If you think that the spam industry (I’m not talking about Hormel) is also experiencing a slowdown brought about by the global economic crunch, then you’ve guessed wrongly. A recent report from MessageLabs reveals that spam levels rose by 4.9 percent last month to 74.6 percent.

To give you a clue as to how significant the increase is, the Mega-D (Ozdoc) botnet sent billions of spam in January at an obnoxious rate of 26 million annoying and fraudulent emails per minute!

While e-mail service providers have hired security firms, such as Symantec, to scan mails and attachments, spammers are reinventing their pernicious creations in such a way that they could easily pass off as legitimate correspondences.

Many have complained in recent months that they’ve been fooled into signing up for stocks and other financial services by e-mails that purportedly come from banks and other known financial institutions. Distinguishing legitimate Web sites from fake ones have become more and more difficult in view of the cunning ways by which hackers make them.

Do not immediately trust the e-mails that you receive, especially if it’s an advertisement of some product or service. Scrutinize it thoroughly. If it contains an attachment, have it checked by your antivirus software first. If the source seems dubious, don’t even bother opening it. Delete it immediately.

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Back in the 80s and mid 90s, the word “spam” was associated with something that’s arguably delectable and pleasant (unless you’re a vegetarian). Nowadays, spam has acquired a whole new different meaning, one that’s anything but delightful.

9 out of 10 e-mail accounts receive spam mails on a regular basis. The lucky few who do not either have the Pentagon e-mail server as their host or have not yet figured out how to activate their account. If you’ve availed of one of the many free e-mail hosting or services on the Web, then I’m sure you don’t need any intro as to what spam mails are all about.

Deceivingly Harmless

Spam mails come in many different forms. It could be benign, such as those that advertise discounts on various department stores. At times, though, it could be malignant and dangerous. Many viruses and spyware have been distributed through bogus mails purporting to be legitimate advertisements or correspondences from somebody or some institutions that you know.

Spam mails might seem harmless, especially if it doesn’t include any attachment. But beware. A significant number of these e-mails contain links which will lead you to infected Web sites. A day of reformatting and reinstalling is just a careless click away.

Cracks on the Wall

Many e-mail account hosts have already remedied this problem by blacklisting several Web sites and e-mail addresses. While this has considerably reduced the number of unwanted mails, a good number still make it past through the filter. And don’t expect the number to dwindle just because Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail’s database of spam senders are filled to the brim. There could be as many spam addresses as there are alphanumeric combinations. In other words, don’t even bother to count it.

Antivirus or anti-spyware suites also include Internet security applications which guard e-mail accounts from being a dumping ground of e-mails asking for solicitations or luring people into false and fraudulent investment programs. But again, they could only filter so much or so many. Spam mails would still be able to pass by them one way or another.

Some Web security suites even play it easy by just barring all incoming e-mails except those addresses which the user have defined as safe. While this would really keep unwanted mails and files out of your computer, it may also keep the desirable and legit ones from getting in. You definitely wouldn’t want to miss that 50% off Bulgari promo ad, would you?

All in Your Hands

No matter how stringent your e-mail account host’s security measures are, chances are is that you’ll still continue to receive spam mail from time to time. Some argue that spam mail won’t harm you if you won’t open them. However, the fact that you’re being annoyed by an oversized inbox that’s fast depleting your free space could already be considered as a form of harm that’s worth preventing. Hence, efforts should be exerted in order to minimize or even completely stop this form of nuisance.

You could lessen the number of spam mails that you’re getting by being very careful and picky with the online newsletter or ad subscription that you’re availing of, either knowingly or inadvertently. Be wary of sites or services that ask for your e-mail add. You can be sure that they’ll be sending you something on your virtual mailbox.

If you have an uncontrollable compulsion to open each and every mail that you get, then at least be sure not to immediately and mindlessly download the attachments. Scrutinize the mail first and its source. If you find that it’s legit, then by all means download it.

A clean and virus-free mailbox depends mainly on the user and not on the host or on the security suites that are installed in your computer. You must be pro-active in keeping your PC, its registry, and other important files and components free from harmful programs.

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Have you ever come across a spam mail that bore your e-mail address?

A friend of mine did and she was so aghast by it that she immediately e-mailed all of those in her contact list to clarify that she was not the one who sent the e-mails. I could very well understand her shock and embarrassment since the spam mail that had been distributed to all her contacts contained indecent photos and links to pornographic Web sites.

You might think that the tale that I’ve just told you is fictitious. Indeed, one would wonder how a virus could log in to your e-mail account and compose various types of messages and even attach images and documents thereto. But it is possible. The malware need not log in to your account. All it has to do is publish or post your e-mail address as the sender so as to add a semblance of legitimacy to the mail. It would really thus appear that it came from you. But a close perusal of such spam mails would reveal that it had been sent through another account and is just being masked by your e-mail address.

Save yourself from such an embarrassing situation by building an impregnable virtual gate around your PC with an antivirus as your steel bars and a registry cleaner as its padlock. Your tech-savvy friends may immediately know or realize that the e-mail purportedly coming from you is just the handiwork of a malware that infected your PC. However, those who are not well-aware of the deception might think that you’re promoting illegal or indecent sites. Protect your reputation by protecting your PC.

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How many e-mail addresses do you have? I bet that you have at least two. With all the free offers from MSN, Yahoo!, and Google, it’s hard not to keep a few mistresses. My primary e-mail account is sponsored by Yahoo!, while my secondary account is from Gmail.

Some say that the viability or feasibility of free e-mail accounts would soon be defeated by users like me who keep two or three addresses. The argument seems persuasive, but it is also flawed. True, the needless opening of accounts wastes space on Yahoo! or Hotmail’s servers. However, with storage real estate getting cheaper by the day, one would wonder if anything is wasted at all.

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One thing that’s definitely squandered, though, is the address. It’s almost a certainty that the e-mail address that you prefer has already been taken by somebody else. You’ll probably need to add a series of numbers after your preferred e-mail address in order to make it unique and personal.

There are people who purposely register multiple e-mail addresses. They won’t be using those accounts, though. Instead, they would be selling it to persons who want to have that account. Those addresses usually bear a very common name or a popular or catchy word.

Segregation

Going back to my contention that having multiple e-mails is not exactly needless or wasteful, many people keep multiple addresses in order to separate the good from the bad, the precious from the worthless, and above all, the spam from the ham.

Like thousands of people around the globe, I keep separate e-mails for work and play. My Gmail account keeps all correspondences from my boss and officemates, while my Yahoo! address keeps all those letters, e-cards, and hilarious mails from relatives and friends.

Bigger and Better

Five years ago, one of the main reasons why people maintain multiple e-mail accounts is because of limited storage space. Those who receive mails with large attachments always keep around 3-5 e-mail accounts.

Storage space problems are already relics of the past. Gigabytes of space are now being offered even on free accounts. This is virtually limitless, unless you’re constantly trading large multimedia files. If size is all that you’re worrying about, then I could assure you that you only need one e-mail account. To borrow Gmail’s ad, you’ll never need to delete another message again. To have a secondary e-mail, then, due to space concerns is a needless glut.

Spam

Another reason why people open up second or third accounts is that their primary e-mail has already been infested with junk mails. Spam has been a major problem for both e-mail account providers and holders alike for the past several years. Those who had it bad receive hundreds, or even thousands, of worthless and unsolicited mails on a daily basis. While many e-mail accounts have a “Report as Spam” feature, the unwanted mails usually find their way back to the addresses.

E-mail account holders should be very responsible in opening and maintaining addresses. It’s common knowledge that free services or products tend to be abused. Don’t waste precious space and addresses. They might be free and abundant, but they’re certainly not unlimited.

Be also vigilant in checking the source of suspicious or unknown e-mails as they usually carry harmful attachments or point you to links that contain unwanted applications which could modify your Windows registry and other system files. Always scan attachments before downloading them. If you think you’ve inadvertently opened an infected e-mail, open up your registry cleaner and antivirus and conduct a complete system scan.

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