Every computer user gets spam in their email almost daily. Thereis just no way to avoid junk email unless you want to delete itwithout reading it. Yes, you can compare it to thosetelemarketers who call you at dinnertime (or any other time).

Spam filters are used by most of the Internet Service Providerssuch as American Online. The computer user fills out a list ofoverused spam words in the email settings filter and saves it.

After the settings go into effect, any any future emailcontaining the spam word that you inserted into the filter willnot make it into your email account.

You may get spam in yourspam folder, but some of it may be email you may want to read.If you want the email in your regular email , you can whitelistthe email address in your address book so that the email is sentdirectly to your email account.

Be cautious in revealing your personal email address, forprivacy or for safety reasons as well as avoiding spam. Do notlet fear of spammers limit your time on the Internet forums orgroups, as you can use a free email address or a disposableemail account such as those on Hotmail, Mail.com, and Yahoo.Addresses from these accounts are often used by people to guardtheir privacy on forums and groups on the Web.

When you feelthat you know someone trustworthy, you can give them yourpersonal email address. But have at least one or two differentfree disposable email addresses to cut the spamming in thepersonal email account.

Avoid responding to unsolicited spam as it will confirm youraddress to the spammer which could, in turn, send you even morespam than you will ever want to see. Also if you answer orcomplain about the offensive emails it may only come back toyour email address as undeliverable or may be sent to some otherannoyed computer user's address.

You can call or email yourInternet Service Provider and ask what their procedure is inblocking spam. Several years ago, I remember sending manually afew hundred junk emails back to the Report Abuse team at my freeemail account.

This worked very well as it has not happenedagain. Find out from your Internet Service Provider how they canhelp you end the onslaught of spam. Usually the spammer'saccount will be terminated or shut down if there are enoughcomplaints from consumers.

Check with Spam Cop and Network Abuse Clearninghouse's resourcesand information for people who receive spam. These informativeresources can contact the Internet Service Providers so that thespammer is made aware of complaints, although at times they maynot always be accurate. Remember that the spam will continue ifpeople remain complacent or just too lazy to report it.

Reducing the level of spam in your mailbox may take a littletime and effort on your part. What you can also do is startblocking certain email addresses that come from repeatedspammers. The junk emails are then blocked before they evenreach your mailbox address.

Again, set up the spam filter toblock emails containing certain spam words so that you will notreceive them. These two techniques alone will reduce theonslaught of unwanted junk emails in your personal email account.

The computer user must be careful of not clicking on emailattachments from unknown senders as they can contain varioustypes of viruses and infectious worms that can harm yourcomputer or files. If you did not request a email to be sent toyou, do not open an attachment as it could be a worm. You do notwant to pay for expensive computer repairs.

These problems, inturn, can be avoided if you have a strong firewall and goodantivirus software in place on your computer. Do not beindifferent and believe that it will not happen to you. Becautious, and try to research on protecting your computer. youronline and offline privacy, and your Internet account.

John Chan is a writer and researcher who has a an interest inthe Internet. His website is http://www.theantispamguide.com and http://www.ezantispam.com