You'll Know it When You See It

ActiveState - ActiveState Field Guide to Spam should be helpful to those who may not be as jaded by the onslaught of Unsolicited Commercial EMail (UCE) as I. In class, students range from those who are relatively new and want to know if it's ok to unsubscribe to those who are skilled in evading and/or taming the out of control beast.

With nearly 20 e-mail addresses, some of which have been live since 1992, I get more than my fair share of UCE (I once trapped 14,000 in a three week span, but that was a couple of months and several fewer addresses ago.) Of course, that is the flip side to promotion for the small or large business person. Make yourself available and you will get unwanted e-mail.

This site and its related resources will help you identify UCE or spam in the wild, and also provide a way to help others know what to delete without opening when you report the latest tricks to the collection of examples. Since blocking addresses for each individual address is an exercise in futility, at least if you know what to delete without a second thought, and have a good intrusion detection software to combat unwanted scripts including pop-ups and spyware, you can breeze through the deleting and get on with your life.

I use Symantec for individual home network protection, and, of course, there is a Symantec product that can cover your needs, even if you're looking for enterprise protection. Symantec's Webinar on fighting spam is free. Invest the time to check it out and I'll bet you get it back exponentially in time saved when you learn how to control the deluge without missing mail you want.