Besides filtering software, there are many ways to rid yourself of unwanted mail that don't take a lot of time and effort.

If you receive offensive spam, avoid a flame response -- or any response at all. Many people believe flaming antagonizes spammers and results in them sending even more mail your way. Plus, a reply will only confirm your email address as an active account.

Spammers get their mailing lists from various sites on the web. To stay off junk e-mail lists, avoid giving out your email address except to businesses and sites you know are legitimate.

When joining a newsgroup or chat group, consider using an alias address. If you do want to leave an e-mail address, don't put it in the click-to-email link where it can easily be found by scavenger bots.

Many people add the words "NOSPAM" to their email addresses. Hopefully this will fool the scavenger bots, but not humans who want to reply.

With the abundance of free Web-based email services available, it may be wise to grab a couple of disposable addresses and use these especially when posting to Usenet groups, or filling out surveys and registrations.

Two excellent sources of help on the net are Yahoo's junk e-mail page and the Junkbusters Web site. Junkbusters offers a wealth of free advice on how to stop telemarketers, direct mailers, and junk faxers in their tracks, and even includes drafts of complaint letters you can send.

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