Is it true that setting my e-mail address to 'not allow html' (or is
it 'not display html') content will help protect against receiving
spam e-mail? Please explain why or why not. Thanks!

Hi bigsticks-ga,
It's true that disabling html will help protect you against spam,
although it will not erradicate it.

"Many email clients have the ability to display HTML formatted
documents. One consequence of this is that your email address could be
sent back to the sender of the document, which could open you up to
more SPAM. Disabling this feature can reduced future SPAM"

Spam Filter in Email
http://www.gly.bris.ac.uk/www/comp/e-mail/mailspam.html

Basically, HTML code can be used to "validate" your e-mail address.
Spammers will include image links in their html e-mails, which make
your computer hit their Web server (to download the image). When your
computer hits their server, the spammers know you've read their mail,
so your e-mail address becomes "valid", i.e., a target for future
spam.

This is not a problem with newer versions of Outlook, which ask you
before downloading the images in an html e-mail.


Google search terms:

spam "display html" set email
://www.google.com.ar/search?hl=es&q=spam+%22display+html%22+set+email&meta=


I hope this helps!

Best regards,
elmarto

It's not just spammers that use HTML emails though. Many legitimate
businesses and newsletter writers use HTML as it's much easier to
read. They also validate your email address so that they can track how
many people open their email.

Spam email is simply unwanted email. If you do set your program to not
display HTML, it will not reduce your spam at all. A better way to
sort out your spam problem would be to filter your incoming mail and
add people you know to your address book. There are heaps of spam
filter programs out there as well.

disabling html is a great way to protect yourself against various
security vulnerabilities. A while back, a virus embedded into the code
of a standard JPG image file was discovered. The payload wasn't
anything harmful, but the ability to execute malicious code just by
viewing an image exists. Disabling HTML support in your e-mail client
prevents your computer from downloading any images or non-plain-text
content. If someone you know wants to send you HTML content, you can
usually just right click inside the e-mail and select "download
images/HTML content."

It's a lot easier to manually allow expected HTML e-mails than it is
to clean up increasing amounts of spam, spyware, and virii.

As mentioned before, HTML can also be used to track and validate a
user that opens the e-mail. If the code embedded in the e-mail can
take advantage of an adware/spyware program installed on your computer
(like Bargain Buddy or Gator), it can immediately start delivering
ads, more e-mails, pop-ups, etc. There are several spam filters you
can download free of charge. I suggest using one that simply tags the
subject line of "suspicious" e-mail with "SPAM!" just before the
actual subject. Then, you can set up your own customized filters in
your e-mail client to filter out what YOU consider to be spam.

Hope that helps!

If you are open to suggestion, may I recommend Mailwasher because the
rules can be set up to block ?Open-Relay? from ?the entire header?.
There is perhaps a free-speech issue in the international blocking of
open relays, but the majority of my spam comes by that conduit.
Parasites!

One small point if you are installing spam trappers, make sure your
firewall doesn?t knobble it. Not always do you get notice that the
firewall is responsible for preventing connection.

At this time of year, tell all those people who insist on sending
their really interesting family newsletters to use BCC (blind carbon
copy) so your address is not spread around the universe.

Best