just a quick question, can and do "cookies" attract spam to my E-Mail? Gettingreal tired of dozens of finance companies daily trying to sell us a new mortgage and addressing us by name and street address. Then there's the one's who think the bulge in my pants needs to be bigger. Just want to know if they have maybe snuck in a "cookie" that's generating it. (Yes, snuck is a word.)
Is it thru an ISP or is it like hotmail, aol, etc. They don't filter shit, but my email through my ISP doesn't let any of that crap in. So, I guess it's not the cookies... but I clear mine every day or so... Jay
Spyware is the hot thing now and I think they are installed in your computer just like Cookies. There are several free spyware hunters that you can Download off the net. I downloaded one called "Spy Sweeper" a few weeks ago and it found 23 of them on my Computer. They keep track of everyplace you go on the net and send that information to their owners somehow.
No - the cookies don't supply that info to the websites. They DO say "this is customer xxx9870979" and then the database on the other end matches that number up with the data you gave them or that they bought from someone else.
bftwcs, I have a Mac G4. Anti pop-up programs don't work on it. will this one? actually I have it all directed to a junk file, anything or anyone I don't have in my address book goes there though so I still have to weed through it to see if any of you guys have emailed me for the first time.
[ QUOTE ] No - the cookies don't supply that info to the websites. They DO say "this is customer xxx9870979" and then the database on the other end matches that number up with the data you gave them or that they bought from someone else. [/ QUOTE ] Is that how I'm getting spam from finance companies with my street address in them?
DrJ - I don't know how much correspondence you do through email - but if you're like me, you shouldn't restrict your accepted email to just what's in your address book. I've set up about 40 different rules to deal with spam. Some rely on keywords, some rely on incorrect dating, some filter my names (with some other exceptions), and some is acceptable - just directed to some topic specific folder, like "Frequent Flyer" junk or "Bills" for my online billing stuff. I get about 80 spam messages sent to the trash every day, and about 10 that squeek through the filters and I have to manually delete. Another hint - don't use a preview pane in your email viewer. Some email will use hidden graphics that are embedded in them. An astute operator can trace the download of those graphics to the email message that he sent out - very similar to how a cookie works - and then they know that they've got a "good" email address that they can sell or keep spamming.
drj, elimating spam 101... 1) register a domain name (ie drjisagrump.com) 2) create a new email address, use this address for the serious stuff, drj@drjsdomain.com 3) create a wildcard email address (ie, anything@drjsdomain.com) - ALL mail sent to any address @drjsdomain.com will be forwarded to drj@drjsdomain.com 4) for every site you register at, use somenewsite@drjsdomain.com) that way, when spam comes in as a result of registration at a particular site, you will be able to tell who coughed up your info because the email will be address to whateverthe sitewas@drjsdomain.com. i was able to elimate 98% of spam by following these steps. let me know if you've got any questions, i can go more deeply into how/why this works. -- raaf
FWIW - Looks like our US Congress may be rail-roading a quickie No-Spam bill through. Just like the No-Call list - it wasn't legal - but the huge public support has caused Congress to make it legal to can this shit!
the best software for getting rid of that kind of stuff is called Spybot. some guy across the pond created and it is totally free. he does accept doantions though. the software is worth sending him a couple of dollars or more. the software will search through your computer and find all those things that give out your personal information and destroy them. give that a shot. i use it and it works great. diego
I tried spybot but had better luck getting rid of popups and stuff at this site. It checks your system and has instructions on how to get rid of each type of spyware on your system. http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/
"Anti pop-up programs don't work on it. will this one?" I don't know. I have Windows XP. On my system, it searches through all the files in the system, then quarantines the ones that are there, plus anymore that get downloaded into your system.
best popup fighter for PCs is the google toolbar. free and benign: google toolbar spybot *is* great and should be run at least once per month: spybot: search and destroy -- raaf
[ QUOTE ] best popup fighter for PCs is the google toolbar. free and benign: google toolbar spybot *is* great and should be run at least once per month: spybot: search and destroy -- raaf [/ QUOTE ] Thanks but it's windows only...won't work on my Mac.
[ QUOTE ] DrJ - I don't know how much correspondence you do through email - but if you're like me, you shouldn't restrict your accepted email to just what's in your address book. [/ QUOTE ] I get about five or six legit Emails a day, average. ( Half of them are jokes from Shag ) and a couple dozen spam, (only eight so far today, maybe they are giving up?) which I have to delete from the spam folder or they just pile up.... Maybe I should just have them directed to the trash in the first place
[ QUOTE ] Thanks but it's windows only...won't work on my Mac. [/ QUOTE ] well... at least you don't have to deal with viruses then... -- raaf
another antispam hint: don't put your email address anywhere on the web, for example, the HAMB. the web is trawled by bots constantly, and they will use any email adresses they find. if you put myemail@hotmail.com on the HAMB, there's a good chance it will get spammed. rolf's idea is the best. i have three email adresses, one that ONLY goes to very trusted sources, one that goes to questionable sources, and one for all the rest. daily spam rates for the three are, respectively: 0, 2, 150. seriously.
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