There are few phenomena in the technological age that are as ubiquitous and as annoying as spam. Whether it’s website newsletters to which you can’t remember subscribing, marketing messages advertising all kinds of bric-a-brac or more malicious phishing and hacking attempts, spam is an unwanted blight on our internet experience.
Fortunately, users of Apple products are generally better protected than those who favor other brands and, with a little bit of time and effort, you can greatly reduce the amount of unsolicited attention you receive on a daily basis. Of course, the nature of the beast means that eliminating spam on your Mac altogether might not be feasible, but you can certainly lighten the load by following these handy hints and tips.
Adjust your mail settings
Your Mac device comes with a number of protocols and protections against spam messages. To optimize them, you can easily tweak your settings by clicking the Mail app icon on your Mac, then navigating to Settings and Junk Mail. Here, you can toggle Junk Mail filtration on and off altogether, as well as specifying whether certain senders or missives make it through the net. For example, you can allow emails from senders in your Contacts list, from those with whom you have previously engaged or from those who address you using your full name in the title or content of the message.
Flag and report
Another key strategy for reducing spam on your Mac is allowing the service to evolve and improve over time. This means flagging suspicious emails as and when they arrive into your inbox, either by marking an email as junk using the Junk icon, or else manually dragging it from your inbox to the junk folder. Remember as well to scour your junk mail from time to time to make sure legitimate communications are able to reach you. By continually advising your Mac which senders are bogus and which legit, you’ll improve your experience going forwards.
Opt out of data collection
Of course, the best way to stop spammers from bombarding you with mail is to prevent them from accessing your address in the first place. You should recognize that everything you do on the internet leaves a digital footprint behind.. Data brokers collect and organize people’s personal information in order to sell it to whomever requests it. Indeed, it’s likely that your own personal info is on countless of these sites. Opting out of data collection sites is a key step in reducing the likelihood of receiving more spam.
Use an email alias
Using a decoy email address is a wise strategy for saving yourself a lot of trouble later on, but there are occasions when a legitimate one is necessary in order to verify and validate your log-in to certain sites and services. Fortunately, iCloud subscribers are well-equipped with a sophisticated Hide My Email function, which generates random addresses to submit to apps, portals and website operators in lieu of parting with your real data.
Even with a company as renowned for its cyber security protocols as Apple, it’s impossible to completely eradicate spam messages 100%. However, you can take big strides towards a spam-free tomorrow with these four simple steps.