Spam is as most people know the most annoying aspect of using email. Spam is any email that is produced in vast quantities and sent out to multitudes of accounts of users who did not request it.

There are a number of ways that spammers (those people that send out spam) can get your email address:

• Your email address can be easily found on the internet. There are companies that store such information and sell it onto corporations to make a quick buck.
• If your email account is stored on a web page as a link, online spammers can search websites for such links and then store them in a database and email you.
• Some computer viruses are major contributors to the level of spam on the internet. There are many viruses out there that can access an infected computers address book and use that to email out to all users in that address book.
• Your email address is automatically or sometimes manullay included when you forward chain letters, or letters to the president of whichever country, always consider if it might be possible that a spammer might have thought of sending the specific chain letter in order to get more email addresses?
• In short there are many ways that spammers can get a hold of your address. Unfortunately there is little that can be done about this.

Spam emails tend to have a content that is of no concern to a user, or that a user did not request to receive. Most spam emails will request your assistance in some matter often involving money. If they ask for money or account details, it is spam and should be deleted.

They can also take the form of a petition. If there is an email out there that says "Add your name to the bottom of this list" then it is spam. If the email provides a web address for you to go to sign a legal petition then it may be legitimate, you can email the Service Desk in this matter for verification.

Some spam email can take the form of a warning that you have a virus, telling you to delete a file and email everybody in your address book. If you receive an email, warning you of a virus on your computer, do not believe it; trust your anti-virus software to eliminate all viruses as they come into your computer, more often than not the file they are telling you to delete is a file which is legitimate and used frequently by your operating system.

A more frequently occurring version of spam is the advertising of products (some of which are of a private and of a sexual nature, such as Viagra). Such mass emailing is seen by some companies to be a good way of advertising their products or services but is too most people seen only as a nuisance and therefore is considered to be spam.

Simply put; you should do nothing. When you receive an email that you suspect is spam, delete it. If you reply to the originator of the spam it can only result in you receiving more spam by a factor of ten. They (the spammers) see any response as verification that an account is active. Do not forward the email on to anybody.

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