Managing Email: 5 Ways to Stop Spam From Invading Your Inbox

At the top of the list of problems our ancestors never imagined is the boring nightmare that is spam email.

While spam makes up a smaller proportion of all email traffic than it used to, it’s still a clear and present danger to the modern inbox. Left unchecked, spam can make an inbox a chore to use—or even dangerous.

Here are five steps to managing emails and keeping spam at bay.

 

1. Don’t Engage with Spam Emails

Rule 1 is to never engage with spam.

When you click links or attempt to reply to spam emails, you’re like the fish nibbling the hook. It tells the spammer that they’ve got a live one in the form of your inbox. So, you can expect to receive more spam and see your details passed on to other spammers.

The best course of action with a spam email is to junk it straight away. Remember that many inboxes are long abandoned, so spammers value those inboxes that provide a response.

2. Train Your Filters

Modern inboxes are pretty smart about spam. Algorithms can now deal with a lot of it without too many false positives, so most inboxes see less spam than they used to.

Yet an inbox can get smarter. By tagging offenders as spam before you delete them, your inbox can learn—and, hopefully, do a better job next time.

3. Block Repeat Offenders

While many spammers cycle through different accounts, blocking certain email addresses or even subject lines can still be an effective way to stop spam in its most basic form.

With blocks like these in place, you can route said emails directly to your junk folder for review—or even delete them outright. Like training your spam filter, it’s a simple yet effective way to reclaim some control over your inbox.

4. Maintain a Separate Inbox

One way to manage spam is to simply compartmentalize your email habits.

By keeping one email for signing up to websites and another, separate email for tasks like work or emailing other people, you can limit your spam.

This works because spammers typically find your email in the wider ecosystem of the internet. By limiting who has your email in the first place, you’re less likely to receive spam in that inbox, ensuring that it remains functional.

5. Go Nuclear

If you’re inundated with spam and not ready to abandon your inbox, it might be time to go nuclear.

There are third-party tools available to help you manage your inbox. These can help you get things back under control with measures that go above and beyond the spam-handling abilities of the average inbox. With a spam prevention tool, you’re likely to see a fraction of the spam making it to your inbox.

 

Managing Email, Defeating Spam

With these tips, you can soon regain control over your email and destroy spam. Managing email inboxes can make everything associated with them that much smoother, from day to day life to business operations.

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