Pop-up ad scam led to no laptop, but lots of spam

By Steve Alexander, Technology / Other

Question: I foolishly responded to a pop-up ad that promised I had won a free laptop. But after I gave away my e-mail address, I discovered there was no laptop. For a few months I just deleted the few dozen unwanted messages about everything from tea to debt relief, but now I'm getting hundreds of these a day, many of them duplicates. Is there a simple fix other than changing my e-mail address? (It's a company address, and changing it would be difficult.)

Answer: You need some filtering software to keep all that junk out of your inbox. Spam, or unwanted junk e-mail, can be separated from regular e-mail by programs that are called spam filters, spam blockers or antispam software. The process isn't perfect - often some spam gets through, and it's possible that some legitimate mail could be inadvertently blocked - but it's far better than no protection at all.

If you're working for a corporation, talk to your information technology department about how to add your unwanted e-mail to the company's spam filter (often you can do that at the click of a mouse button in your e-mail program). That should at least reduce the amount of spam you get at your work address.

If you're a small-business person working alone, buy some antispam software for your PC or subscribe to a remote antispam service. For a review of some antispam programs, and more details about the fight against spam, see http://www.consumersearch.com/ www/software/spam-filters/ . For even more product reviews, see http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,4795,00.asp .

Q: I used to have DSL from telephone company Frontier, but I've switched to cable TV firm MediaCom, and, of course, switched e-mail addresses as well. But I'm having trouble removing my old e-mail address from my Outlook e-mail program. All my reply e-mails automatically use the Frontier address, and as a result get hung up in my outbox. When I go into the tools and try to delete the Frontier profile, I get an error message that says I need to contact the system administrator. What should I do?

A: You don't need to delete the Outlook profile containing your old Frontier e-mail address in order to make Outlook quit using it. You can create a new profile containing your new MediaCom address, and set Outlook to automatically use that profile instead of the original one.

See "Outlook E-mail Profiles Explained" and the subhead "Multiple Profiles" at http://www.office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011471581033.aspx .

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(Steve Alexander covers technology for the Star Tribune. E-mail your technology questions to tech-at-startribune.com or write Tech Q&A, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn. 55488-0002. Please include a full name, city and phone number.)

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