4 steps to stop spam emails

Despite our best efforts, spam remains the most successful way for viruses and other forms of malware to enter computers and networks. Unfortunately, the vast majority (85.2%) of email is spam! Follow our top 4 steps to stop spam emails and protect your computer and your business from the threat they pose.

1. Mark spam

Don’t leave spam email to fester in your inbox. Ensure that you mark it or report it as a spam email (simply forward your email to spam@mailcleaner.net) so in future emails from that particular sender should be stopped before reaching your inbox.

2. Don’t respond to spam

This might seem obvious but cybercriminals are adept at making spam emails appear very convincing. Don’t open an email that appears to be spam. Close an email as soon as you realise it could be spam. Don’t reply to a spam email at all as in doing so you are confirming for the sender that your email is active, thereby opening yourself up to a wealth of future attacks.

If you’re sent a link in an email we’d always advise you to type it in a seperate tab or browser window rather than clicking on the link in the email.

Similarly, if you receive an email that claims to come from a colleague, associate or client but appears different from normal and is sent from a different address (even if it’s only slightly different), we’d advise you to send a new email to the address you normally use for them so you can see that they did indeed send the email in question.

3. Never click on unsubscribe

We’d advise you to never click on unsubscribe links in spam messages. This will help spammers to identify your email account as active and continue to send spam to your inbox.

4. Install anti spam software

Install trustworthy, third party anti spam software such as MailCleaner. MailCleaner is an anti spam gateway that stops spam email in its tracks before it can reach your inbox. Any spam email it detects is placed in a quarantine zone where it’s not able to cause any damage now or in the future.

To find out more about how MailCleaner can stop spam email and protect your business click here.