These are simple tips on how to avoid receiving, and/or minimize the amount of spam you receive.

Don’t enter your e-mail address at the wrong places on the Internet.  This can include websites in which you enter contests, and “free” quotations for a product or service, based on answers to certain questions.  Some marketing services will require your e-mail address before they will send you free product samples or money-saving coupons.  The savings can’t be worth the subsequent increase in spam. 

Do not allow your e-mail address to be published on the web without having it disguised from harvesters.  One of the techniques of professional e-mail address harvesters is to use spiders, which are programs which search websites, automatically moving from one to another, collecting text with an @ symbol in it, signifying it is an e-mail address.  Check any web sites which may have published your e-mail address, including organizations for which you no longer are a point of contact, or with which you are no longer active.  Make sure your address appears with the symbols spelled out, and there are spaces between parts of your address (for example: xyz123 at psu dot edu). 

Don’t buy from spammers.  Not even a well-known, reputable product, that you were thinking of buying anyway.  This gives the spammers a reason to keep spamming.  Instead, shop for the product locally, or over the Internet from the manufacturer or the Internet sales branch of a well-known company (for example: JC Pennys, Toys R Us).  Warranties for products purchased from sources advertised by spammers aren’t likely to be as reliable as from manufacturers, local stores, or well-known companies. 

Get a disposable e-mail address.  For instructions on how to do so view the disposable address page.