• Email breach. Should I get a new email id.

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    #2100266

    Not sure this is correct forum, but my email id has been in a few data breaches. It’s hard to remain unbreached these days! I have done what I can to be secure.  But I am getting LOADS of junk every day.  It’s a bother bc I still have to check junk for the occasional emails I want.  So I thought I would just get a new email.  Some accounts will allow that change, some won’t, many only allow email as userid and won’t let you change that, though you can update the account emailid-the userid will still be your original email. I don’t want to create new accounts bc you cannot just close most accounts- NO ONE wants to delete your info.  And then I thought it will only be a matter of time b4 my new email is compromised and then I have just added one more thing to manage! What’s a girl to do?   I am trying to figure out how to limit more of my junkmail (outlook). Anyone have this issue or input on it? Thanks

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    • #2100343

      For very important services, if it is possible to contact customer service change what you information you able.

      You can train Outlook and the mail account provider’s junk mail filter to trash those emails, both systems will learn fast enough to do it for you. If you have signed up for a verifiable real corporate newsletter the company will sometimes opt you into mailings for all products, including (partner) special offers. Unsubscribing may be honored, if not these emails now become junk email. 🙂

    • #2100373

      I, too, use Outlook (2010) and still get all kinds of junk in my Inbox. I create a new Rule whenever multiple junk addresses have the same suffix, and that has helped. Like you, I also have to check my Junk E-mail folder for the “good” emails, which is a pain.

      I had added a third-party AntiSPAM program (SPAMfighter Pro), but that resulted in even worse results from Outlook, so I eventually uninstalled it.

      Good luck!

      Win 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit; Office 2010; Group B (SaS); Former 'Tech Weenie'
      1 user thanked author for this post.
      • #2140184

        I tried free Spamfighter and found it to be way less effective than just using Outlook Safe Senders filter. They also nagged me constantly to get their paid version. Was not a good experience.

        :W10Pro and W11Pro 22H2

        1 user thanked author for this post.
    • #2100445

      You can train Outlook and the mail account provider’s junk mail filter to trash those emails, both systems will learn fast enough to do it for you.

      How do I train outlook to trash these emails?  I am using apple mail with o365.   I know about rules but these emails don’t follow any rules- they are not from identical sender ids.  Thanks

      • #2100464

        Are you the administrator or home user for Office 365?

        Looks like you could benefit from creating a safe sender list and it may be possible redirect all other mail to the junk folder.

        Mail for version macOS Catalina 10.15 can block senders, but the maximum upper limit is not disclosed in that document.

        • #2110009

          I am home user.  I have a safe sender list.  Maybe I am not using it correctly- the email comes into junk and then I have to go check junk bc there could be legit emails in there.    It originally was hotmail- now outlook.com as MS migrated everyone.

          • This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by dmt_3904.
          • #2110140

            I have a safe sender list.

            Good, it wasn’t immediately clear if Outlook should be automatically sending every email not on the safe senders list to the junk folder.

            I agree with Paul T, sometime perhaps the spam flood may dwindle to a few but that could take a very long time. Used to be the better tactic to reduce spam floods was logging in to the web mail interface to report or mark as junk the spam before downloading the clean email with a client program.

            Are you able to find any commonality in the spam?

            • #2110368

              There is BUT each one has unique characters in some way,  so for example, I cannot block an entire domain.   I have to look at them more carefully.  I’d prefer not to get a new email id as I don’t believe that will solve my problem long-term since any email will be subject to breaches.

    • #2100475

      Once your email address is in a spammers list there is very little you can do to stop spam. Mail providers generally err on the side of letting mail through in case it is legit, so it’s just a “wander through the junk mail once a week” exercise.

      cheers, Paul

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • #2109993

      Is your email service provided by your ISP (mail.your-ISP.com, or whatever)?
      Or is it one of the general email services – AOL, Gmail, something Microsoft, Yahoo, etc. ?

    • #2124021

      I am happy to report that I was able to set up some Outlook rules that when run, automatically send junk email to the deleted folder, based on certain words.  I think the rules feature is fairly robust – lots of options.  I am selecting words that I believe I will NEVER want to, need to see in an email – one may guess what they are.   So, with one click, I can delete half of them!  It’s helping, I guess until the bad guys change the wording, for now.

      • This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by dmt_3904.
      2 users thanked author for this post.
      b, SueW
      • #2124155

        The trouble is that the Bad Guys don’t have a really strong grasp of spelling, perhaps due to educational underachievement, perhaps on purpose, to frustrate such as the OP.

        I always log my spam on SpamCop, and also log the AmazonAWS spam.  This may seem like an exercise in futility, but, if you don’t log it, it never happened.

        Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

        2 users thanked author for this post.
    • #2138542

      I personally use SpamArrest.   I have been using it for years and it works great.  Basically, it prevents emails that are not white-listed from reaching your imbox.  You never lose any email; all emails remain on Spamarrests server in 3 basic folders:

      *inbox ( whitelisted, these come in to your email programs inbox; for me, in Outlook)
      *Unverified (for emails the sender did not click a verification link, or is not whitelisted)
      * Bounced (99.999% spoofed, spam and junk mail)

      When you set up Outlook with Spamarrest’s ingoing and outgoing servers, any email you send is automatically white-listed.

      When someone sends you an email and that email address is not white-listed, they will get and email back asking to click a link to verify they are a valid, and live person.  It then gets whitelisted and sent to the inbox.

      IMO, Spamarrest is the best solution for keeping spam and junk mail from reaching your computer.  And again, you never lose an email.  You can always log in to Spamarrest.com and look at the Unverified and Bounced folders for potentially missed email.

      1 user thanked author for this post.
      • #2140209

        SpamArrest cost $60/90 per year, limit of 1 GB mailbox, you also need to turn over your entire address book to them for this to work. Third parties are not necessarily best or secure or economical option.

        :W10Pro and W11Pro 22H2

    • #2139597

      Have a look at MailWasher.  I have been using it for years, and junk or unwanted mail never reaches my inbox in Outlook.

      Windows 10 Pro 64 bit 20H2

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • #2140167

      I have a Hotmail address for over 20 years I don’t want to give up using because of my huge number of correspondents and thus it would be a big hassle to change my email address.

      I get tons of spam because I’m now on every spammer’s list out there at this point making me a very effective honey pot. I research* the headers and see that the spam comes from all over the world, much of it using networks from the Netherlands, much of it using amazonaws.com networks.

      I’m using Outlook 2016 and use Safe Sender’s list only so all the spam goes to the Junk folder but I still need to review them for occasional false positives.

      The volume of spam is certainly annoying so I’ve tried ways of fighting back, such as reporting spam messages to spamcop.net, but it is time-consuming and requires commitment. The spammers constantly change their tactics so Microsoft is in a whack-a-mole game to keep them out of the hotmail/outlook email servers as best they can, so the cycle of spam volume rises and falls accordingly. I’ve read that as much as 80% of all email circulating on the Internet is spam.

      One recent success I’ve had in reducing volume is reporting by forwarding all identified* spam messages that comes thru amazonaws.com networks to abuse@amazonaws.com (you must include the full email headers). They will acknowledge your report and take action against spammers. I used to get dozens per day but now down to only occasional.

      *using IPNetInfo free utility available from:

      http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/ipnetinfo.html

       

      I’d like to continue discussion of helpful ways to deal with spam and will be adding more comments. Thanks for your participation.

       

       

      :W10Pro and W11Pro 22H2

      • #2140189

        Thank you for posting your experience, it helps with my decision.  I’ve had my hotmail id for 17 years – big hassle to change for me too!  And I don’t want to go through that pain. Plus I figure the new email will end up in the same place eventually.  So you’ve given me some assurance that what I’m doing isn’t a bad idea. I was thinking it’s not good to have a compromised email and it isn’t but I can manage it. I will check this out –

        One recent success I’ve had in reducing volume is reporting by forwarding all identified* spam messages that comes thru amazonaws.com networks to abuse@amazonaws.com (you must include the full email headers). They will acknowledge your report and take action against spammers. I used to get dozens per day but now down to only occasional.

        *using IPNetInfo free utility available from:

        http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/ipnetinfo.html

        1 user thanked author for this post.
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