Spam

**Rosco** · 30th March 2009, 10:05 PM

Apart from all the usual rubbish .... appendage enhancement suggestions, watches, PHD's, Rumanian/Ethiopian girlfriends, Nigerian benefactors etc etc et al

I also regularly get spam which purports to come from one of my legitimate email addresses.

How does this happen ?
Does it mean the mongrels are spamming others using my address ?
Can I do anything to solve the problem ?

It's bad enough that they know about my physical shortcomings .... but the rest is way over the top.

d@rk51d3 · 31st March 2009, 04:40 PM

I've never had spam mail of any sort.............ever.

sorry I can't help.

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 31st March 2009, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by d@rk51d3

I've never had spam mail of any sort.............ever.

sorry I can't help.

Very useful post that!

My only knowledge about spam relates to spambots and alphabet spam. Some robots trawl the internet for email addresses then once they have it they store it in their database to send out their spam. Alphabet spam relates to a spambot taking the isp address and bombarding it with all and any name and then combining it with all the combinations of letters and numbers it can generate. e.g it starts at aaron@some.isp.com, then aaron1@some.isp.com, aaron2@...., zzebra9999@some.isp.com any addresses that don't bounce it adds to its database and the system starts again.

Large ISP are more vulnerable than others.

The rules to avoid alphabet spam:

Don't publish your email address on the internet if possible.
Don't have given names in your address
Use characters (#,+,^ etc) rather than letters or numbers to identify you from the next "bigbrute@another.isp.com"
have an unusual name for your email username
Use smaller ISP or those with good anti-spam resources
Use a good anti-spam and anti-virus software which is regularly updated.

Diana

**Rosco** · 31st March 2009, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Very useful post that!

The rules to avoid alphabet spam: Don't have given names in your address, use characters (#,+,^ etc) rather than letters or numbers to identify you from the next "bigbrute@another.isp.com"

Diana

Thanks Diana .... but doesn't seem to work with ...

ross@nicollengineers.com.au ....

ro#+@nic......... doesn't quite cut the mustard ..

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 31st March 2009, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by Rosco

Thanks Diana .... but doesn't seem to work with ...

ross@nicollengineers.com.au ....

ro#+@nic......... doesn't quite cut the mustard ..

You could always use ro$$@nicollengineers.com.au

or

r0$$@nicollengineers.com.au

d@rk51d3 · 31st March 2009, 06:41 PM

Quite likely to be a virus that has raided your address book, or someone who has you in their book.

Once they have it, you may need to change it. Or at least invest in some protection.

or dare I say, change your browsing habits.

jk.

**LSBob** · 31st March 2009, 07:01 PM

Also visit the Microsoft website and look for One Care, it is under Security and downloads. Microsoft make available a free download which checks your PC --- mine took 12 hours overnight when for Trend Micro for a full deep scan only takes 2 hours. There is a long legal document to read first but if you only want to use it once then it doesnot really apply. That will see if there are still any viruses, Trojans and the like still around. Also there is a free download, Adaware which looks for cookies which are data miners or worse and you can delete them or quarantine them.

**Rosco** · 31st March 2009, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by d@rk51d3

or dare I say, change your browsing habits.

jk.

**clean32** · 31st March 2009, 08:01 PM

adware, first
superantispyware second

thats a start

then the microsoft thing as writen above

**JDNSW** · 1st April 2009, 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by clean32

adware, first
superantispyware second

thats a start

then the microsoft thing as writen above

All the above advice is good. Add to it :-

Do not use Internet Explorer - ever (if you can't part with Microsoft, use Firefox with appropriate addons such as Adblock+) (IE is basically insecure and being integrated with your operating system allows nasties direct access to your operating system)

Do not use Outlook Express - but if you can't part with it, set security as high as you can, and neither send nor accept HTML email. (While HTML looks nice, unlike plain text, it can include executable code, which can be malware. Accepting it may infect your computer, particularly with OE and Windows, and then sending it can spread the infection) (Like IE, OE is basically insecure, but this can be improved by changing settings)

Never click on any links that arrive by email without thinking first! (This is where a lot of problems start)

John

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