Stop SPAM For Good

The following extract was written by Mike Cox, Technology Services Unit Manager at Tipperary Institute. It gives some great tips for preventing spam and helps you avoid spamming others.

“If a SPAM message does get into your inbox, the best thing to do is to simply delete it. Most of us will have other external mail, which will have varying degrees of filtering in place. So the following advice should be taken for all email accounts:
· ALWAYS make sure your machine has had windows updates applied and your Anti Virus is up to date.

· NEVER open an attachment or click on a link.

· NEVER reply to a SPAM, even if it is to unsubscribe. Never forward the SPAM to the service desk, it increases the effectiveness, in that it now hits.

· NEVER forward on a Virus Warning. By and large they are hoaxes, designed to gather email addresses, which SPAMMERS use in creating better SPAM.

· ALWAYS treat unsolicited email suspiciously. Also, one word subjects, emails with poor English, anyone offering you money, anything looking for a password or bank details etc,

· DON’T PANIC. IF SPAM does get thru, and IF you do click an attachment or link, and IF it is a virus, then our desktop AV software should kick in (you should make sure it’s up to date). At this point, you should probably let us know, as your machine may need to be scanned. Again, IF it was a particularly effective VIRUS, it still would be very unlikely to kill your data. It could however mean your machine needs to be reinstalled and cost you time.

One final point, SPAM is in the eye of the beholder. Internal SPAM is one of the biggest issues facing email systems. Forwarding an email message to the global mailing lists will hit over 1000 inboxes. How many of those people will consider your message important?

Regards
Mike

Michael Cox
Technology Services Manager
Tipperary Institute