Articles tagged: spam
The Email Tracking Myth: Why You’ll Never Reliably Know If Your Message Was Read
We often want confirmation that an email has been opened, delivered, or read. In the age of spam, it’s not possible with any accuracy.
Someone’s Sending From My Email Address! How Do I Stop Them?
Email spoofing is rampant. Spammers can send email that looks like it came from you, and there’s little that you can do about it.
What Happens When I Mark Something as Spam?
Marking spam as spam is an important tool in the war against it. Exactly what happens when you do so is clouded in mystery.
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.
Has a Hacker Really Hacked My Email Account?
An email claims your email account has been hacked, possibly even including a password you’ve used. Don’t be fooled; it’s a scam.
Why Am I Getting Email from a Dead Person?
It’s hard enough to experience the loss of a friend or a loved one. To get email from them thereafter can be very disturbing.
Behind the Scam: Decoding the Secrets of Fraudulent Emails
Scam emails often have clues ranging from obvious to obscure. I’ll take a scam email and show you what I see.
How Do I Recover My Outlook Account?
Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Microsoft account compromise and loss happens. Here’s how to get your account back depending on what happened to it.
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.
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.
How Do I Stop Someone from Emailing Me?
Sometimes you want to keep someone from contacting you. Ignoring them is often simplest, but there are tools to help as well.
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.
How Do I Stop Email From Going to Spam?
Train your spam filter to stop emails you want from going to your spam folder.
How Using BCC Reduces Spam
Using BCC on forwarded email is one way to reduce the amount of spam your recipients might get.
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.
Does Getting Porn Spam Mean You’ve Been Surfing Porn Sites?
Porn spam doesn’t mean anyone did anything illicit. Everyone gets spam, and some of it is porn. Lack of spam doesn’t imply you’ve been good, either.
Never Attribute to Malice . . .
Malicious intent is commonly understood to be the cause of technological trials and tribulations. It’s usually the wrong assumption to make.
5 Reasons Your Closed Email Account Sends Spam
Closing an email account is many people’s first reaction to seeing spam sent from their account. It rarely helps, if it’s even possible. I’ll explain.
Did My Bounced Message Get There?
When an email message bounces back to you, it may be hard to know who did or did not get the message.
Why Do Pictures in Email Sometimes Show as Attachments, and Sometimes in the Message?
Pictures in email don’t always display. The reasons are varied and confusing, but I’ll review the three most common causes of problems and what you need to do.
“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.
How to Get Email with Attachments Delivered
Emailing attachments — particularly large files — is getting more and more difficult as ISPs limit size and scan for malware.
Dealing with Fake “Ask Leo”
Someone’s sending spam that looks like an Ask Leo! recommendation. It’s not, and it gives us clues to keep in mind when evaluating any email message.
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.
Stopping Spam is Harder Than You Think
Spam is a much more complex, much more widespread, and much more global in nature than most people realize. All that adds up to it being VERY difficult to stop.
‘Tis the Season … to Unsubscribe!
The holiday season brings with it a flood of email. That’s a great opportunity to evaluate, and unsubscribe from things you no longer need.
My Flood of Auto-Responses
I made a minor change to the newsletter and as a result was flooded with auto-responses when it sent. What I learned about auto-responses is important to know.
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.
