E-mail spammers are probably cursed on a daily basis, and it’s no surprise why. They waste valuable hours, disk space, and money each day. There’s little that the law can do nowadays to prevent spammers, but there are some steps you can take to make sure that your inbox stays spam-free.

Don’t use your primary e-mail address. Sometimes, websites require e-mail confirmation during a registration process. Whenever you’re required to submit your e-mail, submit a disposable e-mail address from a free e-mail provider. That way, you can check the e-mail account only when necessary and you don’t have to use it on a daily basis.

Make sure you know what you’re subscribing to. Most online sign-ups require that you subscribe to certain product offers and newsletters. Sometimes, these choices aren’t required, but they select the “subscribe” options by default. Keep any subscription checkboxes empty, since these will add unnecessary messages into your inbox. Also, carefully read the privacy policy of all the websites you sign up with – make sure that they won’t sell your personal information to spammers.

Use e-mail filters. Most e-mail clients allow you to filter your messages and block some e-mail senders. If you’re regularly getting spam from a specific e-mail address, try blocking that address on your e-mail software. You can also filter your e-mails by typing in subjects or words commonly used by spammers and instantly sending these messages to the spam folder.

Disguise your e-mail address in public. When posting your e-mail address on your website or in message boards, don’t post it in its original format. Posting yourname@example.com is a fast way to get spammers to find your e-mail. Instead, type your e-mail address like this: yourname (at) example (dot) com. Most internet users immediately understand this, but e-mail address crawlers do not. You can also embed your e-mail address in an image file so that people can easily read it in its original format, while e-mail address crawlers can’t.

Don’t let spammers waste your time and energy – practice these four rules and prevent them from knowing about your e-mail address.

Tags: Spam, Tip, E-mail