spam

Herb has been having issues with one of his AT&T email accounts just stopped working in Apple Mail, and he had to spend hours to fix it. AT&T uses Yahoo mail, and it's going through a bad patch right now.  What are his alternatives for a new email client? Leo says that Gmail is a great free email client that will also let you keep your existing email at AT&T and go get it from time to time. Gmail also has great spam filters. You can also get a third-party app called Spam Sieve to filter out spam before it gets to your mailbox. 

Louis thinks his website may have been hijacked. Every time he searches for his website, he gets results that include viagra websites and others. Leo says his site has been hacked, and he's not using the SSH encryption code required by Google. He suspects that his web host, GoDaddy, has a bug in its service. Lou's DNS record has probably also been modified. Leo suggests changing his WebHost password to lock out the hacker. 

Richard wants to know how he can stop all the spam he gets. Leo says you really can't. You can block emails and send the spam directly into the trashcan, but it's like playing wack-o-mole since spammers know you're going to do that and change the emails they send from. They also use spoofing to fool email clients to get past filters and change them regularly. All told, up to 80% of all email traffic comes from spammers.

Bruce keeps getting spam but the email address they are using isn't his. What gives? Leo says that spammers can "spoof" the address in the to and from settings, but it's likely a BCC of Bruce's email address that is causing it. He can't see the BCC, so he keeps getting it. But he may be able to filter out all those addresses through Gmail. Also, be sure not to open those emails. They could be potentially dangerous. He can block them, but it's like playing whack-a-mole. Eventually, they'll move on to another target.

Jimmy woke up to dozens of text messages claiming that he's been calling and texting people non-stop. Leo says that his number has been "spoofed," and the only thing he can do is wait until the spoofers move on to a new number. It's called "Neighbor Spam," and it's being used to get people to answer a local call. Eventually, enough people will block the phone number, and then they will move on to yet another number. Unfortunately, there's not much else he can do. 

Anne is having issues with people texting her for someone else. How can she stop it? Leo says it's likely that Anne got the number and people are still trying to contact the previous owner. But it could also just be SPAM, which has become an epidemic. UP to 80% of texts are spam. She can block the number, but that's like playing a game of wack-a-mole. But check with the carrier. Anne's is Comcast Xfinity, they have a robocall blocker called HiYa.

Steve Martin also uses a Windows computer and an iPad, and often they don't talk well together. He's also been getting a lot of his emails being routed into SPAM. He's had to physically move them back to the Inbox, and he's worried that he'll miss an important email from business or friends. Leo says that the SPAM filters have gotten so good, that they're now starting to get false positives as ISPs get really aggressive with the spam filters.

Linda is frustrated that some of her contacts always end up in the spam filter. Leo says that somewhere the email program learned that those contacts were sending spam, and it may be due to the content of the email. Leo recommends setting up a separate filter that will keep those contacts in the inbox. They may also be called "rules."

Valerie is having issues with her email, she can receive but she can't send. Leo says that's due to a validation issue since her email provider doesn't support standard protocols. Google will block email IP addresses due to spam. Leo recommends using Gmail or other well-known email providers. So get a new email provider!