by: Nick Smith
Email is rapidly becoming the standard means of communication among businesses, associates, and even friends. While many people have now been using the internet and email for years, there are thousands of new users on the internet each day. With inexpensive web hosting, free email services, and the blog burst upon us, getting your own slice of the internet pie has never been easier.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking for a refresher course, or you’re new to the internet and email and want to start off right, here are some easy steps to follow to reduce the amount of spam you receive.
Don’t choose an obvious email address. Spammers will generate lists of email addresses based on common names. A common list would be something like: nick@yahoo.com, nick1@yahoo.com, nick2@yahoo.com, etc. If you create an email account with less obvious combinations of your name plus some numbers, chances are better that you won’t find your way onto one of these lists.
Treat your personal email address with care. Only give out your personal email address to close friends and family who you trust. Give your direct business email only to clients and other contacts you trust to only use your address for legitimate business purposes.
Use different accounts for different functions. Create different aliases with your business’s domain name or create a few free accounts from free email servers like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Excite, etc. Use one account that you don’t care about for posting to forums or discussion groups. Use another to subscribe to newsletters and newsgroups. When any of these addresses starts to get spammed too heavily, simply delete the account and switch to a different one.
Remove your email address from your website. Between blogs and cheap web space, it seems everyone has their own piece of cyberspace. Before you put a link to your email address on your site, remember that spammers have bots that harvest these addresses. They will even find addresses printed in plain text. Consider using a web-based form for communication from you website, or place your address as a gif or jpeg.
Do not open, respond to, or purchase from spam. Interacting with spam in any of these ways indicates to the spammer that not only is your address valid, it’s also active. Do not respond with “unsubscribe” in the subject line, or click on any links to remove your name out of the database, as both of these are common ploys to confirm your email address. Remember, because sending email is so inexpensive, spamming can be profitable even if only a small percentage of people purchase what they’re selling. Don’t support what you’re trying to stop.
Finally, Filter you incoming email using filtering software. Even if you guard your email address religiously, you’ll likely still receive spam. Filtering software is usually inexpensive and effective, but there are some important features to consider with any filtering package:
• Make sure you can control what comes to your inbox and what gets deleted. The best programs create a spam folder for you to review before permanently deleting emails.
• The software should block images from incoming emails. Many jpegs in spam actually hide code that notifies the spammer when the email is viewed. Blocking images will not only keep offensive content off your screen but will also help prevent more spam in the future.
• Choose software that provides you with updates - as new spamming techniques are created and proliferated, filtering software should keep up.
While eliminating spam from coming to your email address is nigh unto impossible, following these simple steps will mean you’ll have to spend less time deleting spam from your inbox, giving you more time for the important things of life – like reading this article.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Kerala, God's Own Country
After what could be told as the wrath of examinations, I took a much needed vacation. The very next day I left to what is called as "GOD'S OWN COUNTRY", Kerala. It seems my Grandmom had some kind of "iccha" to see some of the temples, in which she used to play when she was in her childhood.
First of all, I completely agree with the guys who named Kerala as "GOD'S OWN COUNTRY". I mean, as soon as you reach kerala, you feel as if u have entered a Divine Area. In my Trip, first I took a flight from Mumbai to Coimbatore, and from Coimbatore, I reached Pollachi. In pollachi, we had a brief stay at my Grandmother's Mother's Younger Sister. It was a classic old-age kerala house, it used to have a roof made of dried coconut leaves but now they changed to bricks. Seeing the house itself, was a pleasure to my eyes. Later that Evening, we visited my grandmother's village known as Ellapulli, which is in the Pallakad District of Kerala. We visited the village temple, and also my grandmother's mother's Sister had another house here too. So we had a brief visit, and left for the Pallakad City.
Called the day in Pallakad City, and left for my Grandfather's village, Govindrajapuram. We had no house there so just visited the village temple, and wet my feet at the temple's pond, which was a Scenic beauty. The pond was really awesome, though the water had become a bit dirty with all the people having bath with soap on their body, but the entire area was really beautiful. Later in the afternoon we left for Guruvayoor.
Guruvayoor, the Temple City, as it is called, has the most famous Guruvayurappan Temple. The temple is very very auspicious, as it has a very huge history. After reaching Guruvayoor, we called the day. Next day we roamed around in the Temple City, and went to another place nearby, called Kunnamkullam. There we went to my Grandmother's Friend's Farmhouse. It was rit in the middle of the farmlands. So you can imagine how it would be. We then went to the Elephant Sanctuary, and came back to our room and slept off. Next Day we returned back to the farmlands, and did some exploring in the fields. Then left for Coimbatore and came back to mumbai in the night's Flight.
Though, the way i have described might make my trip sound as if I didnt do anything at all, in fact, its very much the opposite. The very fact that, the temple in which you are going, used to be visited by my forefathers, the way you are bowing down to the deity, the same way they also used to bow down, I mean , I feel its something that should be cherished for lifetime. Signing off at that note, ask me about the trip at yahoo on my ID, ill tell u a lot in detail.
First of all, I completely agree with the guys who named Kerala as "GOD'S OWN COUNTRY". I mean, as soon as you reach kerala, you feel as if u have entered a Divine Area. In my Trip, first I took a flight from Mumbai to Coimbatore, and from Coimbatore, I reached Pollachi. In pollachi, we had a brief stay at my Grandmother's Mother's Younger Sister. It was a classic old-age kerala house, it used to have a roof made of dried coconut leaves but now they changed to bricks. Seeing the house itself, was a pleasure to my eyes. Later that Evening, we visited my grandmother's village known as Ellapulli, which is in the Pallakad District of Kerala. We visited the village temple, and also my grandmother's mother's Sister had another house here too. So we had a brief visit, and left for the Pallakad City.
Called the day in Pallakad City, and left for my Grandfather's village, Govindrajapuram. We had no house there so just visited the village temple, and wet my feet at the temple's pond, which was a Scenic beauty. The pond was really awesome, though the water had become a bit dirty with all the people having bath with soap on their body, but the entire area was really beautiful. Later in the afternoon we left for Guruvayoor.
Guruvayoor, the Temple City, as it is called, has the most famous Guruvayurappan Temple. The temple is very very auspicious, as it has a very huge history. After reaching Guruvayoor, we called the day. Next day we roamed around in the Temple City, and went to another place nearby, called Kunnamkullam. There we went to my Grandmother's Friend's Farmhouse. It was rit in the middle of the farmlands. So you can imagine how it would be. We then went to the Elephant Sanctuary, and came back to our room and slept off. Next Day we returned back to the farmlands, and did some exploring in the fields. Then left for Coimbatore and came back to mumbai in the night's Flight.
Though, the way i have described might make my trip sound as if I didnt do anything at all, in fact, its very much the opposite. The very fact that, the temple in which you are going, used to be visited by my forefathers, the way you are bowing down to the deity, the same way they also used to bow down, I mean , I feel its something that should be cherished for lifetime. Signing off at that note, ask me about the trip at yahoo on my ID, ill tell u a lot in detail.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Dreaded 7th Semesters
To Start off, ill tell u what i did till today. First of all, as I am writing this, my 7th Semester Results are being made somewhere in the dark alleys of Mumbai University, Kalina, and believe me when I say, I am not at all excited about the results. If you ask me how my papers were, you are bound to get thrashed and lashed by my tongue becoz it was one hell of a ride, and by that i mean it was really like in hell, ekdum bakwasss.
I think what happened is, since we had 10 days holidays for each subject, the paper setter of Mumbai University thought that, we students are going to prepare the best for each subject, and take advantage of the number of holidays that were given per subject. But what happened was, instead of taking advantage of the holidays, I and a number of like minded dumbasses like me, got so much bored of the holidays, that we only studied in the last 3 days of holidays. So you can imagine our status, and the paper that was put forth, had questions so twisted that, after each paper we had a doubt whether it was the correct paper we have given (By saying we, I mean myself along with some other fools like me, It might not be you, dont worry).
For those of you who dont know let me specify once again what the University had in store for us. For us Seventh Semester Computer Branch students, who have only 5 subjects, had exams starting from the 5th of December 2007 till the 12th of January 2008. So you can imagine how much long our exams were, more than 1 month. Every other branch finished their exams by 30th of December 2007, except our Computer Branch, the reason is, "I DONT KNOW!!!". To top that, every single question in the question paper that was released for us this semester was new, was never ever asked before in the entire history of the university and whose answer could only be found in those huge 1000 pages reference books. Yes there are some exceptions, and I thank the University for that because without it, I think i would have handed over the paper as soon as I would have signed the attendance sheet. Out of the 5 papers only the last paper which had only 3 days holiday, was really easy. By easy I mean that all the questions that were asked, was either from previous question papers or its answer was present in standard textbooks.
I wish, I would atleast pass in all of the subjects, because if I get Pass Class in the final year result, then you can expect me to be unemployed and become some kind of criminal or something (PUN INTENDED!!!).
I think what happened is, since we had 10 days holidays for each subject, the paper setter of Mumbai University thought that, we students are going to prepare the best for each subject, and take advantage of the number of holidays that were given per subject. But what happened was, instead of taking advantage of the holidays, I and a number of like minded dumbasses like me, got so much bored of the holidays, that we only studied in the last 3 days of holidays. So you can imagine our status, and the paper that was put forth, had questions so twisted that, after each paper we had a doubt whether it was the correct paper we have given (By saying we, I mean myself along with some other fools like me, It might not be you, dont worry).
For those of you who dont know let me specify once again what the University had in store for us. For us Seventh Semester Computer Branch students, who have only 5 subjects, had exams starting from the 5th of December 2007 till the 12th of January 2008. So you can imagine how much long our exams were, more than 1 month. Every other branch finished their exams by 30th of December 2007, except our Computer Branch, the reason is, "I DONT KNOW!!!". To top that, every single question in the question paper that was released for us this semester was new, was never ever asked before in the entire history of the university and whose answer could only be found in those huge 1000 pages reference books. Yes there are some exceptions, and I thank the University for that because without it, I think i would have handed over the paper as soon as I would have signed the attendance sheet. Out of the 5 papers only the last paper which had only 3 days holiday, was really easy. By easy I mean that all the questions that were asked, was either from previous question papers or its answer was present in standard textbooks.
I wish, I would atleast pass in all of the subjects, because if I get Pass Class in the final year result, then you can expect me to be unemployed and become some kind of criminal or something (PUN INTENDED!!!).
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I am back!!
Its been a very long time since i have updated my blog....
I also missed to opportunity to wish everyone a happy new year. Everything that happens has a reason. Same is the case with my blog. There are many Reasons which if i start specifying might make me sound like a complaining person. Cutting Everything short, ill start off my blog from tommorow. As always .. you can expect some nice content either by me or someone else on the internet.
Wishing u a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!
I also missed to opportunity to wish everyone a happy new year. Everything that happens has a reason. Same is the case with my blog. There are many Reasons which if i start specifying might make me sound like a complaining person. Cutting Everything short, ill start off my blog from tommorow. As always .. you can expect some nice content either by me or someone else on the internet.
Wishing u a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
