Klarinet Archive - Posting 000357.txt from 2004/02

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Need Computer Help - Please!
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 19:12:16 -0500

Your email address is controlled by programs that run on your machine,
not by your iMac itself. In order to find someone who can give you
detailed instructions, you need to say which programs and ISP you are
using. Then an appropriate person can say "I know the details of that
setup, here's what you do....."

One of the first things you should consider is having more than one
email address. You should keep a 'primary address' which you use when
talking to personal friends whom you trust, and therefore you're
unlikely to need to change it as time passes. Then you should have a
second "disposable" address which you use when doing anything in
"public", such as posting on bulletin boards or email lists or buying
things online. When a spammer targets you, you can dispose of your
"disposable" address without needing to inform your trustworthy friends.

A 2-address setup doesn't protect you 100%, because some spammers simply
generate addresses at random (easy to do with a computer) and test them
one by one (also easy to do on a computer). Having a longer address
reduces the likelihood that a spammer will generate it at random,
however.

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