Despite legislation prohibiting spam in most countries of the world, spam is still as prevalent today as it was prior to the legislated prohibitions. Computer users, particularly home and private users, need to know and implement five essential security measures to prevent the majority of spam from ever reaching their machine.
1 : Keep your operating system up to date. All major operating systems contain security flaws. When these are discovered, the software manufacturer will quickly issue security patches for users to download and install, often automatically if the user chooses such a setting in their operating system s preferences. Keep your operating system up to date at all time.
2 : Install a software firewall. Some operating systems these days come with a default firewall, though third party firewalls tend to offer greater levels of protection that those provided with an operating system. Several of these firewalls are available by online download at no cost and offer strong protection against hackers attempting to get in to your machine, as well as malicious software installations trying to covertly send email or other communications from your machine without your knowledge.
3: Install antivirus software and keep it up to date. In recent years, viruses have become a popular method for spammers to infect hundreds of thousands of personal computers with trojans , thus turning them into unwitting zombies capable of being controlled remotely to send unlimited quantities of spam. If your machine is infected, you could be spamming hundreds of thousands of other people and not even be aware that it is happening. Protecting your machine is not only for your own protection. It is the responsible thing to do to contribute to the protection of the internet as a whole. New viruses are released by vile offenders almost every day, so keep your antivirus software updated, either manually or by selecting auto update settings, daily.
4: Install anti spyware software and keep it updated. Spyware, also known as adware or malware, can be used in similar ways to viruses and trojan to invade your privacy, compromise your machine s security and send emails or other electronic communications without your knowledge. Some of the more advanced antivirus software packages also include spyware protection, while others don t. In either case, it is wise to have a standalone anti spyware package installed on your computer. Some of the better anti spyware software packages are available for download online without cost, so no computer owner should overlook this form of protection.
5: Only use email accounts that are filtered at the server level. If your email accounts are not filtered for both viruses and spam by your ISP or other email provider, close the account and find a new provider immediately. Don t rely on installing your own local spam filter as spam should ideally be stopped at the server level so that spam and email borne viruses never reach your machine at all. No spam filter is 100 accurate, so it is fine to have your own local spam filter for the rare spam that your ISP or email provider s server side filter misses, but do not rely on your local protection alone. Another sound idea is to filter incoming email through one of the major web based email services. These can be configured to receive POP3 email from your ISP or from your domain (if you own your own website) and filter your email. You may either check your now filtered email via the web interface, or pay a token annual fee (though some are at no cost) to be able to automatically download your web account filtered email into your choice of local email software such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird or others.
These five measures will not stop all spam from reaching your computer. All internet users have other responsibilities to be careful in regards to whom and where they disclose their email address, never open unsolicited attachments, and other such security considerations. Combined, though, these five measures will most likely reduce your future spam volume by at least 95 .
The author, Mr. Trevor A. Johnson, is Chairman of the internationally active BestPrac:Org Anti Spam organization (http://www.bestprac.org) which promotes internet industry standards of technical and ethical Best Practice for the Prevention and Elimination of Email Spam.
Click here for more articles from ZingArticles.com