These DTL email tips can keep you, your computer, and your mailbox happy. Ignore them at your own peril.

1. Ask and Ye Shall Receive.
   People get spammed because they give their address away. If recklessly disclosing your email address has turned your mailbox into a rubbish bin, consider starting over with a new address, then heed the rest of this advice.
2. Protect One, Abuse Another.
   Maintain one email address that you defend with your life and share only with trusted souls. Freely use a second address when shopping online or signing up for newsletters. Trash your abused address as needed and get a new one. Free email services are perfect for this.
3. Keep it Off the Web.
   Never post your email address on a web site (businesses do this all the time on contact pages). If you need a contact link, encode it using DTL’s Mailto Encoder tool.
4. Beware of Web Forms.
   Many web sites ask for your email address to access special features. Sometimes an address is optional. Omit it or enter something bogus. Beware of pre-checked boxes that opt you into a mailing list.
5. Don’t Trust Anyone.
   Got an attachment from someone you don’t know? Delete it. Got an unexpected attachment from a friend? Confirm with them first before opening it.
6. Don’t Be a Legendary Fool.
   That message your friend sent imploring you to forward it to everyone you know was an urban legend. Don’t fall for it. It’s a great way to look foolish and lose control of your email address to complete strangers — folks who, if they become infected with a virus, have you in their address lists. If you must blast an email to lots of people, put their addresses in the Bcc field.
7. Watch What You Send.
   Do not include your email address in your electronic signature. It can be easily spread around by others via forwarding. When forwarding a message from someone else, you can protect their address by removing it from your message.
8. Know the Executable File Extensions . . .
   . . . such as .EXE, .COM, .SCR, .BAT, .VBS, and .PIF. If you get one of these files by email, don’t open it. A ZIP archive containing a file with one of those extensions probably has a virus. Attachments with dual extensions (like OPENME.PDF.EXE) try to fake you out. The last extension matters. To see it, use the Folder Options control panel to uncheck the “Hide extensions for known file types” item.
9. Never Respond To Spam.
   If your bank sends monthly statements you’d rather not receive, it’s OK to click the “Unsubscribe” link. But if you have spam in your mailbox from some unknown source, don’t reply or click on anything in it.
10. Stay Up to Date.
    Visit Microsoft Update regularly to apply critical security updates. If you use anti-virus software, keep it updated (but don’t bet your life on it). If you use Outlook, upgrade to Office 2003 for better security and spam blocking and make sure to keep it updated, a step many Office users neglect.

I spend a lot of time helping customers rid their systems of adware and malicious software. Despite maintaining their Symantec subscriptions, they still get infected. Yet, in over 15 years of heavy email usage without any virus software on our computers, my wife, two teenagers, and I have never been infected. DTL’s BlockSmith system does a good job of rejecting virus-ridden email. But good education and common sense beats the best software any day.

(Originally published July 2005)

While looking into this, I discovered an interesting fact that might shock you. I am about to reveal a simple test to determine your chances of being spammed. It’s so easy, you probably already know how to do it …

I want you to Google yourself.

No, not using your first and last name. Instead, put in your email address. In fact, search on all your email addresses, including your company’s “info”, “sales”, and “webmaster” addresses, too. Go ahead and try it now.

If no documents are found, congratulations! Your chances of being spammed are slim. (Do a touchdown dance and some well-deserved fist pumping.) My current email address isn’t found anywhere, fortunately. But it wasn’t always that way.

A history lesson. My original Internet address, mdavis@cts.com, was created way back in 1987. A Google search reveals 141 sites where it is referenced. In decades passed, we didn’t have to worry about email addresses leaking into public spaces online. With spammers scanning the web to abuse any address they can grab, I finally had to give up my cyber identity after 16 years.

If your search reveals that your address is being exposed, you can count on unsolicited email. Without exception, people who get spam can find their addresses on at least one web site. It will likely get worse as the spammers get more clever at finding ways around spam filters. So, this is what you need to do right now:

Remove your addresses from the web.

If you think this is unreasonable, relax. Your address can still appear on the web without being detected by spambots. If you think it is impossible, have faith. There’s always a solution.

Start by contacting the owners of the sites that are pimping your address and ask to have it removed or encrypted. That prevents new spammers from getting your address. Those that already have it will eventually be caught or blocked.

Important! If you own a web site and publish email addresses without protecting them, shame on you. You are causing grief for others by giving their addresses to spammers.

You can be virtually spam-free this year (or at least reduce the annoyance). If you need assistance, just ask.