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From the minute users log onto their e-mail system, they encounter a deluge of unwanted e-mail that flows into their mailboxes all hours of the day and night. The billions of unwanted email messages circulating across the Internet disrupt email delivery, clog up computer systems, reduce productivity, waste time, raise the cost of Internet access fees, irritate users and erode their confidence in using email. Many spam messages also contain material that is offensive or fraudulent,
and spam is sometimes used to spread computer viruses.



Spam presents three major threats:

• Overwhelming message volume. Spam drains employee productivity as workers waste time reading, deleting or even responding to spam e-mails. Additionally, the sexually explicit nature of many spam messages poses potential liability for organisations.

• Phishing. Phishing is a specific type of spam message that solicits personal information from the recipient, such as social security, credit card and bank account numbers.

• Spoofing. Spoofing is a deceptive form of spam that hides the domain of the spammer or the spam’s origination point. Spammers often hijack the domains of well-known businesses or government entities to enhance the validity to their commercial message or scam. An example of spoofing is an e-mail that appears to come from a known e-mail address that requests a credit card number to confirm the order of goods.

So what can businesses do to help cut down on
spam?


Implementing these basic policies and strategies can help cut down on spam:

• Get a spam-filter. Your ISP may offer a filter service. If not, you may wish to buy filtering software. There is a wide choice of anti-spam software that offer a free trial period. Remember that one size does not fit all and obviously the best product for a desktop user or small business would not be appropriate or adequate for meeting the needs of a large enterprise.

• Establish written guidelines for how corporate e-mail addresses and Web browser are to be used by employees.

• Educate users to never respond to an e-mail when the sender is unknown, even to remove themselves from a mailing list.

• Be careful about disclosing your e-mail address. Follow these tips whenever you can:
  

  Set up an e-mail address dedicated solely to Web transactions.
  

  Only share your primary e-mail address with people you know. Avoid listing your e-mail address in large Internet directories.

  Don’t even post it on your own Web site.
  

  Disguise (or “munge”) your e-mail address. Use a munged address whenever you post it to a newsgroup, chat room, or bulletin board. For example, you could give your e-mail address as “s0me0ne@example.c0m” using “0″ (zero) instead of “o.” A person can interpret your address, but the automated programs that spammers use cannot. Another example is me@(nospam)isp.com.au where you advise users that they need to delete the (nospam) element of the address.
  

  Watch out for checked boxes. When you buy things online, companies sometimes add a checkbox (pre-checked!) to indicate that it’s fine to sell or give your e-mail address to responsible parties. Click the check box to clear it.
  

• Encode corporate e-mail addresses posted on company Web sites in Javascript or HTML to hinder a spider’s ability to recognize them. (The e-mail address looks normal and acts normal [to Web site visitors], but from the back end you just see code.)

• Even if you’re using anti-spam software, urge users to report spam that sneaks through to a corporate e-mail address for further analysis.

• Decide how much control your company wants over e-mail that’s been deemed spam, and whether end users or the network administrator should manage it.

• Educate your end users to identify and report any spam that does get through, and alert them to e-mail fraud. One clue to detect spam is if the sender’s e-mail address differs from the company’s name in the message.

• Limit Web surfing on company PCs; an easy way for spammers to find live e-mail addresses is by lifting them from sites where visitors have input their address.

• Adjust your Internet Explorer security settings to help prevent unwanted intrusions when you go on the Web. See Working With Internet Explorer 6 Security Settings for detailed directions.

• Review the privacy policies of Web sites. When you sign up for Web-based services such as online banking, shopping, or newsletters, review the privacy policy closely before you reveal your e-mail address. If a Web site does not have a privacy statement posted, be cautious and consider contacting the site owners before sharing sensitive information.

• Don’t open emails that appear to be from a dubious source. It is not wise to open any email message that appears to be from a dubious source. However, if you have already opened the message, don’t click on any links, including the unsubscribe facility – often spammers just include fake unsubscribe facilities in order to confirm that your email address is a real address. If you click ‘unsubscribe’, you may open yourself to a deluge of spam, both from that spammer and from others to whom they sell your email address. Note that for legitimate commercial electronic messages (those that have been sent with your consent), the unsubscribe facility must work, and it should be safe to use the facility.

• Don’t reply to e-mail asking for personal information. Most legitimate companies will not ask for personal information via e-mail. If a company you trust (e.g., your credit card company) writes to ask for personal information, call—do not write—and report it. Be sure to use a number you found yourself, either through the yellow pages, a bank statement, a bill, or other source. (Don’t use a phone number provided on the e-mail.) If it’s a legitimate request, the phone operator should be able to help you.

• Watch out for spoofed mail. “Spoofing” refers to duplicating a legitimate e-mail, such as a company’s newsletter. These spoofed mails may be used to trick you into downloading a virus or sending personal information, such as a credit card number. When in doubt, contact the company you think sent the e-mail.

• Don’t buy anything from a spam mail. Some spammers make their living on people’s purchases of their offerings. So resist the temptation to buy their products if you don’t want to take the chance of getting on more junk e-mail address lists.

• Be careful when downloading Adware, Freeware and Shareware. The process of downloading such software often requires you to provide your email address which may be used to send you advertisements, viruses, more spam or even download secret files into your computer which can compromise your PC’s security.
  
  

• Never, ever contribute to a charity from spam mail. Unfortunately, some spammers prey on your good will. If you receive an appeal from a charity, treat it as spam. If it is a charity you would like to support, call them and find out how you can make a contribution. Never send your information via e-mail, however.

• Never respond to popups by clicking on links.
  
  

• Think twice before opening attachments, even if you know the sender. If you cannot confirm with the sender that a message is valid and that an attachment is safe, delete the message immediately, and run up-to-date antivirus software to check your computer for viruses.

• Don’t forward chain e-mail messages. Chain mails may be hoaxes, or even a virus delivery system. Plus you lose control over who sees your e-mail address. Additionally, there are reports that spammers use chain letters to gather e-mail addresses. To check on the legitimacy of a chain letter or potential hoax, go to Hoaxbusters.

Conclusion


The best defense against Spam is to be pro-active, and ensure that you use common sense when using email and the Internet.

David Furlong is a qualified and experienced IT specialist and Technical Trainer. His list of credentials includes MCSE, MCSA, Dip IT, and he is one subject away from completing a Masters in Networking and Systems Administration.

He is manager of the computer consultancy firm,
Axiom Networking Solutions, and promotes AVG Anti-virus through his on-line store http://www.avg-antivirus.com.au.

The only way to keep up with the latest about The Reliability
Spam Filters is to constantly stay on the lookout for new
information. If you read everything you find about The
Reliability Spam Filters, it won’t take long for you to become
an influential authority.

Spam filters supposedly stop spam ,ails, phishing mails, which
are another type of spam that comes through the mailbox, but
pose more of a risk than other types of spam email.

Thus, if a phishing email comes to your in inbox and you provide
the sender with your information, you have put yourself at a
high risk of having your identity stolen. This means that you
must avoid these emails at all costs.

Internet service providers today claim to place high-security on
their services. However, AOL, Comcast, Verizon and other
services probably have less security than you might believe
especially with their default settings.

If you don’t have accurate details regarding The Reliability
Spam Filters, then you might make a bad choice on the subject.
Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

The fact is that spam emails and phishing emails especially put
the account holder at risk. The phishing mails are worse because
they appear to come from account providers, such as banks,
internet service providers and businesses. Thus, avoiding these
mails at all cost is part of filtering your mail. While AOL has
a spam filter integrated into its server, it still does not have
the power to stop the perpetrators completely if you fail to do
so yourself, you could end up at high-risk of having your
identity stolen.

If you think you have problems now just sorting through and
deleting those emails, just think of how much more trouble you
will have if you ever accidently answer one. You will have to
contact credit bureaus, cancel credit cards, and withdraw money
from your bank accounts.

Thus, the ultimate filter for reducing and getting rid of spam
or phishing emails is either to not answer them at all or to
remit a blank email to the sender.

Spam email filters may seem highly reliable, but do not
misunderstand that to mean that you now have the freedom to open
anything in your inbox without any scrutiny. Always take the
time to sort and separate your mail.

Is there really any information about The Reliability Spam
Filters that is nonessential? We all see things from different
angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be
crucial to another.

RSS subscriptions are a new kind of Web bookmarking that guarantee a return visit. That’s exactly why I think RSS conversion technique is an important topic to discuss. What makes visitors subscribe, how can you make it easier? Are all good questions to consider when offering an RSS feed. Below are a few guidelines I created from my personal experience:

1. Create a “perfect match” content

90% of my search engine traffic is driven through individual posts rather than my home page. Sometimes this can be viewed as a downside to RSS conversions efforts as your best posts are not visible to the surfer. As a blogger, you should make the best of this situation and write clean content with a “perfect match” mentality. “Perfect match” posts are ideal results that surfers might find via search engines. They exhibit 100% relevancy to a search query and serve as a perfect reason to subscribe to your RSS.

2. Create targeted content

Most RSS subscriptions are triggered by content that is relevant to a surfer’s niche and one that is updated frequently. You should make it your goal to select a target audience and create compelling and useful content that can be treated as news or tips and one that can be often returned to.

3. Design an eye-candy of a blog

I often find myself browsing thorough web and bookmarking beautiful web designs so I can return and admire them later. Often I notice that content of a site doesn’t really matter to me as long as it offers good design and usability. When designing your site to target RSS subscribers, you should:

• Create a warm color scheme.
• Clearly distinguish content from the background and/or surroundings
• Use CSS for positioning and styling (you can later change anything you want on the fly)

When picking a blog design, I would stay away from pre-made templates for the following reasons:

• Every one knows a classic template when he sees one
• Using pre-made templates is unprofessional if you are a legitimate institution (Matt Cutts and everyone who is busy is an exception to this rule)
• You don’t have a flexibility that comes you’re your own design

A website is a work of art that can be either admired or dismissed. I strongly believe that a way site is designed influences all types of conversions, as well as RSS conversions.

4. Make your feed visible

I once came upon a site that was extremely well designed and served perfect content. Unfortunately I spent too long looking of a “subscribe to my feed” type of link. I finally found it in the footer mixed in with a copyright notice. When placing a feed link, keep the following in mind:

• Place a link towards the top (few visitors read beyond the fold)
• Indicate what RSS is (you should always dumb-proof your site)
• Place an optional link toward the buttom (for those that read your article beginning to end)
• Distinguish your link from the background

Visibility is a number one approach to conversion.

5. Provide a direct subscription via popular aggregators

Before placing a link on a page, you should research which RSS aggregators are most widely used. Currently I believe that the big three are Bloglines, My Yahoo, and Google reader. This will change over time, but a good way of keeping track of reader popularity is through Feedburner as it allows you to observe circulation of each feed via any RSS aggregator.

6. Pick your feed manager

You have an option of either providing a direct link to your XML file or use service such as Feedburner to manipulate your feed. I prefer Feedburner as it allows my visitors to subscribe using multiple aggregators so I don’t have to worry about popularity of each. It also comes equipped with a few goodies to spice up your feed as well.

7. Submit your feed to RSS directories

I believe it is always useful to make your feed visible on the Web. There are quite a few search engines that spider your feed and deliver search results based exclusively on it’s content (take Google’s Blogsearch for example). To have spiders crawl your feed inside and out, submit it to the following directories:

• Syndic8
• Feedster
• BlogDex
• PopDex
• Blogz
• and many many more

Please keep in mind that six steps outlined above are to be treated as a single approach to increasing RSS conversions. If I had to pick only one out, I would most definitely go with building targeted content. This option will bring you the most relevant traffic over time and with relevancy come conversions. In this game, you must by either extremely pro-active or patient as results vary over time. One thing is for sure: content and visibility still remain top reasons behind any given conversion.

Ignat Drozdov is an SEO working in Washington DC, specializing in new business launches in Europe and Asia. Ignat is also an editor of BlogSEO.

Everyone agrees that SPAM is a growing problem on the Internet.
And with estimates that we will soon have over 1 billion people
worldwide surfing the net, this problem will only continue to
grow worse.

The worst part of this situation is that spammers are very
clever people and they are using all of their knowledge to get
their message onto our desktops whether we want it or not.

For example, this week hidden among all of my usual get-rich
quick schemes and penis enlargement information was an email
from a porn site that literally took control of my desktop.

As soon as the email message was highlighted in my Outlook
Express window, it launched a web page that took up the entire
screen of my computer.

There it was on my 21″ monitor, for the whole world to see it if
they were looking over my shoulder, a lusty, busty women
crouched on her knees with her arms pressing together her
breasts to overly exaggerate the obvious and her legs spread so
far apart you could see her most intimate body parts in all of
their powder pink glory.

I am a man with a healthy love for women but I do not appreciate
having this sort of thing forced on me because someone wants me
to give them my money in exchange for pornographic pictures.

As far as I am concerned, these are “Terroristic Tactics”.

My computer and I were held hostage by the use of HTML source
code that includes script language that launches a window to
view their web page.

Worse still, the window is one that takes up the entire computer
screen and does not have the usual buttons on the upper right
hand corner to minimize or close the window.

And, it might even include the command to keep popping open even
more windows on your desktop at set intervals that can literally
freeze up your computer!

What can you do to fight back?

Whether this problem occurs via reading your email or if you are
trapped into it while visiting a web site, there are a few
things you can do short of ripping the power cord out of the
wall.

First of all, the Federal Trade Commission, FTC,
http://www.ftc.gov/, takes a very dim view of anyone that tries
to force you to view any material you do not wish to view, be it
advertising or pornography.

In a recent action by the Federal Trade Commission, they “asked
a U.S. District Court Judge to halt a Internet scam that clones
everyday Web sites and uses the copycat sites to barrage
unsuspecting consumers with pornography. According to the
agency, the scammers copy existing Web sites and insert coded
instructions in the copycat sites which automatically redirects
unwitting consumers to adult sites operated by the defendants.
Then the scammers disable the browser’s “back” and “exit”
commands so that Internet surfers trying desperately to escape
the pornographic images face screen after screen of similar
material and advertisements for other adult sites.”

“These operators high-jacked Web sites, ‘kidnapped’ consumers
and held them captive,” said Jodie Bernstein, Director of the
FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “They exposed surfers,
including children, to the seamiest sort of material and
incapacitated their computers so they couldn’t escape. They
copied as many as 25 million Web pages from sites as diverse as
the Harvard Law Review and the Japanese Friendship Garden. When
consumers used search engines to find subjects as innocent as
‘kids on the net,’ ‘news about Kosovo,’ or ‘wedding services,’
they risked being exposed to a torrent of tawdry images. This
scam is outrageous and we want it off the Internet. We’re
confident the court will help us arrange that.”

The Federal Trade Commission is a powerful regulatory agency and
they will accept complaints from consumers on both SPAM and also
a Web Page or Web Sites that are using deceptive or terroristic
tactics.

You may forward unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) to the
Commission, by sending it directly to them at: mailto:UCE@FTC.GOV

I would suggest you not bother them with ordinary run of the
mill SPAM but rather limit your complaints to email like the one
I described above that literally takes control of your computer.

You may also file a complaint with the Commission online by
visiting their web site at: http://www.ftc.gov/

Scroll to the bottom of their web site where you will see the
link to “File A Complaint Online”.

On a more immediate basis, it is important to know at least a
few of the handy Windows “Shortcut” commands that will allow you
to regain control of your computer without the need to shut it
down all together.

For a more extensive list of Window’s Shortcuts delivered to you
FREE via Auto-Responder, send a blank email to:
mailto:shortcuts@emailexchange.org

Perhaps one of the best commands to know by heart is: ALT + F4 =
Quitting the open program

That command comes in very handy when you have a window open
that takes up your entire screen area and does not show the
customary Minimize/Restore/Close boxes that are found in the
upper right hand corner of all Window’s programs.

Another good one to keep in mind is: ALT + SPACE = Display of
the System Menu that allows you to
Restore-Move-Resize-Minimize-Maximize or Close a window.

And as a last resort, if nothing else seems to be working, you
can always try: CTRL + ESC = Opens the Start Menu from which you
can properly shut down your computer.

Until the powers that be take direct action to stop SPAM at
every possible opportunity, we will all have to put up with the
nuisance of deleting junk email from our inbox. But at least we
do not have to tolerate the invasion of our computer with code
meant to make us a hostage on our own desktop and in our own
homes.

Adware is a type of program that is usually attached to freeware and shareware. It is responsible for displaying pop-up or pop-under advertisements on your computer, even if you are not browsing the Internet. Programmers will attach these programs to certain software to offset the cost of its programming. This is also the way they make money from software that they give out for free.

Adware may be a necessary component of the software it is attached to. Removing it can violate the license agreement of the software and prevent it from functioning properly.

You may wonder if adware programs are dangerous. In general, these programs are harmless. However, there are types of adware that can prove dangerous to your system, such as spyware. Spyware can gain access to your private computer information and channel it to third parties, often without your knowledge or consent.

Having an up-to-date anti-adware program is the best way to protect your computer from such malicious programs. It will alert you if your computer contains adware, so you can remove it effectively and without harming your system. It will also remind you to conduct regular virus and adware scans.

Different kinds of adware-removal software are widely available in the market. You can even download free versions over the Internet. All of these are useful in alerting you of the presence of adware. If you run your anti-adware software regularly, you will be able to prevent adware from infecting your computer.

If you do not want to run the risk of getting your computer infected, be careful not to download any freeware or shareware that contains adware. There are websites that offer adware-free software. There are also websites that will warn you of certain programs that contain adware or spyware, so you don’t run them or download them by mistake.