Have you ever wondered what causes an email to
be flagged as SPAM by your e-mail system? Following are examples of items that have
been caught in our SPAM filter. They may be references in the Subject line or in
the body of text.

• A line of text that includes all capital
  letters (referred to as ‘A WHOLE LINE OF YELLING DETECTED)
• A color other than black for font color
• HTML included in the message
• Use of a big font
• A subject line of ‘Hi’
• Use of a person’s name in the subject line
• Random ASCII characters
• Offers for physical enhancements to body
  parts
• Financial enhancement
• Products typically seen in infomercials
• Any reference to ‘free’
• ‘If you have received this email by
  mistake…’
• Use of the word ‘diet’ combined with words
  ’special,’ ‘miracle’ or ‘pills’
• A greeting of ‘SPAM assassin’
• Standard greetings
• A subject line containing a first or last
  name
• An email with an embedded image
• A subject line ending with an exclamination
  mark

Now that you know how to prevent your emails
from getting placed into a SPAM folder, here are some tips for minimizing
SPAM in your email. When you get a SPAM email, don’t just delete it, identify it
with your email provider. If your provider has a filter for SPAM, use it. Never
open an attachment from a suspicious email. If infected, it could wipe out
everything on your computer and send an email to everyone in your address book.

Another issue, don’t forward suspicious email
and always resist the temptation to ‘unsubscribe.’

Ways to prevent yourself from receiving SPAM.

• Don’t post your email address online. Rather
  than jane@tarzanne.com, you could use a
  symbol other than the traditional ‘@’ sign. For example,
  ‘jane*tarzanne.com’ will indicate to veteran online participants the correct
  address.
• Be selective with those who receive your email
  address.
• Never use SPAM emails to purchase an
  item.
• Update your address book periodically.
• Don’t open up images in a suspicious email.
  It alerts the sender that the email address is a live address.

While SPAM may not seem like a big deal, keep
in mind that President Bush has signed a law against the use of SPAM as a form
of unwanted advertisement. The new law allows for criminal action against
spammers. And, who are these spammers making our life difficult? According to
MIT Enterprise Technology, 200 spammers are responsible for 90% of junk email.

Resource:

Security and
privacy 101: how to prevent spam

http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/3564-0-0-225-121.aspx

Who Are The Spammers?

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/blog.asp?blogID=1620&trk=nl