Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

Toavoidspam,trainOutlookbyselectingemailsintheinboxandclickingSpam

68 27 Dec 2019-7Jan2020

EMAIL

Stopspamemails

Q

I’vebeenhavingmoreandmore

problemswithspamrecently,and

thecommonfactoristhatit’sallcoming

fromAmazonservers.Theyareallofthe

typethataredesignedtoseparatenaive

recipientsfromtheirmoney,focusingon

Bitcoin,loansandsoon.

Therealso tends tobeduplication

in thesender’sfriendlyname (seven

emailsin the pastmonthfrom “Steve

McKay”), suggestingthatthis isanother

common factor.

IthoughtAmazonwould be shocked

toknowthatits userswerespamming

and would leap intoactiontolimit any

damage tothecompany’sreputation by

resolvingthe situation. However,Ihave

sent numerous reports with header

information tothe Abuse team andstill

the problem persists.

Arethereanyother organisations

Icould report this issue to,whoareable

toapply pressureonAmazon toensure

effectiveactionistaken?

LenBarrows,viaemail

A

Accordingtosomeestimates,2 81

billionemailsperdayweresentin

2018 andofthose,56%werespam.

That’s 157 billionspammessagesaday.

Preventingspamisverydifficultand

emailprovidersaremostlikely

overwhelmedwithreports,soyoursare

adropintheoceanandactionmaynot

betaken.It’slike‘whack-a-mole’–get

This fortnightRoland disposed of an old PCby destroying the harddrivewith alarge hammer andrecycling therest

Askthe Expert

Q

Mylaptopworksfineathomeand,

whenIamoutandabout,

connectswithWi-Fiincafésand

otherplaces.However,thereisone

establishmentIvisitwhereIcannot

getontheinternet.It’snottheirWi-Fi

because Ican connec ttoitwith my

Android phone.Doyou have any

suggestions?

PhilBaker, viaemail

A

Alwayskeep twoweb browsers

on your computerand,ifo ne

doesn’ twork, trythe other.Thisis

ausefulway to tell if thereisa

prob lemwith oneparticularbrowser.

If neither browserworks,thereis

somethingmorefunda mental that

needstobefixed.

If youwereathome, youcould

rebootthe router bu tinacafé,that’s

solves theproblem.

Another possibl efix is to

open theControl Panel,click

Troubleshooting,then View All. Run

thetroubleshooters forInternet

Connections and NetworkAdapter.

Can’tconnect to theinternet

INTERNET

If you’re having problemswith theinternet, runthe

InternetConnectionstroubleshooterasanadministrator

notanoption. If yousee

anyone aroundyou

usingacomputer, you

could askift heyhave

internet access.Ifo thers

arehavingproblems,

askamember of staffto

switch offthe router and

switch it backonagain.

To checkift he

prob lemiswith the

internet connection on

your computer, click

theWi-Fi icon in the

notification area to

list thewireless

connections. Right-click the

currentnon-workingconnection

andselectForget,then restart

Windows and reconnec ttot he Wi-Fi

to refreshthe settings. Thissometimes

ridofonespammerandanother

immediatelypopsup.

Whatyoushoulddoistrainyour

emailservicetorecognisethespamso

itcanmakesureitdoesn’tendupin

yourinbox.IfyouuseOutlook.com

email,selectamessage,clickSpamin

themenubarandselectSpaminthe

menu.GmailhasaReportSpamiconin

thetoolbarwhenanemailisselected.

Thiswillteachyouremailfiltertodetect

thisandsimilaremailsasspam.

Rulescanalsobecreatedto

automaticallydeleteormovemessages

toaspamfolder.InOutlook,clickthe

cogicon,then‘ViewallOutlook

settings’.SelectRulesandclick‘Add

newrule’,thennameitand,inthenext

step,selectFromor‘Senderaddress

includes’andenterSteve McKayor

another common elementofy our

spammer’semail address. Click‘Add

another condition’,selectSubject or

body in cludes’and enterSteve McKay

again. Forthe action,select‘Move to’

and choose theJunkEmail folder.

Gmailhas simila rrules in thesettings

and youcan search forwords in the

sender,subject and body, then choose

an action to take.