Here at InfoTECH, we are constantly looking for the best solutions to meet the unique needs of our small business clients. We already have an extensive product offering that can help enhance the productivity of your workers and streamline your business, but we wouldn't be successfull as an IT company if we didn't stay on the cutting edge to provide the latest IT tools. In keeping with this spirit, we have partnered with Google to become an authorized reseller of Google Apps!

Junk e-mail, like its paper counterpart, is a staple of the messaging systems in place today. In fact, it's estimated that 90% of all incoming mail traffic in North America is spam. That's a lot of trash!

Lucky for us, some very intelligent applications called spam filters, or more generally e-mail filters, are able to detect and purge a majority of this from most inboxes. However, spam filters, like any other heuristics-based scanner, are never 100% effective at detecting unwanted e-mails. On top of that, spammers are constantly developing new tactics for getting you to open that e-mail.

So how can the average computer user hope to defend themselves? Like anything else in the computer world: with knowledge! Here are some of the top guidelines for avoiding spam:

Imagine you are out getting bids for a big project and you want to find someone with experience. You have two people vying for your business: Jim & Bob. They both handed you a business card when you spoke with them, and each business card had an email address on it where you could contact them. Jim's email is jim@acmeconsulting.com. Bob's email is cooltiger14445@aol.com. Which one demonstrates to you that this person is credible and professional? Which email suggests the owner is part of a reputable business?