SPAM - What YOU can do. . .

Don't buy anything promoted in a spam.  Even if the offer isn't a scam, you are helping to finance spam.

Don't click on an email's "unsubscribe" link unless you trust the sender.  That lets the sender know you're there.

Don't forward chain letters, petitions, or virus warnings.  These could all be used by spammers to collect addresses.

If your e-mail program has a "preview pane," disable it to prevent the spam from reporting to its sender that you've received it.  (Call or email us at Network IT if you need help doing this.)

If you receive a spam that is promoting a particular brand, complain in writing to the company behind the brand.  Use postal mail, which will be more effective than email.

Avoid posting your email address on public Web pages, such as eBay.

Use one email address for family and friends, another for everyone else (including chat rooms).  Get a free email address from someplace like Hotmail or Yahoo!, then when that address starts receiving too much spam, cancel that address and get another one.

Check a site's Privacy Policy before giving it your "good" email address.  Remember to uncheck "check boxes" that give the site or it "partners" permission to send you product info, promos, etc.

For Network IT internet customers, use the FREE spam filtering provided by Network IT.

Instructions for setting up FREE Spam Filtering
on your westal.net email account:

Network IT is now running Spam Filtering software on it's mail server.  This software scans incoming emails using a lot of different spam tests.  You can now setup your email account to separate out most of the junk email. Our experience has found that this catches about 80% of the spam messages.  (We'll be happy to set this up for you, just call us at 289-5000 or email us at NetworkIT@westal.net)

IMPORTANT:  Read "NOTES" following these instructions.

1. To log into your email account on the mail server, go to Network IT's homepage at www.westal.net, then click on the Check Email link.  This will bring up the yellow and white IMail login page.  Enter your email username and password to login.

2. Click on Personal Account Options, then click on Edit Preferences.  Under Message Display Options, set "Number of Messages per page" to "50", then click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.

3. Click again on Personal Account Options, then click on Manage Mailboxes.  In the Create a Mailbox section, enter "Spam" in the Name field, then click the "Create" button.

4. Click again on Personal Account Options, then click on Change Processing Rules.  Click on Add Rule.  In the "Field:" field, select "Header"; in the "Phrase:" field, enter "weight10" (without the quotation marks); in the "Move to:" field, select "Spam"; then click the "Add" or "Save" button at the bottom of the page.

NOTES:

• Email messages are usually all delivered into the "Main" folder in your email account.  "Main" is the only folder that email programs like Outlook Express and Outlook will download messages from.  Only messages that pass the processing rules you've set up will be put in "Main", the rest will be sent to the "Spam" folder.

• IMPORTANT:  Be sure to regularly log into your email account and delete the messages in the "Spam" folder so they don't fill up your email account (3MB of storage space is allowed for an email account).  An easy way to delete the messages is to put a checkmark in the box next to "From"; this will automatically put a checkmark in front of every message listed on that page; then scroll down the page, quickly reviewing the list of messages to be sure no legitimate ones were caught (if they were, just uncheck that message); clicking "Delete" at the bottom of the page will delete all messages that have a checkmark in front of them.  If there are legitimate messages remaining, check them, then select "Main" in the "Move to" field at the bottom of the page and click on the "Move to" link; this will move them to the "Main" folder so they can be downloaded with your email program.

Knowing the difference between SPAM and email that isn't SPAM:

Not all bulk/commercial email is spam.
Bulk email can be split into two categories: Opt-in and Opt-out. Opt-in is email that you requested (or at least agreed to receive), and this is what legitimate bulk emailers use (microsoft, deja.com, etc.) Opt-out is a system whereby the sender finds your address in some nefarious way (harvesting addresses from web-sites or public discussion forums), then asks you to request removal if you do not want to receive email. Most people find opt-out email to be offensive and classify it as spam.

Viruses
The spread of viruses through email has been described as having reached "epidemic proportions." Most infected emails though, are sent out without the knowlege of the owner of the infected computer. The virus itself composes and sends itself out to addresses obtained from various sources.  Viruses are not spam.

"Legitimate" looking spam
In general, email from reputable companies, such as Microsoft and Amazon are opt-in, and if you receive email purporting to be from a company you would normally consider to be legitimate, you should consider carefully the possibility that you did agree to receive it sometime in the past. If you are sure you did not, then it may be someone attempting to appear to be a representative of the company in question, but who actually does not have the consent of the company. 

Hoaxes and form letters
Often, people receive email warning them of a dire threat due to new viruses or offering amazing rewards for continuing a chain letter. Even innocent seeming emails like petitions can circulate for years. Any email asking you to make and distribute copies of it should be viewed very skeptically. However, this type of email is not normally considered spam. Usually the sender is an acquaintance. It is much better to simply reply to these "clueless newbies" and explain the situation to them - "this email is a hoax, please don't send me this type of thing" - or whatever applies. Be sure to reply only to the sender of the email, not to the sender and all the other recipients as well.

To unsubscribe or not to unsubscribe?
If you have signed up for a newsletter or product updates, or otherwise agreed to receive email from a legitimate company, try the removal process provided in the email.

However, if the email is not from a legitimate organization that you have had prior communication with, then following the removal instructions in the spam usually just gets you more spam. By using the removal instructions, you have verified that you received the spam and read it. That makes your email address even more valuable to the spammer, and you will just get even more junk in the future. Normally, we recommend that you never reply to spam email, or trust any of the information in the spam unless you really know what information you can and cannot trust. For instance, if you get a spam from john@aol.com, you should not reply to john@aol.com, nor should you report the spam to aol's abuse administrator (abuse@aol.com). Usually, most of the information in the header of the spam is "forged." Just as you can put any return address on a normal paper letter, spammers can put any return address they want on their email. Usually, the return address belongs to someone the spammer wants to annoy with a bunch of erroneous complaints.

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