FAQ about web-friend.com

Again, if your email got dropped, I am sorry! If all else fails, use the short form here to send mail. Remember to supply an address that I can respond to.

Yep folks, you guessed it. I hate spam. The following are some of my responses to the junk that floods the Internet. Just my little way to vent, and give the rest of you some tips on spotting viruses, junk, or spam mail when you see it.

Q: I have a program / site that can help you with **** (checking links, adding tags, etc.) Why don't you buy it?

A: Go Away. If I want a tool, then I'll look for it. Find it. and then Buy it. Don't bother me with your spam mail. There is too much out there for free, or next to nothing to bother with your little tool. I'm glad for you and your program or site. I wish you all the best with it. But again ..... Go Away.

Q: Do you need a web-site? Click here now to order your very own site for under $500.00.

A: WOW! Really? Gee, since your little spider probably got my email address from my web-site, do you think that maybe I already know how to make web pages? Especially when the address is webmaster @ web-friend.com. That's not something I invented, it's the common email for the person who designs a site. Geniuses.

This following one is an actual email: I've deleted the web site name since they had already posted a notice that they were not responsible for the mail, and were working to correct the problem. In fact, the email came from a college student that we were able to track down.

From: "Pavol Viluda" <www.******.com> (note, email addresses have a name"@"some.com)

To: <****@****.com> (this was my first tip that this was junk!, too boot it had my website as part of the email address)

Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 12:57 PM

Subject: STOP UGLY WEBSITES! USE PREMADE WEBDESIGN SERVICES

> I have recently founded your website. Design is bad.
> We are promoting new great resource of website templates www.****.net .
> Use my templates to build good website.
>
> We also have microsoft fonts collection and gettyimages images collection in templates.
>
> We created the largest source of diverse professional graphic material.
> >From logos to website templates, find all you need to fully satisfy yourself or your
> clients. Please see our membership choices, which will bring you much more for your money.
>
> <<<<< www.***.net >>>>>
> Your last stop design resource
>
> Now we cooperate with such great people as:
> ****
> ****
> ****
> Thank you all!
>
> You can reach us:
>
> Phone number.: +421 2 52634071, 52634072, 52634073
> Regular Mail: Vilords media. ****.net. Lazaretska 4. 811 09 Bratislava
> Slovakia. Europe
>
> Yourth sincerely,
>

WOW. "You founded my website" (boy am I glad) and "Design is bad" (gee, you got here just in time) With such a strong command of the English language, I'm sure you would be able to help me redesign my web site in a very professional manner. And, gee, your spell checking skills are beyond words here. SIGN ME UP NOW! When can you start?

When I first got this, I was hot! But after a quick look under the hood of this spam, I found that it was sent from someone at UCLA using a Yahoo account. In addition, the site they were promoting already had a disclaimer on their site stating that they were not responsible, and were working to track down these things. Perhaps the site had no idea. I don't know. In retrospect, I find it very funny now.

But the bottom line is, spam emails are the lowest forms of Internet life. (Not counting those illegal folks who stalk, rape, or lurk over underage kids). If you are so pathetic that you need to forge a false IP address, or use a fake email address - do you really think I'm interested in reading your mail? Here's a tip: "Get a clue" If I can't simply hit reply, and get back to you - I'm not going to bother reading your mail. Tip #2: If you are so pathetic that you got yourself listed with the spam cop organizations, then I won't see your email either. Tip #3: I already have Norton Utilities, and anti-virus programs, a Visa Card, and I don't want to re-mortgage anything.

Avoid these: The types of email you should delete before you ever even read them.

Anything selling Viagra, enlarge your body parts, Free credit card, re-morgage your home, etc. Delete them without reading - they aren't worth the time or trouble.

A: Delete it. Many Spammers use computer programs to harvest email addresses from the Internet, then plug in your own email as the return address so that they can't be traced by spam organizations, and you can't respond to them by hitting the reply button. They have little codes inside the email so that if you do actually buy something from the links, their account with the company that is selling the item will get credited for a certain percentage of the sale. If you want to buy something - search the web for the company that sells it, and cut out the middle man.

A: Better yet, why don't YOU come visit ME at home if you want to expose yourself. If you get in the door you might have a shot. Other than that - I don't subscribe to porn!

Q: Your computer is at risk! Order (the latest anti-spam program available) now and protect yourself.

A: I've been known to do a little research on where the email came from, and send that person a virus. In other words, go away!

Q: Get *** now at this really great price. (with the sent from address being my own email address)

A: Do you really think I'm so stupid that I think I might have sent myself an email about a program? Really though, this type of email is common, and the problem is that people with a very poor understanding of how the Internet or email works, end up plugging in the name of the person they are sending to INTO the who it is from field. I don't have much use for idiots like this.

Q: Hey Bob, here's that great site I was telling you about. (Supposed to make you think you got someone else's email by mistake, and that you'll quick as a flash go check it out) Note: It is usually a porn site, or a site that will do some real nasties to your computer.

Q: You have been approved for (Visa, Master Card, etc.) ... click here to get it now.

A: OK! So now I can go spend $100.00 with this great new credit card, then pay back $120.00 next month at this huge interest rate. Duhhhhhhh.

Q: re: Our chat last night. (In the subject line - and you didn't chat last night).

A: Duh? Gee ma, I'm so dumb I don't remember talking last night on da computer. Give Me A Break! Go sell your porn somewhere else.

A: Folks, DO NOT OPEN THIS! 99.999% of the time this email will contain a virus. I have on occasions either reported this if I can track it down, or flooded their email, or sent them a return virus. The wording may change a little bit, but if the English is just a little bit off, and it sounds like something new or something neat. Find that delete key fast!

The bottom line folks is that there are ways to avoid this to some extent. One very "golden rule of thumb" that you should know: Do NOT use your 'preview' window without knowing where the email came from. Close it all togeather, and just open the mail once you've read the headers. That "preview" is a web browser all by it's little old self - and will run any malicious code that a web page could have run. No, you can't stop spam, but you can take steps to minimize your exposure to it.

First: Most ISPs offer some sort of filtering of mail at no extra charge, take advantage of it. Give them a call, and ask.

Second: You can find little programs out there that will check your mail server for you, and respond by either deleting it, bouncing it, or just asking you what you want to do with it. Some of them check with anti-spam organizations, and compile a list of what is junk, and what isn't. Personally I use a program called Mail Washer (free little program from www.mailwasher.net ), but there are many others available (some better, some worse). Do a little research on spam now, and save your self the time of dealing with it in the future.

Third: If nothing else, then set up your email client to check for the junk, and delete it as it comes in. In Outlook Express, go to Tools, ...Message Rules,... Mail and start setting up some protection. If you are not familiar with the procedures, you can always highlight a message that you know is junk mail, Click on the "Message" option in the menu bar, and pick "Block Sender". That will get you started. If you are interested in more information in using this tool, you can visit a few places:
here | here | here | or here. If you use a program other than Outlook or Outlook Express, then check their help files for filtering mail.

Fourth: If you sign up for something "free", take your time as you click your way through the pages. Often you'll find that by default you are signing up for additional services such as "Opt-In" to bulk email list which will get you more junk email than you know what to do with. By law, bulk email or spam must offer you a way to "un-subscribe" to their services.

Once you start getting the junk mail, there are two schools of thought. One is that by using the link or method of responding to a junk mail (even to un-subscribe) then you are flagging that group that yours is a valid email address and ripe for sending even more junk to. The other is that if you "un-subscribe" enough, you'll eventually get off the list. My advise is this, if it is something that you really did sign up for and no longer want to get it (like a newsletter from some site that is often trying to sell you a product or service), then yes, just un-subscribe from it. If you don't know where the mail came from, then no, don't un-subscribe - just delete it.

Last but not least I offer this. Don't post your email address out on the Internet unless there is a reason to do so. Granted, there are many folks who do business on the web, and for them there is little choice. If you do have web pages, and do want your email to be available to others, but don't want all the junk mail then simply put your address on the web page in a text only format without the link to it saying:
"mailto:you@somewhere.com" . The reason being that there are little computer programs that spammers use to search the Internet for email links. They then sell those address to a bulk email company, and you end up getting all kinds of junk in your inbox.

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