While that does get rid of an individual email, more needs to be done to control what can become an overwhelming problem. Liken spam to cockroaches; see one in your cabinet and you know that you likely have an infestation that needs to be dealt with swiftly.

To begin with, do not respond to spam – ever. There are usually two ways that spam recipients make this mistake. First is opt-out clause that appears at bottom of email. It appears to be a legal statement giving you right to remove yourself from this mailing list. Unless you legitimately authorized company to send you mail, in which case this is not spam, do not follow this link. Most often this link is simply a way for spammers to identify your email address as valid. Now they can sell your address to other spammers and thank you for making their work easier by continuing to send you spam you didn’t want in first place.

The second manner in which this error occurs is when, out of total frustration, you reply to sender with a firm statement of your disgust. This usually happens when spam is pornographic material and despite your best efforts, keeps appearing in your inbox. Sometimes reply will not work because sender’s email address is a fake one and it will just bounce back to you as undeliverable. Count yourself lucky because alternative means that they now have a confirmation of your address.

Many times, however, offers are from companies that we have never done business with and may have never even heard of. This is Spam, unsolicited bulk email, and can quickly lead to a massive overload of your inbox.

Identifying Spam as soon as it occurs is first step to preventing it from happening again. Once your email address is in circulation with these companies, you are well on your way to a very nasty problem. Advertising from legitimate companies is one form. The rest are for illegal services, pornographic material, questionable products, and fraudulent schemes. It is invasive and many times illegal. Spam is worst form of junk mail and a typical reason why many people have to change their email addresses.

In best cases, clue can be found in subject line. If you are offered quick money or a chance to find your long lost high school classmate, you can probably guess that it is Spam.

You may be amazed that, as you read your email, that these companies claim a right to send you this email because you have a relationship with one of their “partners” or “affiliates”. All that this may mean is that they bought your email address from another company with dubious privacy policies. It is still Spam.