Welcome to Volume 1, Number 6 edition of Presidio Computer's Newsletter.

1. Spam.

The phrase "Spam. Spam. Spam. Spam." was made famous by the British comedy group, Monty Python. Originally, Spam referred (and still does, to many) to a meat product, of the Hormel Foods Company. "Spam is registered trademark of the Hormel Foods Corporation". See: http://www.spam.com/ .

To most computer users, when one speaks of spam, one refers to junk email. Junk email is big business. In a recent article in the Arizona Daily Star, this business generates billions of dollars for someone. Personally, I wish I'd never see another unwanted email message. Messages offer business opportunities at which one can earn thousands of dollars a week, while working only a few hours. Also advertised are very low interest rates for loans and credit cards. Sexual pleasures are also a frequent offering.

Here's a link to the AZ Daily Star's junk email artilces. Note, this may become inactive, very soon. http://www.azstarnet.com/public/startech/hottopic.html .

Email addresses are gathered [aka harvested] in a number of ways. Some of our Internet Service Providers actually sell our email addresses. I'm not a lawyer, but this is probably legal. Somewhere in the contract to which we agreed, we gave our ISP the authority to sell our address. For more information on email harvesting, see: http://www21.brinkster.com/rebelbagwan/spam.html .

Another way that our address becomes a target is random character generation. There are computer programs out there that will send a standard email message to millions of people. The program will begin with the address: a@ISP.com. Then b@ISP.com. After z@ISP.com , the address a1@ISP.com, eventually joe23@ISP.com , GWBush@ISP.com .

There seem to be very few effective laws regarding unwanted email. As is often the case, legislation lags technology. The sender is often not who she/he claims to be. The sender may use an alias. Because of the inter-continental nature of the internet, messages can originate from countries with no regulations regarding email.

Unwanted email costs you and me money. When an email message is sent to us, it initially resides on the server [big computer] of our email [usually our Internet Service Provider - ISP] provider. Each message takes up space. When the storage space of one server is filled, another server must be purchased, at a cost of many thousands of dollars. As a result, our monthly ISP fee increases.

What can we do?

At this point, there are few effective techniques we can use to thwart junk mail senders. If we use the "block sender" feature, the sender knows that the address is valid.

We can setup filters. I've had varying success with this technique.

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express to read your email, you can configure those programs to "block sender". See: http://www.freeserve.com/help/email/outlookexpress/blocksender.htm .

Here's a set of helpful tips. from PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,3625,00.asp .

We can protect [more accurately attempt to protect] our privacy by using tools such as webwasher. See: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,2074,00.asp .

One of the most effective techniques is to limit delivery of messages, to a specific list of senders. This is fine if we want to receive messages only from sister Jo, brother Dan, and uncle Fred. But if aunt Martha isn't on our list of accepted senders, none of her messages, informing us of inheriting a zillion dollars, if we respond within a month, will never get through.

You can download and install any one of a number of email blocking programs, from sites such as pcworld.com, and/or cnet.com. For example, see: http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=anti+spam+software .

Here's what I do:

I delete the messages. I don't want to give the sender any hint that she/he has found an active email address.

I have several "junk" email addresses, which I use to register products. You can obtain free email accounts from hotmail [owned by Microsoft] [www.hotmail.com], yahoo [www.yahoo.com] and many more.

2. The future is here [if you are in Japan].

Japan is years ahead of us in some areas of technology. For example, in Japan, you can surf the Internet using your cell phone. For more information, see: http://www.azstarnet.com/public/startech/wire4.html .

3. Wirless networking

I've had continued success with D-Link products. See newsletter V1 N5 for more information.

Here's an additional resource for information on Wireless Networks: http://www.isaca.org/wirelesswhitepaper.pdf . Note, you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which you can download for free, from Adobe's web site. www.adobe.com

As always, Presidio Computers, is available to assist you with any of the computer issues described above.

If you want your name removed from this mailing list, please let me know. Your name is not kept in an address book. Your name is neither shared with nor sold to anyone. You will not receive any junk mail from Presidio Computers.

The information contained in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. No guarantees nor warranties are expressly given nor implicitly implied.

Sincerely,
Ed Sloup
Presidio Computers, LLC
520 731 6446
www.presidiocomputers.com