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How to protect from spam in Comcast Webmail?

Follow these few steps to keep your computer secure and free of spam.

  • Software updates for Anti-Virus should be done at regular intervals, firewall should be installed and active. Unprotected high-speed internet connections my infect your PC's as they have viruses that are programmed to open gateways/proxies to relay spam, and you may be a courier for spam.

  • Give your primary e-mail address to friends and family only. Give a different e-mail to others on the Internet. Although this second address will likely receive unwanted e-mails, it is more disposable and can allow you to better control the e-mails you receive. Remember  Comcast offers you six additional e-mail addresses - take advantage of them! Do not post your primary e-mail address in newsgroups, bulletin boards or chat rooms. Spammers use software programs, often referred to as spiders or bots, to search for and harvest e-mail addresses on public forums. To prevent this, use a secondary e-mail address or alter the primary address so that it is not deliverable in that format. For example, if your e-mail address is test_account@comcast.net, you could post it as test_account@NO.SPAM.comcast.net or "test _ account at comcast dot net". Do not post your primary e-mail address on a Web site. Spiders also scan Web sites for e-mail addresses. You can alter your e-mail address to help protect it but remember that e-mail harvesting software can read HTML code, so be sure to remove the "mailto:" tag. 

  • Do not reply to unsolicited e-mails. If the e-mail does not appear to be from a trustworthy or legitimate source, delete it without replying. A federal anti-spam law called The Can Spam Act, went into effect January 1, 2004, requiring a functioning "opt out" link or a legitimate "reply to unsubscribe" e-mail address. Some unscrupulous spammers have ignored this law and continue to trick recipients into unwittingly responding to a fake "opt out" link, which actually verifies their e-mail address as a valid one. Therefore, it is still strongly recommended that recipients of unsolicited e-mail carefully consider whether an "opt out" or "reply to unsubscribe" seems legitimate and act accordingly. 

  • Consider using an alternate e-mail address when signing up for services, filling out forms or taking surveys on the Internet. Read the privacy policy of these sites. Keep in mind if the service is "free", they often need to generate revenue in some manner and advertising is often used to do this.

  • When signing up for a mailing list, read the terms and policies. Signing up should result in wanted or solicited e-mail, but the list provider should disclose whether signing up will result in the sale or trade of your e-mail address to other parties.

  • Let friends and family know that you do not wish to have them share your e-mail address.

  • Make sure your e-mail address is difficult to guess. Don't use a common name or common words. It is not uncommon for spammers to use software programs to generate random user names based on common names and words in the dictionary. In addition, common e-mail addresses may have been used previously and may still be on old mailing lists.

  • Check "sent mail" folders for suspicious messages. Take responsibility for your PC by checking your "sent mail" folder regularly to ensure that all sent mail is really being sent by you and not by a spammer using an open gateway (proxy) on your computer.

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