Email Security :: Managing Spam

Below, please find some simple things you can do to tame your Inbox, protect your personal computer and reduce your spam: 

• use Symantec Antivirus
  • a free download for everyone at UIC at http://webstore.illinois.edu  
  • ok to install it at home and on all the personal Windows and Mac computers you own
  • make sure you use its default setting, which scans your computer and desktop email client(s)
  • make sure you use its default setting to refresh the Symantec recipes for detecting spam
    
     
• run a firewall at all times
  • Windows XP and Windows Vista include a very good built-in firewall
    
    
• do not execute email file attachments unless you are sure they are save
  • ACCC uses MIMEdefang to append .txt to certain file attachments
  • IFF (if and only if) the attachment can be trusted, simply remove the .txt and use the file attachment
    
    
• never give out your login IDs and passwords via an email message
  •  nor enter your login credentials on suspicious or unfamiliar Websites
    
    
• avoid typing personal information except on known Websites
  • do not enter things like your login passwords, UINs, social security number, etc. except on trusted Websites, like legit UIC and UofI Websites, on your financial institutions Websites and on trustworthy commercial Websites (like Amazon.com, cdwg.com, target.com)
  • make sure these trusted Websites use URLs that start with https://  instead of just http:// (i.e. notice the s in https)
• ACCC offers generic Anti-spamming filters
• Consider further-customizing them; see ACCC Email Tools at http://www.accc.uic.edu/index.html/EMAIL.html
  
• Also, consider using three (3) email addresses: your work (UIC) email address, another personal email address that you use for your banking and close friends and family messaging, and a 3rd more generic email address that you would use for signing into the Chicago Tribune, your favorite organizations and other Websites that may harvest your email addresses
• Use filters in Eudora or email rules in Outlook to manage your email