According to a recent survey, nearly half of us find the traffic jam on the way to work less stressful than dealing with our spam once we arrive. With more and more spam and viruses flying around cyberspace, are we now powerless to avoid them, and should we accept them as part of life in the information age?

There are actually several very simple things that anyone can do to reclaim their PCs from the spammers, virus spreaders and other nefarious characters. You don't need to be a geek or a techie, and you don't need to spend a lot of money.

The single most important rule when reclaiming your PC is to NEVER OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. Many modern viruses are spread as attachments to emails. They are opened, and don't appear to do anything much. However, if you use certain email programs (Outlook or Exchange are the most vulnerable, because they are the most popular), the virus or worm will go through your address book and email itself to everyone on there. Basically, everyone you've ever emailed will then receive the virus.

More sophisticated viruses will 'spoof' email addresses, so they appear to have come from someone you know. Be very wary of emails that look like they come from a friend but have a strange message. The sender's email address may also look a bit weird. If you are unsure in any way, contact your friend and ask them if they've sent anything. DON'T OPEN THE ATTACHMENT UNLESS YOU'RE SURE.

Because most viruses run only in Outlook or Exchange, try using another email program. Mozilla Thunderbird Mail (www.mozilla.org) is free to download and run, and very easy to use. Most common viruses will not affect it, so even if you do open a virus attachment by mistake, you should escape unscathed.

Spammers send out hundreds of millions of emails a day. They are becoming more and more ingenious: when anti-spam software began to mark messages as spam because of certain key words, the spammers replaced some of the letters in these words with numbers (e.g. prescr1pt10n), or even to turn the whole message into a picture attachment that cannot be scanned automatically. There is an arms race going on, and ordinary PC users are stuck in the middle.

Spammers only need a few people to respond and buy whatever they're selling to make money, but if you're sick to death of logging on and being greeted with seemingly endless invitations to buy Viagra or look at porn, there are easy ways to stop spam.

The most important spam rule is NEVER REPLY TO THEM, even if they invite you to respond in order to take yourself off their list. Usually, all this does is confirm to the spammer that your email address is valid, and you'll probably receive even more.

If you use any of the more popular email accounts (like Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL or MSN), then you probably get more than your share of spam. Sometimes these service providers will sell your email address to advertisers unless you specify otherwise, so do check with your provider, and take your address off if possible.

Spammers use programs that 'harvest' your email address if it appears on any website. If you have a personal web page and you want people to contact you, either type your email address in a way that a person can recognise, but a spammer's harvesting program cannot, e.g. name [at] hotmail [dot] com.

A more drastic solution to spam is not to use free webmail at all. Spammers use computer programs that generate random webmail addresses and send them out. This is likely to be the source of a lot of your spam. Many popular internet service providers (like Tiscali or Wanadoo), also have this problem. They are, unfortunately, victims of their own popularity. Because so many people use them, they are a fertile ground for spammers. You can set up your own domain, with a name of your choice, and for around £10 a month you usually get a large amount of webspace and unlimited email addresses.

If you do a lot of buying online, it's often worthwhile setting up a second email address just for this. Some companies do still sell email addresses to spammers, although if you only do business with reputable firms, this shouldn't be a problem. If you are in doubt, check with the company before giving your details. If you like to chat online, it's also worth having an email address just for this: selling addresses is easy money for unscrupulous chatroom operators.

“Spyware” is another recent invention that allows other people to monitor what you do on your PC. Spyware can be installed along with legitimate programs, or it can be installed by a virus or other malicious program. Its effects range from simple monitoring of your web browsing habits (which are then sold on to companies), to installing software that can dial premium rate phone numbers, allowing crackers to use your PC to launch attacks on other websites, all without your knowledge. There are several free programs you can easily install that will find and delete spyware, and they are well worth having, especially if you like to download music or video files.

Finally, a word or two about updates. If you run Windows, check http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com regularly. Microsoft post patches and fixes for various security problems here. Updating your system means you will be less vulnerable to crackers (malicious hackers) and viruses. Most people who have problems with crackers and viruses haven't downloaded the updates. Even big companies sometimes forget, and fall victim. Virus writers are constantly trying to get round virus checkers, so if you have anti-virus software, it's very important to check for updates on a regular basis. Similarly, any spyware checkers you install need to be updated frequently. Check your software manufacturer's website regularly for news and upgrades.

[in box: Why have your own domain?

Most internet service providers offer some webspace and email addresses, but you don't have to be able to design and run your own website to use it. Webspace is a great way of saving photographs or sound files, especially if you want to email them to friends and family. If you have a digital camera or a scanner (and you can get both pretty cheaply these days), you can upload all your photos onto your webspace.

This means that if you've just come back from holiday, you can simply email a link to all your friends instead of the photos. An email with several picture files can be very large and take a long time to download, especially if you, or your friends, don't have broadband. Having your holiday snaps online also means that you can access them wherever you like.

You can also use the webspace as a backup for important data in case the worst happens, and your computer needs 'rebuilding' (re-installing the operating software), or if you just upgrade your PC. Service providers have large, powerful computers known as 'servers' with their own failsafe backup systems, meaning your data is safe with them.

Using webspace is much easier than most people think: the most commonly used browsers now allow you to cut and paste files and data straight onto the web server, just as if it were another folder in your PC.]

2004-06-26T17:15:22