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Microsoft chairman and computer guru Bill Gates reportedly receives four million e-mails in one 24-hour period. It’s not that Bill has four million friends. One of his chief executives reported that most of these e-mails were junk e-mails—the dreaded Spam. Even though most of us don’t have to deal with such an incredible volume, Spam has become a nuisance most of us contend with on a daily (or even hourly) basis.
Spam filtering software was designed to combat these pesky e-mails. It works by analyzing individual e-mails to determine whether each is either a message the user wants or can be classified as Spam. The filter looks for things like multiple recipients and key words (you know those certain body part “enlarger” e-mails) to weed out the junk.
Rejected e-mails are then rerouted from the user’s inbox and dumped in a “junkbox”. It’s usually cleared within a certain period of time—every seven days, for example. However, the user can also view these junk e-mails, just in case there is a few he or she might be interested in. Good software should also come with a feature which allows the user to put their friends and business contacts on a list of protected e-mails.
Spam has become part of the modern computer landscape. But that doesn’t mean we should let Spammers hijack our computers to use as their own advertising tools. Even if you get 20 Spam e-mails a day (versus Gates’ four million), your inbox is your own workspace. It doesn’t need to be cluttered up and held hostage by junk. Spam filtering software allows you to focus on your own work by taking this mess out. Sometimes Spam can also bring dangerous viruses to your computer. This type of software is the best way to avoid a devastating virus from destroying your computer.
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