We are told not to open spam.  When I receive spam that is obviously
attempting to defraud, I always forward it to: enforcement@sec.gov. 
Is there any possibe way to forward spam without first opening it?  Or
should I simply not worry about it? Yahoo account.
Thank you.

Check out this service:
http://www.spamcop.net

I wouldn't worry about opening email from yahoo however I would do 2 things. 
1. I would never download any attachments or allow any scripts to run
unless I know the source.
2. I would change my mail settings to not display html graphics in
email becuase this can tell the spammers that you have opened it and
will encourage them to keep your address active. Among other nasty
things they can do. To change this setting,
click "mail options" near the top right of the screen. Then go to
general preferences then to the messages section. You will see a check
box called
"Block HTML graphics in email messages from being downloaded". Check it.

Thank you sucker5, but I've done those things.  My dilemma is in the
fact that you must open spam in order to forward it to the
authorities.  When you click on it, in that case, do the culprits know
it somehow?  If not, then why are we told not to open email?  No, I
never click on anything within the actual email.

Oops - I goofed a bit in my suggestion.  It was only half the answer
(and may not be an answer for you).
I use PostArmor as an interface between my email client and my email
server.  It inspects mail headers identifying most spam before it
reaches my computer.  There is then the option of forwarding spam,
unopened, to SpamCop.

What threw me was that PostArmor is quite unobtrusive, so I generally
only see the "report to Spamcop" part.

PostArmor is a Java-based, so it should be available to you.  See:
http://www.postarmor.com/

chesterfield,
Thats good that you have already taken precautions. As I have said,
they only know when you open email if you have html graphics enabled.
Otherwise no. The reason people usually say not to open spam is
becuase it is much easier than trying to educate people on how to take
the nessasary steps to prevent problems. It is safe if you know the
caveats.

Yes.  I do have the html graphics blocked.  Could you please tell me
how "Postamor" prevents spam?  My ISP said that programs like "Spam
Stopper" are of no use because the spam first arrives at the ISP.  Are
you certain that there is no spyware in "Postamor"?  Does "Postamor"
report the spammers?  It upsets me to think of the number of people
who unknowingly respond to the most clever spammers and get hurt.

"Could you please tell me how "Postamor" prevents spam?"
PostArmor is a proxy mail server that runs on your computer.  You
configure it to talk to your "real" email server, and configure your
email client to talk to PostArmor.  When necessary, PostArmor
retrieves message headers from the server, looks for spam reports in
them, and also matches header information against blacklists and
user-defined rules.  It then assigns a likely "spam" level to the
message, and based on that, decides whether to pass it on to your
email client.  Messages above the spam threshold are never retrieved
from the email server, and are listed in PostArmor together with their
"spam" level.  Once configured with the address used for reporting
spam to SpamCop, PostArmor offers a one click "Report Spam" option. 
You can also add messages (and sources) to your white-list or
blacklist with one click, or bounce messages back to the sender if so
inclined.  On the whole, pretty cool!

"My ISP said that programs like "SpamStopper" are of no use because
the spam first arrives at the ISP."
The spam will always arrive at the ISP.  That is how email works. 
They may filter it, as they might also "sanitise" it for viruses, but
they have to be conservative, and allow some things that you might
consider spam through.

'Are you certain that there is no spyware in "Postamor"?'
No, but I have no suspicion that it does.

 'Does "Postamor" report the spammers?'
Via SpamCop.  You need to register at SpamCop (free) and configure
PostAmor with the reporting address.

Where would I find instructions (for computer retards) for how to
download and integrate:  Yahoo mail, Spam cop, and Postarmor?  I use
Yahoo, not my Outlook Express.  Is there a place on my computer that
tells me whether I have POP, or STMP or whatever? Don't understand
much of this.  Can someone this retarded set this up properly without
goofing up my Yahoo service?

The Postarmor system actually won't help you with webmail, and I guess
this is what you mean when you say you use Yahoo, not Outlook Express.

So really, the crucial thing about whether PostArmor will help is if
you can move from webmail to POP mail, and it looks like that is not
offered for free from Yahoo.

A couple of good free email suppliers with POP access have been
myrealbox.com and bluebottle.com, but I'm not sure if either is still
accepting new accounts.  There are probably more out there.

If you do go for POP mail at Yahoo or elsewhere, it is not hard to
configure PostArmor and an email client like Outlook Express to do the
screening/reporting of spam.

I'm sorry if I've given you a bum steer on this.

Someone should mention that when using Yahoo! Mail, even with html
graphics blocked, graphics automatically when you click the Forward
button.