Gday...

I have only the one email address - had it for more than 10 years. It is a bigpond.com one.

I rarely get any spam/junkmail etc ... there are settings within my email program (Outlook) that lets me set parameter for junk/spam.

My virus-checker is also set to 'identify' and stop spam.

I doubt I would get two spam email a month.

Cheers - John

Hello Ian

If you can tell us what email provider you use, someone with that same email provider, may know of a way to stop spam

I have Iinet and successfully use their spam filter, but unwanted mail which comes only once a year (Isle of Man motorbike TT race Merchandise) always comes through, so I can live with that

I have Gmail which I use if you have to give an email address, it has taken nearly one year for all the spam emails to stop

Another trick I use, is that if I do not recognise the sender, or something in the header, then I will not open it, and automatically tag it as spam

Hope that this info is useful

Lancelot Link wrote:

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I had a lot of problems with Spam. I changed my password and started to block the spam messages that had a common source. I also use report abuse button when unsubscribing which seems to work as well.
The reason for changing the password is that sometimes, if hacked, can be used to flood you wit spam!

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Under no circumstances click on unsubscribe links in spam emails, you will find they are also prime sources of malware.

Have been connected to the internet since day one, early 1990's and have never had a password (or anything else for that matter) hacked, yes, we are quite heavy users.

Safe browsing habits and secure regularly changed passwords will stand you in good stead, there is no need/reason to have to use two email addresses to avoid spam.

Unfortunately those who will benefit most from the information probably wont bother reading it.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/09/04/5-things-you-should-know-about-email-unsubscribe-links-before-clicking/

Have a read through the information below, bit long I know, however valuable tips.

"We all get emails we dont want, and cleaning them up can be as easy as clicking unsubscribe at the bottom of the email.

However, some of those handy little links can cause more trouble than they solve.

You may end up giving the sender a lot of information about you, or even an opportunity to infect you with malware.

Of course, not everyone who sends you mail is a spammer and if you know that a sender is trustworthy its safe to unsubscribe.

Unfortunately phishing attacks rely on the fact that its very, very easy to fake who and where an email has come from so its all but impossible to be 100% sure who has sent you an email.

Here are 5 reasons why unsubscribing can be a bad idea, whether you do it by sending a reply email or opening an unsubscribe web link:

1. You have confirmed to the sender that your email address is both valid and in active use.

If the sender is unscrupulous then the volume of email you receive will most likely go up, not down. Worse, now that you have validated your address the spammer can sell it to his friends. So you are probably going to hear from them too.

2. By responding to the email, you have positively confirmed that you have opened and read it and may be slightly interested in the subject matter, whether its getting money from a foreign prince, a penny stock tip or a diet supplement.

Thats wonderful information for the mailer and his pals.

3. If your response goes back via email perhaps the process requires you to reply with the words unsubscribe, or the unsubscribe link in the message opens up an email window then not only have you confirmed that your address is active, but your return email will leak information about your email software too.

Emails contain meta information, known as email headers, and you can tell what kind of email software somebody is using (and imply something about their computer) from the contents and arrangement of the headers.

4. If your response opens up a browser window then youre giving away even more about yourself. By visiting the spammers website youre giving them information about your geographic location (calculated based on your IP address), your computer operating system and your browser.

The sender can also give you a cookie which means that if you visit any other websites they own (perhaps by clicking unsubscribe links in other emails) theyll be able to identify you personally.

5. The most scary of all: if you visit a website owned by a spammer youre giving them a chance to install malware on your computer, even if you dont click anything.

These kind of attacks, known as drive-by downloads, can be tailored to use exploits the spammer knows you are vulnerable to thanks to the information youve shared unwittingly about your operating system and browser.

So how do you avoid unwanted email without unsubscribing?

If the message is unsolicited then mark it as spam.

Marking something as spam not only deletes the message (or puts it into your trash) it also teaches your email software about what you consider spam so that it can better detect and block nefarious messages in the future and adapt as the spammers change their tricks.

This not only helps you, but also everyone else too."

-- Edited by Santa on Thursday 16th of March 2017 08:40:22 AM