Nerds Help Stop Spam

Spam floods the internet and our inboxes daily, becoming a nuisance as well as a threat to your computer. So what exactly is Spam? Well spam is a single message that is sent out to as many people as possible, who haven’t necessarily requested it, in an attempt to sell some sort of product or idea.

Most spam is a commercial message, usually offering some odd product, get rich quick scheme, or a plea for financial assistance, and could have a sinister plot behind it, such as a phishing scheme. This is a really cheap way to advertise when compared to other advertising mediums, and so spammers rely on the few people who do buy products through these messages to justify sending them out to such a large group initially.

While there are two types of spam, Usenet and email spam, the latter is probably the most common annoyance to you, and usually more of a threat to your computers security. While Usenet spam targets Usenet groups, email spam targets you, the individual, with direct mail into your inbox. These spammers scan the internet for email addresses from Usenet groups, mailing lists and just general scans. These spammers will try just about anything to get your attention, and often try sneak into your inbox through eye catching headlines such as, “Your money has been fully refunded!”.

Once these mails are opened, the spammers job is done and your computer could already be at risk. By downloading external content through the email such as pictures, the spammers are able to expose you to a number of risks to your computer, including viruses, spyware and adware. Clever as they are, once you have opened the email, a message is sent back to the spammer to inform them your email account is active, which opens the door for them to repetitively send you spam.

Quite often you will see an “unsubscribe link” attached at the bottom of the email, unfortunately this usually does not have the effect that you desired, and once again your email address is confirmed to the spammer and email spam will keep on coming.

Along with wasting your time, spam costs you and the Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) huge amounts of money each month. Not only do the vast hoards of emails eat up your bandwidth, but if you are a dial up connector then it eats up your phone bill as well.

At Dial a Nerd we have the knowledge and capabilities to help rid your computer of spam. So if you have finally given up fighting off spam, give us a call. Dial a Nerd: because nerds know computers!