Spam—whether it’s the kind in a can or what clutters up your email inbox, is not very desirable. While it’s easy enough to keep processed meat out of your pantry, you’re probably more curious about how to block spam from your email accounts instead.
For over 18 years, ACTS360 has worked with businesses of all kinds as a complete technology solution provider. And while we’re always here to help, we also want to educate our customers. In this post, we’ll cover a few ways on how to block spam and how to decrease those annoying emails as much as possible.
Use Third-Party Spam Blockers
Most major email services already have some level of spam filter and protection built in. If you have a spot in your inbox that says “spam folder” or “junk email,” that’s likely where your spam email is being routed. But if you’re still noticing some suspicious email coming through to your inbox, it may be time to try out a third party spam blocker.
Think of a third party spam blocker as another line of defense to your inbox. Two layers of protection are better than one when it comes to catching junk in your inbox.
Protect Your Email Address
Websites make it extremely easy nowadays to sign up for an account with your email address. And while autofill is excellent on your phone or desktop computer, you may want to reconsider sharing your email so frequently.
Getting the hang of how to block spam can be difficult, but by protecting your email address from as many apps or websites as possible, you have a head start. That also means you should hide it on public profiles (like Facebook) and your website. Some bots and tools can crawl your website for your email address without you even signing up for anything!
Have a Sacrificial Email Address
When you like having the luxury of autofill for apps, but still want to get rid of spam as much as possible, we suggest creating a “sacrificial email address.” While it sounds a bit ominous, it’s as simple as having a second email where all your junk email goes to. How to block spam becomes much easier when you don’t have to have it in your inbox at all!
Educate Your Spam Filter
Your spam filter is a great first line of defense against junk email, but you can help it improve. You can actually teach your filter how to block spam even more than it already does by doing a few simple things.
Mark Spam
Do you see an email in your inbox that looks like spam? Most email providers will have a button that says “mark as spam” or “move to junk folder.” The more you do this, the more junk email your filter will start to catch.
Unmark Useful Emails
On the opposite spectrum, make sure you check your spam folder from time to time. When you go in, use your “not spam” button to move messages you want to keep back into your inbox. This helps your filter learn how to block spam versus actual emails you wish to view.
Block Spam Senders
When you get a suspicious email in your inbox, your first instinct is to delete it. Above we mentioned that you should mark it as spam, but you can also completely block the sender if you keep getting mail from them.
Don’t Let Your Inbox Fill Up—Unsubscribe
Have you ever made a purchase online and then started getting repetitive or annoying emails from the seller afterward? You should unsubscribe from them as soon as they start filling up your inbox! Most of the time, you’ll find a tiny unsubscribe link somewhere in the email (usually at the bottom), or your email service may have a helpful button that does this for you.
Do Not Respond
One of the most critical rules of how to block spam email is to never click a link or file inside of that email. Sometimes an email may seem like it’s coming from a friend or a trusted service, but it’s crucial to look carefully. Most of the time, you’ll see missing words or letters, or the email address will be slightly different, which are all big hints that the email is fraudulent.
If a suspicious email comes in and you’re positive that it’s spam, don’t even bother opening it. Opening this email can alert bots that your address is active, so immediately blocking, or marking it as spam is a good step to take. Also, if the email seems like it’s from a friend, do not respond. Instead, alert your friend that their account has possibly been hacked!
Last Resort: Change Your Email Address
Sometimes, even with all of the above efforts, your email inbox may be too overwhelming. If that’s the case, it may be time to change your email address entirely.
While this can be an annoying process, you’ll at least already have your “sacrificial” email when you switch. Just make sure after you create the new email address that you change over all of your important accounts. After that, you can use the suggestions in this post to start off blocking spam the right way!
Need to Learn More than Just How to Block Spam? ACTS360 Can Help!
When email spam is only the tip of the iceberg of your IT problems, ACTS360 is here to help. We have the most professional and reliable IT services in the Tampa, Plant City, and Brandon, Fla. areas and are ready to serve your business needs. You can feel safe knowing that we’ll be there when you need us.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or are curious about more of the services that we offer.
