----------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE:         Spam: why is it so bad now?

AUTHOR:        Tim North

E-MAIL:        info@betterwritingskills.com

RESTRICTIONS:  Not to be sold or altered. Please make the URL 
               a clickable link. Thanks.
               
COPYRIGHT:     (c)2005 Tim North, www.BetterWritingSkills.com

MORE ARTICLES: www.BetterWritingSkills.com/free-articles.html

--------------------------CUT HERE------------------------------


Spam: why is it so bad now?
by
Tim North, http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com


E-mail has become tremendously frustrating.

Spam (i.e. junk e-mail) has risen to nightmare proportions. Some
sites are reporting that 98% of their incoming e-mail is spam.
(This really isn't an exaggeration: around 90% of the e-mail I
received last week was spam.)

It's worthwhile taking a moment to explain what's going on and
what we can all can do to help control the problem.


What's causing all this junk e-mail?
------------------------------------

First, let me quickly define a couple of terms:

    A VIRUS is a computer program that can attach a copy of
    itself to another program (or document) on the same computer.

    A WORM is similar to a virus but has the added ability to
    copy itself to other computers. (It's a "super" virus.)

    A program with a virus or worm attached to it is said to be
    INFECTED.

Here, a little simplified, is how a typical worm works:

1. You receive an e-mail message with an infected attachment.

2. You open the attachment thus infecting your computer.

3. The worm program in your computer's memory now starts quietly
   e-mailing copies of itself to people whose e-mail addresses
   are stored on your computer; i.e. your friends and colleagues.

4. These people each receive an e-mail message with an infected
   attachment, and the cycle starts over for each of them.


To make matters worse, many worms put a fake address in the
"From:" line of the infected e-mail they send. For example:

1. Alice's computer is infected with a worm. It searches her
   address book and finds adresses for Bob, Cathy, Don and Eric.

2. Without her knowledge, Alice's computer e-mails infected
   attachments to Bob, Cathy and Don, but the "From:" line claims
   they're all from Eric.

3. Bob, Cathy and Don abuse poor Eric (who is blameless).

4. Alice is blissfully unaware that SHE remains the source of the
   problem.


How can I stop getting all this spam?
-------------------------------------

Short answer: you can't.  :-(

As long as other people (like Alice) remain unaware that their
computer is infected, you'll continue to receive infected e-mail
from them.


Okay, what *can* I do?
----------------------

Be *certain* that your machine is uninfected.

Let me repeat that: be *CERTAIN* that your machine is uninfected.

Remember, the Alices of this world are a problem because they
don't *know* they're the problem.  :-)

How can you be certain? Simple:

1. Always use an anti-virus program: Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee
   VirusScan are two well known programs.
   
   Alternately, there is an excellent anti-virus program called
   "AVG Free Edition" that is available for "all single home
   users worldwide". You can find it here:
   
      http://free.grisoft.com

2. Keep your virus definitions *current*.

   Updates can be found here:

   Norton:   http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/defs.download.html

   McAfee:   http://download.mcafee.com/us/upgradeCenter/default.asp
   
   AVG:      http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_updt7.php


The fewer people whose computers are unintentionally infected,
the less spam we'll all receive.

Please take the time to update your anti-virus definition files
now. It will help to stem the tide of unwanted e-mail that we're
all receiving.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
You'll find many more helpful tips like these in Tim North's
much applauded range of e-books. More information is available
on his web site, and all books come with a money-back guarantee.

          http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------