Gotcha! Seven Ways to Reduce Spam
Vol 1 - No. 2

If you are like most people, you get a lot of unsolicited email, commonly known as spam, every day. Every day, we all get more and more spam. You might wonder, as I did, how the spammers get your address and how they know to send you more and more email.

One way is through the use of HTML email messages, the “Web-enabled” kind that have pictures and forms in them. Spammers can use HTML email to identify when you have looked at a particular message. Then they know that your email address is “live”, and that the spam was seen. All you have to do is look at the message, and the spammers GOTCHA!

How Do They Do That?

They do it through the pictures in the message. One or more of the images in the pretty HTML message is identified with a filename that is unique. That filename is matched up with your email address in the spammer’s database. When you look at the message, your email program asks the spammer’s computer to send the pictures along with the text, and when that unique picture file is requested, the spammer knows your email address is “live”. They got you, even if you delete the message.

But I Didn’t Open It!

Sometimes the spammers get you even when you refuse to click on any of the links in the message. All you have to do is open the message, and when your email program requests the special image file (called a web bug or web beacon) the damage is done. If your email program has a preview feature, this will trigger the web bug for you.

There aren’t any pictures in the message. Is it safe?

Possibly not. A web bug is frequently a very small image, the size of a dot on the screen. And it might be colored to match the background, so you can’t see it. Spammers, after all, need to be sly in order to reach as many “eyeballs” reading their messages as they can.

What Can I Do?

There’s no foolproof way to prevent all unsolicited email. But here are seven things you can do to help matters:

1. Do not use HTML email unless it is absolutely necessary, and set your default email format to “plain text”. Many knowledgeable email users will refuse HTML email completely because it can be used to invade your privacy.
   
   This is why our newsletter comes to you in plain text. We want to earn your trust. Plain text mail isn’t as pretty as HTML, but using it shows respect for your friends on the Internet.
   
   
2. Turn off the preview feature of your mail program. This feature might be called "Preview”, “Preview Pane”, or “Reading Pane”.
   
   
3. Ask your Internet Service Provider to filter unsolicited email. Many already do this. Often suspect messages will be flagged so your email program can deal with spam automatically.
   
   
4. Use a mail program or add-on that filters unwanted mail using rules you set. This is your last line of defense against unwanted mail. Most programs have some kind of filtering capability.
   
   
5. Don’t forward email stories and Internet jokes to acquaintances. I’ve received some that include hundreds of valid email addresses. If the message reaches someone associated with a spammer, all those addresses are ripe for the harvest.
   
   
6. Don’t react to virus alerts you get in email. Legitimate alerts never come this way. If you are worried, visit the Web site for your antivirus software vendor, or contact us. The email alerts are only good for wasting computer resources, harvesting email addresses, and frightening you.
   
   
7. Don’t ever respond to an unsolicited email message for any product or service. That only encourages the spammers to send you a lot more spam.

Please note: Any trademarks and trade names of others mentioned in this message are the property of their owners, and not Stoney Hill Associates, LLC. We respect the intellectual property of others. The information provided is believed to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee that the procedures and information given here will work correctly for your specific situation.

If you would like help with a computer or software problem you face, contact us. Send an email to request@stoneyhillassociates.com.

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