Each day we all face the identical challenge. Spam. It doesnt matter if youre a home computer user or the head of IT for a multinational limiting or totally preventing the distribution of junk e mail to your computer(s) is now a daily chore.

The sheer frustration that spam causes combined with the number of lost man hours enhances up to junk e-mail being a very real problem for all involved. You have to filter through all the junk to find your own personal or work e-mail. This on its own is annoying enough. When you consider the security risks from spyware, trojans, diallers and attempted identity theft spam becomes much more than just an annoyance - it becomes a minefield for any computer user.

So what may you do to block spam? The first step each user should take is to simply limit the number of people who know your personal email address. If you have a work e-mail address then just utilize it for work. For home users only distribute your email address to all the people you understand and trust. This simple move can cut your spam problems by 50%.

But what about all those online forms I need to fill in? No problem. Use a free of cost e mail service like Hotmail or Gmail for this purpose. Treat it as a throwaway account that you might utilize as a buffer between your true personal e-mail address and the rest of the world. Let it fill up with junk e-mail and then just login once a week and delete everything you see.

Your password. Its amazing how many people set the password for their email account to abc123 or something similar. These passwords are incredibly elegant for spammers to guess and would give them easy access to your mail account. The password for your electronic mail account should follow corporate standards of being 6 - 8 characters long and be alphanumeric (a mixture of numbers and letters). Make it longer if you can. Using a weak password is just asking for trouble.

If youre already receiving a ton of spam then you will need to invest in a spam blocker. There are costless spam blockers you might download and also also their paid equivalents. A great spam blocker can cost you as little as $30 and youll see an immediate reduction in the amount of spam youre receiving.

Over and above installing software on your computer (especially for Mac users as your choices are limited) you could sign up for one of the web based challenge response spam blockers like Mailblocks or SpamArrest. Both of these services are ideal for somebody whos on the move a lot. Also because theyre web based theres no software to install so theyre perfect for Mac or PocketPC/Palm users.

Taking a pro-active anti spam stance is the next step. If you get junk email from all the people then check the mail headers and report any offensive e-mail to the hosting business or ISP involved. Never, ever reply to spam directly. This simply confirms to the spammer that your e mail address is active. Also never click on any hyperlinks in any junk electronic mail - this again confirms your existence and can lead to a virus being downloaded directly onto your PC. Filter the spam, report the abusers, delete the remaining junk electronic mail .

Spam could be stopped. Not by some corporate giant or genius programmer. It might be stopped by each of you individually. Spammers rely on the widespread availability of e-mail addresses and for many people to reply to these emails or click on the links within the emails. The faster all the people stop reacting emotionally to spam and simply filter, report and delete the offensive mail itself the more quickly the lucrative market of bulk email will dry up for the spammers.