1. Keep your PC's anti-virus software up-to-date and install a firewall. Unprotected high-speed Internet connections are vulnerable to infection by viruses that are programmed to open gateways, also known as proxies, to relay spam. By not keeping your PC secure, you may unwittingly be a courier for spam.
2. Give your primary e-mail address to friends and family only. Give a different
e-mail to others on the Internet. Although this second address will likely
receive unwanted e-mails, it is more disposable and can allow you to better
control the e-mails you receive. Remember - Comcast offers you six additional
e-mail addresses - take advantage of them!
3. Do not post your primary e-mail address in newsgroups, bulletin boards or
chat rooms. Spammers use software programs, often referred to as spiders
or bots, to search for and harvest e-mail addresses on public forums. To
prevent this, use a secondary e-mail address or alter the primary address
so that it is not deliverable in that format. For example, if your e-mail
address is test_account@comcast.net, you could post it as test_account@NO.SPAM.comcast.net
or "test _ account at comcast dot net".
4. Do not post your primary e-mail address on a Web site. Spiders also scan
Web sites for e-mail addresses. You can alter your e-mail address to help
protect it but remember that e-mail harvesting software can read HTML code,
so be sure to remove the "mailto:" tag.
5. Do not reply to unsolicited e-mails. If the e-mail does not appear to be
from a trustworthy or legitimate source, delete it without replying. A federal
anti-spam law called The Can Spam Act, went into effect January 1, 2004,
requiring a functioning "opt out" link or a legitimate "reply
to unsubscribe" e-mail address. Some unscrupulous spammers have ignored
this law and continue to trick recipients into unwittingly responding to
a fake "opt out" link, which actually verifies their e-mail address
as a valid one. Therefore, it is still strongly recommended that recipients
of unsolicited e-mail carefully consider whether an "opt out" or "reply
to unsubscribe" seems legitimate and act accordingly.
6. Consider using an alternate e-mail address when signing up for services,
filling out forms or taking surveys on the Internet. Read the privacy policy
of these sites. Keep in mind, if the service is "free" they often
need to generate revenue in some manner and advertising is often used to
do this.
7. When signing up for a mailing list, read the terms and policies. Signing
up should result in wanted or solicited e-mail, but the list provider should
disclose whether signing up will result in the sale or trade of your e-mail
address to other parties.
8. Let friends and family know that you do not wish to have them share your
e-mail address.
9. Make sure your e-mail address is difficult to guess. Don't use a common
name or common words. It is not uncommon for spammers to use software programs
to generate random user names based on common names and words in the dictionary.
In addition, common e-mail addresses may have been used previously and my
still be on old mailing lists.
10. Check "sent mail" folders for suspicious messages. Take responsibility
for your PC by checking your "sent mail" folder regularly to ensure
that all sent mail is really being sent by you and not by a spammer using an
open gateway (proxy) on your computer.