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Checklist for reducing the amount of spam you receive

The following checklist will guide you to the best available tools and practices for reducing the amount of spam you receive.

Spam Reduction Checklist

  1. Use the BC Spam Quarantine Service to Block Addresses
    Boston College Information Technology Services uses a spam blocking service which quarantines messages it detects as being spam. Learn more about the Spam Quarantine Service. If spam is still getting through to your Inbox, you can add addresses to block using the Spam Quarantine Service. This is easier and more efficient than configuring filters in WebMail or your email client (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, etc.) Learn how to block addresses.

  2. Protect your computer.
    New Window Keep your McAfee anti-virus software up-to-date, to prevent your computer from being harmed or appropriated by spammers. 

  3. Use secure email settings in your email software.
    Confirm that your email software is set to encrypt your BC login and password when they are transmitted over the network. View the options under New Window "Configure your email application for BC email" to select the tutorial for your email software. 

  4. When you receive unwanted email, do not reply to it. Delete it! Don’t click “Remove me" links unless you can verify their authenticity.
    When you reply to spam, or click "remove" or "unsubscribe" links in the message, you are actually telling the spammer that your email address is valid, and then you may receive more spam. If you know the sender to be legitimate, proceed to the sender's Web site, which should contain the option to unsubscribe from the mailing list.

  5. Don’t click on any links in emails you are not expecting.
    Even if an email containing links appears to be from someone you know, verify the legitimacy of any links with the sender, or you may be downloading an unwanted virus that will use your address book to spread spam and viruses.

  6. Use caution when disclosing your email address.
    The more locations your email is recorded, the more likely you are to receive spam. Read the fine print, especially privacy policies, when signing up for online services. Consider establishing a second free email account with Google, Hotmail, or similar provider, and using that second address for your online shopping and commercial needs.

  7. Disguise your email address on public Web pages.
    If your email address is posted on any unsecured Web page, ask that it be listed so that it avoids detection by Web-crawling robots that collect email addresses. One popular format is "username (at) bc.edu." If you make comments in Newsgroups or blogs, use an alias rather than your full email address.

  8. Be skeptical.  Educate yourself.
    Spammers go to great lengths to get their messages through and often try to deceive you. Be skeptical and be careful. Can they fool you? New Window Play the Spam Scam Quiz Game.  Along with "phishing" and other email scams, there are numerous email hoaxes and urban legends circulated via email. You can check one of the following sites to see if the email message you received is a hoax or urban legend. Don't be fooled into forwarding these messages and inadvertently sending spam (unsolicited email) to your friends, family, and colleagues.

Email Traffic and Spam home