Articles in Category: Spam
Articles relating to the plague that is spam – why it exists, what to do about it, what NOT to do about it, and basically how to live with minimal frustration in a spam-filled world.
Why Doesn’t Blocking Email Senders Work?
Most email programs can block email from a specific address. Unfortunately, that’s completely ineffective when it comes to spam.
How Do I Block All Email From a Specific Domain in Gmail?
It’s not obvious, but there’s an easy way to block all email sent to you from a single domain. Just make sure it’s really what you want.
How Did I Get Accidentally Unsubscribed and How Do I Undo It?
Occasionally we stop getting email we signed up for. Here are some ways that can happen and what to do next.
Why Am I Getting Email From Someone With the Wrong Email Address?
Many people receive spam that looks like it comes from someone they know but is not from that person’s email address. I’ll take a look at what’s going on and what you need to pay attention to.
Should I Worry If Email I Send Is Marked as Spam?
Don’t worry if someone threatens to mark your email as spam. Here’s why.
What Do Spam Filters Look At?
Spam filters can be sophisticated or simple. I’ll look at some of the characteristics of email that spam filters check.
How Do I Stop Outlook.com from Putting Legitimate Messages in the Junk Mail Folder?
Outlook.com, like most email services, tries hard to keep spam out of your inbox. Sometimes it gets a little too aggressive. I’ll look at how to tame it.
8 Ways Spammers Get Your Email Address
Spam is annoying. What’s more annoying are all the ways spammers have to get our email addresses in the first place.
How Do I Unsubscribe from All These Unwanted Emails?
There are emails from which you should certainly unsubscribe if you no longer want them. However, there are emails that you absolutely should never unsubscribe from. I’ll review the difference.
Why Are They Saying I’m Sending Too Much Spam?
How your email can get blocked for spam you didn’t send, and what to do about it.
How to Deal When Unsubscribe Doesn’t Work
When a legitimate email sender doesn’t respond to an unsubscribe request, they’re no longer legitimate. Here’s what to do.
I’ve Been Accused of Being a Spammer. What Can I Do About It?
It’s not uncommon for email to bounce in ways that imply you might be spamming. I’ll look at what may or may not be happening.
Can’t We Just Spam the Spammers to Death?
Unfortunately, that turns you into, yes… a spammer! There are many, many problems with this idea. I’ll explain a few.
Why Does Email with a Lot of BCC’ed Recipients Bounce?
BCC is good for many things. Sending to many people at once isn’t really one of them.
What Is and Is Not Spam
Understanding what is and is not spam is important to make sure you get what you want and improve spam filtering for everyone.
Why Shouldn’t I Post My Email Address in a Public Forum?
Spammers and internet trolls harvest email addresses via a variety of means. One of the most common is to simply surf the web and look for anything that might look like one.
How Long Will I Get Email From an Inactive Account?
Though inactive email accounts stay open for some time before they’re closed, spammers can make it appear as though an account is still active.
Why Is There So Much Spam?
Even though most of us might never fall for it, the reason there’s so much spam is simple: spam works.
Someone’s Sending from My Email Address! How Do I Stop Them?
Email spoofing is rampant. Spammers often send email that looks like it came from you, and there’s little that you can do about it.
Why Is My Mail to This Person Not Getting Through?
Spam prevention measures have made getting email delivered more difficult. We’ll look at how to maximize the chances your email will make it through.
I’m Drowning in Spam. What Can I Do?
Sometimes it seems like spam is a tidal wave of junk that threatens to make email completely unusable. While you can’t stop spam, you can manage it with a good spam filter.
Why Am I Getting Spam From Myself?
Getting spam from yourself? We all do. I’ll look at why it happens, what little you can do about it, and something unlikely but important to check.
How Do I Stop Email From Going to Spam?
Train your spam filter to stop emails you want from going to your spam folder.
Why Am I Getting Bounces for Email I Didn’t Send?
Spammers want to send email that looks like it’s coming from someone who can be trusted. They want it to look like it’s coming from you — and you end up getting the bounce notifications.
What’s the Difference Between Trash and Junk Folders?
Junk folder, Spam folders, and Trash folders are similar, but they differ in one important respect: training your spam filter.
I’m Suddenly Getting More Spam Emails. Should I Be Worried?
A sudden flood of additional spam is not unusual. I’ll look at why I think it happens, and when I start to worry.
Why Am I Getting Email Sent to an Email Address Similar to Mine?
It’s not uncommon to get unexpected email sent to an email address similar to your own. I’ll review why that is and what to do about it.
How to Get Rid of Spam Emails
If you’re not getting spam now, you will soon — and probably lots of it. What can you do? There’s no magic answer, but there are various things you can do to help.
How Do I Get Off Email Lists I Don’t Want to be On?
To unsubscribe or not to unsubscribe: that is the question. The answer depends on how you got there.
Why Do I Get Spam Not Addressed to Me? How Spammers Do It, and What Steps You Can Take
Spammers use many techniques to slide their garbage into your inbox. BCCing you on messages is a common way.
Why Am I Not Getting the Email Newsletter I Signed Up For? Three Steps to Improve the Situation
Over-aggressive spam filtering can cause email newsletters and other messages to fail to appear in your inbox. I’ll look at why that is, and three steps you can take to improve the situation.
“From” Spoofing: How Spammers Send Email that Looks Like It Came from You
“From” spoofing is how spammers send email that looks like it comes from you that you had nothing at all to do with. I’ll look at how it’s done.
Am I Wasting My Time Reporting Scam and Spam Emails?
Reporting spam in your email program with the spam button is critical. Reporting it by forwarding it somewhere isn’t going to do any good.
Why I (Still) Don’t Like Challenge/Response Spam Blockers
An error caused my newsletter to come “From” the wrong address. Flooded with challenge/response mails, I wonder: what other messages are you missing?
Why Does My IP Address Have a Bad Reputation? And What Do I Do?
Email reputation for your home IP address probably doesn’t matter, and having it characterized as “poor” might even be a good thing.
How Can I Automatically Reply to Spammers To Tell Them to Stop?
It’s tempting to want to reply to spam, telling the sender to stop it (or worse). Not only is that ineffective, it often makes things worse.
What’s This Confirmation Request I Got When I Emailed Someone?
Challenge/Response is a spam-fighting technique that forces you to prove you’re human before your message will be delivered. It’s controversial, to say the least.
What’s the Difference Between Spam and Junk Mail?
“Spam” and “junk” mean the same thing when it comes to email. There’s a lot of confusion about how they, your email service, and your email program all interact.
What Happens When I Mark Something as Spam?
Marking spam as spam is an important tool in the war against it, but exactly what happens when you do so is clouded in mystery.
Why Is My Email Marked as Spam?
You can end up with email marked as spam for many different reasons, usually involving reputation – and not only yours.
Am I Sending Spam?
Sending emails with attachments to many BCC’d recipients directly from your Hotmail account looks like you’re sending spam. I’ll talk about why, and suggest alternatives.
Why Does My Account Keep Sending Out Spam?
Unfortunately most of this is out of your hands now. There are a few things you can check for, and then you’ll have to just get on with your life.
I got two identical spam messages from two friends. Which of us has been hacked?
It’s unlikely that you’ve been hacked. It’s possible that your friends have both been hacked, but this kind of thing can happen without anyone being hacked at all!
Someone Is Signing Me Up for Newsletters I Don’t Want — What Can I Do?
If someone, even someone you may know, is targeting you with spam – it’s still spam. We’ll treat it as such.
Why am I suddenly getting spam in my inbox?
It can be very frustrating if it suddenly seems like spammers have found you. There is one thing may help your email provider catch up and slow the deluge.
How Do I Stop All this Spam?
Sometimes, it seems like spam is a tidal wave of junk that threatens to make email completely unusable. While you can’t stop spam, you can manage it very well with a good spam filter.
Why can’t we catch scammers?
Scammers are an international problem and that makes it extremely difficult to stop. In the end, it’s all about the money.
Why Isn’t Outlook’s Junk Mail Filter Stopping More Spam?
Outlook is doing the best that it can with spam, but your expectations that it can block spam based on the From addresses is a tad off the mark.
