The Crabby Office Lady
If you have an e-mail address, it's just
about impossible for you to eliminate spam
completely. However, there are steps you can
take to reduce that pesky, unsolicited
commercial e-mail. Here are my 10 favorite
methods for hitting spam where it
hurts.
Applies to |
Microsoft Office 2003 |
Microsoft Office 2000 and
XP |
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"Spam": The word alone
strikes terror in the hearts of e-mail users
(although not necessarily in lovers of the
processed pork luncheon meat by the same name,
and to which this columnist bears no ill will).
It has no manners, knows no boundaries, and
takes no prisoners. It makes you wring your
hands in frustration, shake your fist with rage,
and wear out your DELETE key and finger.
What is spam?
No one I talked to is really sure what the
letters in "spam" stand for:
- spam: Stupid Pointless Annoying Mail?
- spam: Stymieing Practice of Altering Minds?
- spam: Scrambled Pieces of Asinine Marketing?
Actually, it stands for nothing — it's just
unsolicited e-mail (commercial or otherwise)
that comes to your Inbox in droves. How it was
named "spam" is debated in countless newsgroups
and Web sites on that oracle of misinformation
we call the Internet. In other words, no one is
really sure. (Yes, folks, I'm aware of the Monty
Python skit but the connection between that and
e-mail seems rather coincidental. Who was using
e-mail then?).
How can I avoid spam?
While you can spend lots of your hard-earned
cash on spam blockers, spam butchers, spam SWAT
teams, spam sharpshooters, and spam spammers,
you can also take a few steps yourself to reduce
your daily spam rations. Ready? Let's get
crackin'.
Method #1: Use Outlook to manage junk
e-mailers
Now that you have Outlook 2003 on your
desktop (and if you don't, what I'm about to lay
out for you might just get you on your feet, out
the door, and off to get it), you may have
noticed a folder called Junk E-Mail. (No, we
didn't prepopulate it for you with spam.)
This new folder is the embodiment of the Junk
E-mail Filter — soon to be your new best friend.
This filter basically scans messages before they
get to your Inbox and annoy you. It decides
whether a message is junk based on several
factors, including the time of day it was sent
and the content of the message. While the filter
doesn't initially single out any particular
sender or type of message, here are a few steps
you can take to customize this filter to be your
very spam bodyguard:
- You can add message senders to the Safe
Senders List so that their messages will never
be treated as junk e-mail.
- Contacts are automatically trusted by
default, so messages from people in your
Contacts folder will also never be treated as
junk e-mail.
- You can configure Outlook to only accept
messages from the Safe Senders List, giving you
total control over which messages reach your
Inbox.
- Conversely, you can easily block messages
from a certain e-mail address or domain name by
adding the sender to the Blocked Senders List.
- If you belong to a mailing list, you can add
the address for the list to your Safe Recipients
List so that messages sent to the mailing list
will not be treated as junk e-mail.
- If you are using a Microsoft Exchange Server
e-mail account, messages from within your
organization will never be treated as junk
e-mail, regardless of the content of the
message. (I live in such a world, and I want to
take this opportunity to thank all my coworkers
and higher-ups for their warm regards, pointed
remarks, and misplaced aggression.)
By default, the Junk E-mail Filter is set to
a low setting that is designed to catch the most
obvious junk e-mail. Any message that is caught
by the filter is moved to a special Junk E-mail
folder, where you can retrieve or review it at a
later time.
If you don't have Outlook 2003 installed yet,
here are two solutions in the interim (the very
short interim) for previous versions of
Outlook or Microsoft Outlook Express:
- Add senders to the junk e-mail list. You can
add whole domains this way, too.
- Create rules that can recognize spam, such
as a rule that flags or deletes e-mail messages
with certain words in the subject line or body
of the message.
You can also create
rules to color-code these messages (instead of
deleting them automatically), so that they're
easily recognizable in the Inbox. That way, if
your Great-aunt Bessie sends you e-mail that for
some reason has the words "HOT HOT HOT" in the
subject line (one can only speculate why: pies?
Great-uncle Sol? Vinyl seats in the Buick?), it
won't get deleted until you see it first.
To learn how to add senders to the junk mail
list or how to create rules, press F1 for Help
in Outlook 2002, Outlook 2000, or Outlook
Express.
Method #2: Avoid replying to the sender
When you reply and type REMOVE in the subject
line, this is a great way to let spammers know
that yes, your e-mail address is up, running,
and being used right now. It's like waving a
white flag that says, "I read unsolicited
e-mail. Please send more."
The best way to "opt out" of a spammer's
mailing list is to pretend you never received
the e-mail message. Put your hands over your
ears and sing, "La-la-la-la...I can't HEAR you!"
(No one likes to be ignored.)
Method #3: Alter your e-mail address when
you post it
You might post your e-mail address sometimes
to a newsgroup, chat room, or bulletin board.
But you don't have to post it correctly. The
funky term for this is "munging" your address.
This means adding a character, number, or symbol
(or two) that has to be taken out for your
address to work (for example,
"cr@bby@mi(rosft.com"). It really throws those
automatic "address harvesters" (yikes, what a
term!) off balance, and they just slink away
from whence they came.
Method #4: Don't give out your primary
e-mail address
Create a "disposable" Web e-mail address
(such as one from an MSN® Hotmail® account) that
you can give when registering for free software
or shareware, or even when ordering from a
company online. In fact, Hotmail can help you
avoid getting spam. I like to give my primary
address to friends and family, and then I have
another one I use when I'm ordering some new
rhinestone glasses or hair coloring.
Method #5: Make use of laws against spam
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was approved by the
Senate in November 2003 and by the House of
Representatives in December 2003, and was signed
into law by President Bush on December 16, 2003.
For more information about spam laws that
have been enacted and those still waiting around
patiently, visit the Spam
Laws Web site.
Method #6: Don't post your address on your
Web page
Again, you can munge it or not post it there
at all. Then those nasty spam weevils can't find
you.
Method #7: Review Web sites' privacy
policies
I know that you're an Internet expert and
that you can blaze through those online forms at
lightning speed. But slow down, Cha-Cha, and
make sure that you're checking all the privacy
options you need to check. Sometimes these are
hard to find, but they're there. And sometimes
there is more than one box to check. Some sites
assume the right to share your information;
responsible sites will give you a way to opt
out.
An example:
Let's say that you're in the process of
purchasing a fabulous new pair of rhinestone
glasses. You've filled out all the pertinent
information: Size, style, shipping and billing
info, and an e-mail address to receive the order
confirmation. Now before you click the "place
order" button, look around.
Are there any check boxes or tiny form fields
on that page that are checked to indicate that
you're fine with this company selling or giving
away your e-mail address to "responsible"
parties? Make sure you uncheck (or check,
whichever the case may be) where necessary. In
fact, backtrack through the pages and make sure
you didn't forget to indicate your
"don't-you-dare-sell-this-e-mail-address"
preference.
And here is a tip:
Even if you did all the right things and
found all the sneaky little boxes, make sure you
check those boxes again if, for some reason, you
have to backtrack through the form. Sometimes
sneaky vendors will set the pages to go back to
the default setting, thereby tripping you up
again. Good grief, it takes such vigilance,
doesn't it? (Yes, but it's worth it.)
Method #8: Don't list yourself in Internet
directories
This is a tough one. If you're in the regular
phone book, chances are you're in one of the big
directories such as BigFoot, AnyWho, InfoSpace,
Switchboard, and Yahoo!. Look yourself up, and
there you'll be. There is probably a place to
add your e-mail address (for free, can you
believe it?), but my advice is: Don't.
Method #9: Ditch that clever profile
From an informal poll I took among friends,
they told me that after they cleared their
profile from a certain Internet service provider
(that shall not be named), the amount of spam
they received was drastically reduced.
Method #10: Do not forward chain e-mail
This is my favorite one, and I'm pretty sure
I've lost some friends after telling them to
cease and desist. Here's a good example:
- On NPR's Morning Edition last week, Nina
Tottenberg said that if the Supreme Court
supports Congress, it is in effect the end of
the National Public Radio (NPR), NEA & the
Public Broadcasting System (PBS)...."
Sound familiar? This is a hoax. Don't forward
it to friends. Your first clue is that Nina's
last name is misspelled. Not familiar? You don't
listen to public radio? OK, here is one for
you:
- My name is Bill Gates, and I need your
help...
It's a pretty good bet that if you don't know
Bill Gates, he won't be sending you any sort of
e-mail, because chances are he doesn't need your
help. He's never even sent me e-mail. (I'm still
waiting. I still have hope.)
Some others I've received concern needles in
theater seats, free software from my boss, free
cases of champagne, free trips to Disney World,
a request for money for a little girl dying of a
tropical disease, the Hawaiian good luck totem,
caution using cell phones at gas stations, and
my personal favorite: a virus warning about
e-mail messages with "How to give a cat a
colonic" in the subject line.
"The best lightning rod for
your protection is your own
spine." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
About the author
Annik
Stahl, the Crabby Office Lady columnist,
uses Office all day long. She gets her column
ideas from your wild suggestions and demands, so
if you're feeling demanding or just want to toss
a comment her way, leave
Crabby some feedback. If you have an Office
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have an Office tip for you. (While she does
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