This is a two parter, first thank you all for those of you that came to last nights class on "Buying a new computer" It was nice to see some old faces with all the new ones and it makes it doubley 'feel good' to know how much you appreciate the free classes we sponsor for the community. Again thank you. For those of you that didn't make it, you missed out on a GREAT DESSERT. Not even going to say what it was cause YOU weren't here to enjoy it you will just have to come next time and see taste it yourself.

Ok, here is another thought on Spam not written by me.


Title "What is spam?"


We all use the term spam to categorize email that we don't want. But what is spam? Officially, spam is "bulk, unsolicited email". In other words, email that is sent out to a bunch of people without their permission.


Spam email is not just annoying.. it's becoming dangerous. Here are some of the types of spam you have encountered, the list provided by MacWorld, June 2007:


Advertising spam
This is the most common form of spam and generally take the form of a come-on for watches, prescription drugs, mortgages, stocks or sexual-enhancement potions.


Advance-fee Fraud
You have have seen an email from a Nigerian business man who is just looking for someone in the U.S. to help him recover $6 million dollars. These scams promise a large sum of money if you pass on information about how to get the money deposited. Your personal information is at risk if you try to help. Simply ignore these scams.


Phishing
Pronounced 'fishing', these emails look authentic and pretend to come from your bank or other financial institution. They ask for some confirmation information from you to protect or update your account and in fact, they are stealing your personal information for the purposes of identify theft. Never update any personal information from an email link.


Virus Spam
These messages usually contain some type of attachment that carries the virus or malware. Good antivirus software will protect you from these types of spam attacks.


Web Bugs
This is a new type of data collection ploy. Spammers create an email that invisible HTML tags that report if their email has been read, your IP address and other access information. It also confirms that your email address is valid and then your email address is sold to other spammers. You can block this attack by not automatically turning on images from email you are not expecting.


The old advice is still good... don't open email from people you don't know and keep your updates and antivirus software current.