Stop Spam Right at the Source

I find that every time I write an article about getting rid of spam people cannot get enough. After all, 488,005,400 Americans use the Internet every day, many for work purposes, and spam is nothing but an annoyance. What prompted me to begin researching this and really getting the subjcet out there to the public was the fact that spam messages KEPT HAPPENING. Flashing messages, non-stop emails telling me I’m a winner, and pop-up ads that take over my screen never seemed to lessen. According to spamcop.net, there are approximately 10.1 spam message sent per second!

Although “x’ing” out these ads or deleting these emails works temporarily, I was ready for a more permanent solution. Fortunately, I found that reporting spam is fairly simple. Depending on whether you are concerned about the spam your company is dealing with or the spam you are personally dealing with will likely determine how you go about reporting it. There are two different approaches to deleting spam.

Don’t Let Spammers Get Away With Annoying You – How to Report These Aggravations

1. Consider a spam reporting service.
   If you are an owner or a manger of a company, a spam reporting service would probably be your best route to take when it comes to stopping a spam problem. Spam can often freeze computers and distract workers, so simply telling your employees to ignore it may become too much to deal with for employees who work on a computer 40 hours per week. While some companies start off by having an IT department control spam, this should not be a long term solution. Your IT department should be focusing on your website and more internal issues.
   Although spam reporting services usually require installation and a price of about $10 per 5 addresses, it is certainly one of the easiest and quickest ways to report spam and make sure it doesn’t happen again. A few of the most popular services used among businesses are Spamcop and Cybershore, Inc.
2. Try to tackle the problem on your own by reporting it from home.
   If you have a few constant spam messages that just won’t seem to go away, it might be best to simply report the spam message on your own as opposed to paying for the service discussed above.
   Reporting spam on your own takes a few steps:
   1. Define the Internet Service Provider (ISP)—The ISP is basically the source of the message. Once you know that source, you will know who is at fault. Spam messages almost always use a fake name in the “from” line of your email, so to find the ISP you must activate a traceroute.
   2. Use a Traceroute – It sounds complicated, but a traceroute is actually built into your computer system. All you have to do is find the tracerount in Windows (called “tracert”) and then launch the tool. You will then see a domain name that should trace right back to the spammer’s ISP.
   3. Send an email to those in charge—Once you know who is sending out the messages, it is time to complain. Different complaints go to different people, so visit The Network Abuse Clearninghouse to help you determine where to send your email.

I know from personal experience that once you’ve had enough spam you will do anything to get rid of it for good. After all, the people who spend their time trying to annoy you with their messages deserve to get caught! If you follow one of the two tips above, you’re sure to get the last laugh.