Articles tagged: spam

Password Frustration

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.

How Do I Tell If an Email Address Is Fake?

It’s hard to determine whether an email address is fake.

Copying a sharing link.

Tip of the Day: Send Links Instead of Attachments

Spam filter

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.

User unknown bounce

Tip of the Day: Check the From: in Bounces

No Spam

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.

No Spam

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.

No Entry

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.

Spam

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.

Not Spam!

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.

Under a load of spam.

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.

It's Shocking!

Tip of the Day: Stop Freaking Out About Porn Spam

No Spam

Tip of the Day: Mark Spam as Spam and Move On

Spam

Tip of the Day: Never Reply to Spam

Not Spam!

How Do I Stop Email From Going to Spam?

Train your spam filter to stop emails you want from going to your spam folder.

Stop Compromising the Privacy of Others

How Using BCC Reduces Spam

Using BCC on forwarded email is one way to reduce the amount of spam your recipients might get.

So. Much. Spam.

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.

Getting Too Much Email

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.

No Spam

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.

Stop!

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.

OMG! Porn Spam!

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.

Frustrated Computer User

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.

Return to Sender

Did My Bounced Message Get There?

When an email message comes back to you because of a problem, exactly who did or did not get the message can be confusing.

Email

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.

Tip of the Day: You Might Need to Report Spam Multiple Times

Tip of the Day: You Might Need to Report Spam Multiple Times

An email with only a link

Tip of the Day: Always Send More than a Link

Fake!

“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.

Spam email relating to COVID-19

Tip of the Day: Legitimate Information Doesn’t Arrive Unsolicited

The scene includes a computer screen displaying an email inbox with several spam email subjects visible, such as "Account Hacked!" and "Urgent: Security Alert." A large, bold, red 'X' is superimposed over these scam emails, symbolizing rejection or marking them as spam. In the foreground, a figure symbolizing a user (not specific in appearance) confidently presses the 'delete' or 'spam' button on the email client, ignoring the scam attempts.

Has a Hacker Really Hacked My Email Account?

A scam claims your email account has been hacked, possibly even including a password you’ve used. Don’t be fooled.

How to Get Email with Attachments Delivered

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.

Spam Can

Tip of the Day: Unsubscribe Versus Mark as Spam

Forwarding SPAM

Tip of the Day: Don’t Forward All Email

Fake Ask Leo Email

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.

How do I unsubscribe from all these unwanted emails?

How Do I Unsubscribe from All These Unwanted Emails?

There are emails from which you should certainly unsubscribe when you no longer want them. However, there are emails that you absolutely should never unsubscribe from. I’ll review the differences.

Email / Spam

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?

IP Reputation Report

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.

Emails Opened?

Emails Opened? Is There a Reliable Way to Tell?

It’s very common to want confirmation that an email has been opened, delivered, or read. In the age of spam, it’s simply not possible with any accuracy.

Too Much Email

‘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.

Outlook.com Not Junk

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 by placing it in a junk mail folder. Sometimes it gets a little too aggressive. I’ll look at how to tame it.

Auto-response spam

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.

Email's Path

Why Was My Email Bounced for Sending Too Much Spam?

You are exactly right: you are being punished for the actions of others. To understand who those “others” are, we need to look at how email makes it off of your computer to its destination.

SPAMmed Laptop

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.

A digital battle scene symbolizing the ineffective and illegal attempts to fight spam with spam. Include visual metaphors such as email icons clashing like swords, a figure representing a regular email user transformed into a spammer wearing a villainous mask, and digital debris to illustrate the chaos and negative impact of such actions. The scene should convey the message that while the idea of retaliating against spammers is tempting, it ultimately backfires and turns the well-intentioned user into part of the problem.

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.

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 Am I Getting Empty Form Submissions from My Website?

Spam, spammers, and hackers. They make website management quite difficult, and you may be experiencing this with your web form.

Why do I keep getting a CAPTCHA?

Most of these major email providers are doing what I would call behavioral analysis. They’re looking for signals that indicate spam and then posting a CAPTCHA.

Do Gmail Preview Images Pose a Security Risk?

Gmail occasionally includes preview images of attachments that are included with an email. Rather than being an additional risk, when present, these preview images can help keep you safer.

Emails Hacked!

How Do I Protect My Email Address Book?

With email account hacking on the rise, it’s important to understand what it takes to keep your account (and its address book) safe from compromise.