By some estimates, more than half of all e-mail sent today is junk e-mail, or as it is commonly called--spam.

Anyone who has wasted their time downloading and sifting through hundreds of spam e-mails just to find a few that they actually want can relate to how maddening this problem can be.

For businesses, spam is not only annoying, but can also cut into the bottom line. Time otherwise spent earning money for the company is instead wasted as employees take time to delete their daily dose of spam.

It is virtually impossible for anyone with an e-mail account to completely stop spam from being delivered to their inbox. Fortunately, HunTel.net technicians have found the following advice to be effective in reducing the amount of spam customers receive.

1. Limit who you give your e-mail address to. If you sign-up for on-line contests or take advantage of special offers that require an e-mail address, you’re inviting more spam into your inbox.

2. Never reply to spam messages. By doing this, you’re letting whoever sent you the spam know that your e-mail account is not only active, but that you also read spam. Your reward will be more spam.

3. Don’t fall for the unsubscribe trap! Some companies that send messages put a link at the end of their e-mail claiming that you can be removed from their mailing list if you “click here to unsubscribe.” Again, this just lets the “spammer” know that the e-mail account is active and more spam will be sent your way.

4. Subscribe to a spam filtering service. Many Internet service providers, including HunTel.net, provide optional spam filtering. These services actually scan e-mails destined for your inbox for characteristics of spam. Suspicious looking messages are filtered out before they reach your inbox.

HunTel.net’s filtering service is called E-Shield and it costs just $2 per month. For more information on E-Shield, please visit www.HunTel.net or call 426-6200 or 1-888-262-2661.
 

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