Inbox invasion: How to avoid spam09 January 2006
After ten days holiday it is depressing enough returning to work without arriving to find an overflowing email inbox, especially when over half of the messages turn out to be spam.
Despite some reports that the levels of spam landing in our inboxes have fallen over the last six months, the consensus is that it is likely to remain at its current level - a massive 85 per cent of all email traffic consists of spam messages.
So, while viruses are apparently set to decline over the coming year, spam will continue to plague our PCs. Apart from being highly irritating, having email accounts penetrated by high volumes of marketing emails can pose other significant problems for businesses.
Problems
- Time consuming - checking through emails to see whether it is a legitimate business matter or not uses valuable man-hours, on a daily basis and particularly after holidays.
- Important correspondence can be missed as it is buried among spam emails and is often accidentally deleted.
- High levels of spam email use up bandwidth, which could cause PCs to slow down, affecting productivity.
- Unsolicited messages can also clog up databases, obscuring relevant files and information and affecting operations and customer service.
How to avoid it
The line between email marketing and spam is a fine one and as a result it is impossible to completely prevent such messages. A UK court ruled against a marketing company this week for failing to follow EU legislation regarding spam, a finding that industry experts hope will eventually help to reduce spam levels. Until that happens though, the National Computing Centre recommends a number of precautions that businesses can take to minimise the problem.
- Invest in anti-spam software or chose hosted email with protection included, such as BT's Business Email package, in order to filter unwanted messages and stop them hitting your mailbox. A free email upgrade trial is also currently available. If you are looking to host your own email, see our previous feature on the pros and cons.
- Avoid responding to spam: Do not make purchases, click on links or register for offers and updates from spam messages as this confirms your email address and is likely to mean you are bombarded with even more junk.
- Using the Bcc field when mailing a large number of people prevents spammers from viewing and utilising the addresses from your mailing list.
- Avoid registering your email address on websites, alert services or forums, and set up an alternative address for when you need to provide one to a third party to keep your main inbox clear of clutter.
- Above all it is a good idea to ensure that all staff members are aware of how to respond to and remove spam messages.
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Related links
- Upgrade to BT Business Email Plus for free today (until 31/01/06)
