources. Remove your email address from your website. Disguise it if necessary, for example; my first and last name at sign my company name followed by .co.uk, or for the more savvy, create it as an image (which a harvester cannot read). If you are one of our customers, please get in touch and we can do this for you (no charge). Switch off the reading pane in email clients such as Outlook. Select View -> Reading Pane -> Off. By having the reading pane, or preview, on you are, in effect, opening the email. Don't take spam personally. You are not specifically being targeted and the intention is not to upset or annoy you, spammers are just trying to make a fast buck – the lying, conniving, treacherous, evil, good for nothing.......... I hope you found this information helpful. Please contact us if you need any advice relating to websites. The WebGuild Team |
|||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|