How can I prevent my email address from being spoofed by spammers? I
am receiving replies from emails I never sent, so I know my email
address is  being spoofed. Some of the replies tell me that my
messages contained viruses and worms, so I worry that someone is
spreading viruses using my email address.

I use a local ISP (not a big national email service like Yahoo) and they
claim there's nothing they can do.

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Request for Question Clarification by andrewxmp-ga on 29 Jun 2004 12:41 PDT

Are the replies that you are getting actually specific to you
personally somehow?  Oftentimes, spammers put "Re: [with some random
subject here]" in order to make it look like the mail is a reply, and
therefore get the spamee to open it, as you have.  If a "Re:" in the
subject line is the only indication that is a reply of some sort, then
chances are no one is really impersonating you, and it is just normal
spam.  If this is not the case, please let me know, describe the
emails further, and we will see what can, if anything, be done.

-Andrewxmp

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Clarification of Question by marshbluet-ga on 29 Jun 2004 13:34 PDT

Yes, the replies are specific to me in that they show that the
original email was sent by me (though it wasn't). The replies quote
emails I didn't send and show my email address as the "reply-to"
address.

I ignore the spam that tries to fool me with the "Re:" subject line.

There is unfortunately nothing you can do about this.
The problem is that there is no standard for authenticating that an
email message is actually from a specific address. As such, any
computer can send any message claiming to be from any address.

What is probably happening in your case is that a friend of yours has
your address in his email address book, and he is infected with a
virus. The virus looks at his address book, chooses one address to
send TO and one address to send FROM. Then, the person who it is sent
to thinks you sent it to them, and if it bounces, you get the bounce,
neither of which implicate the original sender who is infected.
It is quite annoying, but there really is very little you can do to
stop it from happening.

passive is correct.
However, he/she states there's nothing you can do. There is:

1. Get 2 new email addresses.
2. Use one ONLY for family and friends; use one for online purposes.
3. Be prepared to change the one for online purposes regularly.
4. Never post your email address in an open area of a website.
5. Never unsubscribe from any spam mail--this just tells them that
they've got an active email address, and they send you some other spam
mail (many of these companies do it for thousands of clients) or sell
you address.