Unwanted email advertising, also known as spam, is unsolicited messages sent to many email addresses with the purpose of attracting business for the product or service being sold. Spam causes clutter in an email in box, which can be a nuisance for most email recipients. Too much spam can monopolize the space allowed in an in box and also make it more difficult to find desired emails. Luckily, there are a few things that you can do to prevent and stop spam. By following these steps, you will be able to see a dramatic decrease, if not a complete stop, to the amount of email advertisements you receive.
Step 1
Avoid giving out your email address unless it is necessary. The more you give out your email address, the more likely it is that you will receive spam. For example, while looking for information on a particular subject, you find a website that offers an online newsletter with monthly updates. Signing up to receive that newsletter puts you at greater risk for receiving spam because that particular website might sell your email address to other businesses who will send you spam.
Video of the Day
Step 2
Set up a second email address that you can give out if you find that giving out your email address is necessary. If you find that it is necessary to give out an email address when signing up for something, but you are wary of whether that business may spam you or sell your email address, you can give out your second email address as well. This helps keep your primary in box clean.
Step 3
Open the unwanted message and scroll through the email to look for an option that allows you to stop receiving emails from the source. Some businesses simply require you to reply to the email with the word “Stop”. Other businesses include a link to “Unsubscribe”. By clicking the link and following the instructions, you can remove yourself from the email distribution list.
Step 4
Create filters and mark email as spam accordingly. Most email providers offer easy options for filtering your email to make sure that you do not receive spam. For example, some email providers have a “Spam” button that allows you to easily designate an email as spam with a click of the button. Select the email in question, click “Spam” and in the future all email messages from this sender will go to a special “Spam” folder. Other email providers will allow you to manually input certain email addresses, which will block them from sending you emails in the future. Check your email provider’s setting and tools to see what kind of filter options are available for you.
Video of the Day