-
Step 1
Unsubscribe from mailing lists. Every email from a legitimate company includes a link to a system that allows you to unsubscribe. Click the link and follow the process outlined there.
-
Step 2
Keep your email from getting into the wild. In general, don't put your email address on anything that might circulate on the Internet. If you necessary to provide an email address, try listing your email with the words spelled out (yournameatservicedotcom). This will keep automated processes from gathering your email and adding it to spam lists.
-
Step 3
Create a new email address and give it out cautiously. Sometimes it may be too late if your email is already everywhere on the Internet and on countless spam lists. You can get free email accounts from sources such as Google and Yahoo.
-
Step 4
Use Postini or another spam filter. Filters provided by some email providers often costs less than a dollar a month can remove a lot of spam. You can also use an email reader program that has built-in spam filters, such as Mozilla Thunderbird.
-
Step 5
Don't respond to random emails to unsubscribe. Spammers sometimes send out email to random addresses and don't even know if the email addresses are real. In this case, they use the unsubscribe request as verification of email addresses.
-
Step 6
Use a challenge response email filter. These filters block all email and send messages to emailers, asking them to send a response. If they respond, that email is approved and all subsequent messages from that emailer are accepted automatically. This can cost a few dollars per month and some legitimate emailers won't respond to these filter.
-
Step 7
Set up a separate email account to use in forms. If you're asked for an email address on forms or applications and you dont want to get spam from the company, use the alternate email you set up specifically for this purpose.
