Welcome to Team One Internet

Stopping Spam and Virus Emails

Using SpamControl

One of the less desirable aspects of using email is spam -- unsolicited mail or just plain junk mail. How do you stop it from filling up your mailbox space? One great way to lessen the blow of spam is with special software that helps you to identify spam before you waste your time dealing with it. Team One Internet uses a highly advanced program called SpamControl to accomplish this, at no cost to you. This is one of the many ways you get maximum value as a Team One Internet customer.

The SpamControl program automatically scans all your email looking for the telltale signs of spam. When SpamControl identifies an email as likely spam, it takes 2 actions.

First, SpamControl inserts the text "*****SPAM*****" in front of the message Subject. This allows you to easily see that the email is spam without having to open the message. Further, you can configure your email program to automatically delete or file away any spam emails. You never even have to look at them! Click here for instructions on how to set this up.
Second, if the email contains any HTML commands, SpamControl turns those commands into plain text. This prevents the spam from wasting your time by downloading graphics, creating pop-up windows, or running potentially malicious code on your computer.

If SpamControl knows an email is spam, why doesn't it just delete the email? The problem is that identifying spam is not as easy. Many of the characteristics of true spam are also shared by other kinds of legitimate emails. Some people even want to receive certain kinds of spam. The goal for SpamControl is to flag as many real spam emails as possible, while avoiding false positives (flagging valid email as spam). You, the user, play an important part in this process. By logging into your SpamControl account, you can control how sensitive SpamControl is when it scans your email. You can also tell SpamControl that emails from certain sources are never (or always) to be flagged as spam. You can login to SpamControl by clicking here.

Additional Steps to Avoid Spam

There are additional actions that you can take to help reduce the amount of spam you receive. One of the most important ways is to NOT reply to spam messages. Even if the spam email says you can be removed from their list, don't believe it. Spam programs are intelligent. They are programmed with standard dictionary languages and even understand last names. Therefore, if you use your last name as a Member ID, such as jones@Team One Internet.com, these programs can easily find you. What these programs don't know is whether the address to which they are sending is valid. Once you reply to a spam, you have confirmed to the spammer that your e-mail address is real and is actively in use. Then you will receive even more spam!

Secondly, you need to use discretion when giving out your e-mail address while visiting other sites or registering for on-line contest prizes and other promotions. You should use the same judgment that you use when providing your home address and consider how it may be used. Finally, you need to watch out for the opt-in check boxes. These boxes are usually placed next to questions that ask if you would like to receive information from the Web page owners or their partners. By leaving the box checked, you are agreeing to receive promotional e-mails from the promoter and possibly other parties. If you need an email address to use for a likely spam source, consider signing up for a free email account at someplace like Hotmail.

The SpamControl service is based on the open source SpamAssassin project. You can learn more about SpamAssassin here.

If you prefer to use your own software to control spam, simply disable SpamControl by setting its "Required Hits" parameter to 99. Click here for a list of some other free and commercial spam filtering software.

Virus Control

Simply defined, a virus is just a self-replicating piece of software. Many viruses, however, are additionally configured to harm your computer by altering the way it works. Depending on the virus, these alterations may be as benign as displaying a message on a certain date, or as destructive as erasing your hard drive.

Viruses spread differently depending on what kind they are.

Boot sector viruses append themselves to floppy disks. If you leave an infected disk in your floppy drive when you turn your system on or reboot it, the virus copies itself onto the boot sector of your hard drive. You cannot get this virus from sharing files or by executing a program - only from an infected disk.
Program sector viruses fasten themselves to other programs. Most will piggyback on EXE or COM files, but they can infect any file that your computer runs when it launches a program.
Macro viruses affect the template used to create documents or spreadsheets, thereby infecting every document or spreadsheet opened with the program.
E-Mail viruses can infect your computer before you even open an e-mail. For example, a virus named "Bubble Boy," which targets Outlook and Outlook Express, can be launched even if it only opens up in the preview window. Just highlighting the subject line in the preview window activates the code. It starts sending messages to everyone in your address book in an attempt to overload and crash the e-mail server.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Taking defensive action is the best solution to protect your computer from the many thousands of viruses that loom in cyberspace. Fortunately, Team One Internet is a helpful partner in the anti-virus fight. The following steps may not completely protect you from viruses, but they can significantly reduce your chances of being harmed by them.

Email virus scanning. Team One Internet scans all potentially malicious emails before they are ever stored on our servers. Other service providers charge for this protection. Team One Internet believes that stopping the spread of spam and virus emails is our duty as good Internet citizens. We provide these services with no additional fee.
Install antivirus software. No anti-virus software is capable of protecting you from all viruses, but they act as a resourceful companion by helping you to scan incoming files and shared floppy disks and will keep you abreast of the latest viruses.
Note: To be best protected, make sure that you update your anti-virus software on a regular basis. Team One Internet updates the definitions of our scanner nightly.
Use diligence with all disks. Always scan disks from unknown sources with your anti-virus software, especially disks that are shared by several people.
Download with care. Download all files from disks or shared files on a network into a special folder on your hard drive and scan them with your anti-virus software.
Before reading attachments, scan them. Some e-mail programs will automatically open an attachment with the appropriate program. Disable this function so that you can scan attachments before they are opened.
Be wary of attachments in e-mails from friends that you weren't expecting. Many viruses will e-mail themselves to everyone on someone's address list, and include an innocuous sounding message like "check this out" or "let me know what you think of this". If a friend sends you an e-mail with that has an attachment, and the message isn't personalized with your name and theirs, check with your friend to make sure that they were the one that actually sent you the message, rather than a virus on their computer that was masquerading as them.
Save shared files in RTF or ASCII format. Saving shared files in RTF or ASCII format will help prevent macro viruses, because neither format saves macro viruses.
Note: It is important to note that if you choose ASCII format to save your files, you will lose all of the formatting within the document. If formatting is important, stick to RTF.
Back it up! Back up everything in a safe place that is separate from your hard drive.
Liability Statement. Team One Internet makes its best effort to stop any virus from getting past our servers and onto your computer. However, we are not liable in any way for any virus related damages. Please see our Terms of Service for clarification.

Here are some links to anti-virus software vendors. Team One Internet is not affiliated with any of these companies. You should do your own research before choosing which anti-virus product you wish to use.

Frist Software International http://www.f-prot.com/index2.html

McAfee Anti-Virus Information Site http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/

Symantec Security Response http://securityresponse.symantec.com