Spam is a name given to unwanted or unsolicited email (also sometimes referred to as UCE or Unsolicited Commercial email). This type of email generally contains advertisements for such things as a better mortgage rate, amazing prices on non-prescription drugs, or adult websites.

There are many reasons why you might receive spam. Signing up online to get anything "free" will normally cause you to be added to a spam list. Having your email address available anywhere on the web (such as on a website or message board) can cause you to be added to a spam list as well.

Unfortunately there is no way to completely prevent spam; however, there are a few things you can do to slow it down.

• Don't buy anything promoted in a spam message. Even if the offer is legitimate, you are only encouraging spam.
• If you receive a spam message that promotes a specific brand, complain to the company behind it by postal mail. It makes more of an impact than email.
• Give your primary email address to friends and family only. Give a different email to others on the Internet. Although this second address will likely receive unwanted emails, it is more disposable and can allow you to better control the emails you receive. Remember - AlamedaNET offers you additional email addresses - take advantage of them! Or you may want to sign up for a "spam-only" email account with yahoo.com or hotmail.com.
• Another tip to remember is never click on a link to unsubscribe yourself from a spam list. Doing this just confirms your email address to the spammers and opens you up to even more unwanted email.
• If your email client has a preview pane and you don't use a spam filter, disable the preview pane. Even if you delete the message right away, the fact that it was loaded into the preview pane can be enough to trigger a report back to the sender that the message reached a live address.
• Similarly, there is currently no officially recognized "do not spam" list. Signing up for a supposed do-not-spam list is likely equivalent to saying, "Yes, please send me even more unsolicited mail."
• Use your company email address for business use only.
• Keep your PC's anti-virus software up-to-date and install a firewall. Unprotected high-speed Internet connections are vulnerable to infection by viruses that are programmed to open gateways, also known as proxies, to relay spam. By not keeping your PC secure, you may unwittingly become a courier for spam.
• Do not post your primary email address in newsgroups, bulletin boards or chat rooms. Spammers use software programs, often referred to as spiders or bots, to search for and harvest email addresses on public forums. To prevent this, use your secondary email address or alter your primary address so that it is not deliverable in that format. For example, if your email address is test_account@alamedanet.net, you could post it as test_account@NO.SPAM.alamedanet.net or "test _ account at alamedanet dot net".
• Do not post your primary email address on a website. Spiders also scan websites for email addresses. If you wish to include an email link on your website, you may wish to encode it using a tool such as the Hivewave Encoder.
• When signing up for a mailing list, read the terms and policies. Signing up should result in only wanted or solicited mail, but the list provider should disclose whether signing up will result in the sale or trade of your email address to other parties.
• It can be helpful if your email address is difficult to guess. You may wish to avoid using a common name or common words. It is not uncommon for spammers to use software programs to generate random user names based on common names and words in the dictionary. In addition, common email addresses may have been used previously and may still be on old mailing lists.

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