Ask Leo!: Spam

How do I get rid of all this spam?!?!

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

If it seems like the amount of spam you're seeing has been getting worse that's only because it has. Spam in all its variants has only been increasing, and attempts to legislate a solution appear to have had little if any impact.

So what's a poor user to do?

Why is there an email block against my IP address?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:38:02 -08:00

Three of my friends have Hotmail accounts. I am not a spammer nor do I send unsolicited info to these friends. I recently received a note that "The following message was undeliverable". "A block has been placed against your IP address because we have received complaints concerning mail coming from that IP address". I have talked to my friends and they have no explanation for what has transpired. What can I do to resolve this matter? I would be glad to provide the e-mail addresses of these friends if that would be helpful. We are all confused by this turn of events.

]]> Blocks against IP addresses are actually fairly rare when it comes to normal consumer internet connections, but they do happen.

One of the reasons that they're rare is that they're also somewhat error prone, as you've seen.

We'll look at what Hotmail (or any ISP that does this) might be thinking, and what your alternatives are.

How do I unsubscribe from all these unwanted emails?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -08:00

I am receiving a lot of unwanted e-mails from diet pills to pet supplies and I don't want to keep deleting 100 e-mails every time I check my mail. I hate going into each e-mail one-by-one to unsubscribe and I don't know how safe it is for me to open those e-mails in the first place. I was wondering is there an easy free way to unsubscribe without needing to open the e-mail.

]]> I know that it's confusing, but there are emails that you should unsubscribe from, and emails that you absolutely should never unsubscribe from.

I'll explain why that is, and what the relatively simple rules turn out to be.

Does reporting spam help?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:16:06 -08:00

Does it really do any good to forward spam emails to SpamCop, Knujon or the FTC? Or am I wasting my time? Can they really do anything to stop spammers?

]]> Yes and no.

I really wish I could give you a definitive yes or no, but sadly the situation just isn't that simple.

Let's look at where spam originates, and what these services might, or might not be able to do about it.

Did I really get a critical update notification for Outlook Express in my email?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:45:16 -08:00

I recently received a "Critical Update" notification for Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express in my email. I'd not gotten these before, so I wanted to double check. What should I do?

]]> Delete that email immediately, and ignore any more copies you'll likely get.

Malware authors are constantly looking for ways to fool us into clicking on their links. Since I also got the same email, I'll use it as an example of what to look for.