To prevent email spam, there is various different spam filtering techniques. Many of them are embedded in email services and other software to reduce the responsibility on the end user. No single technique is completely going to be a solution to spam. Any one of the anti-spam filters will likely have problems but most of them will still reduce the amount that a person receives in their email inbox.

Some of the most popular ways that spam is detected and filtered out is by searching for keywords such as Viagra or cialis. Keyword detection filters can cause email that is not spam to be sent to the wrong folder because it will even detect the word cialis if it is part of the word "specialist".

There are some ways that individuals can restrict the amount of spam email that they receive. For one, sharing their email address with only a choice few will reduce spam. This of course will only work if the group is also discreet and does not inadvertently share email addresses, for example, if they should forward a joke and it falls into the wrong hands. Getting into the habit of putting all of the email addresses into the BCC section of the email will reduce the risk.

Another way to avoid having your email harvested from the web, if you reply to forums or add comments to news articles, use a practice commonly known as address munging. When it is read by a human, they will understand it but the automated email harvesting systems will not. An example of address munging would be to put your address as This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it instead of This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . While a person reading this will understand to remove the no spam from the middle, an automated system will not.

There are a lot of ways that you can avoid having to deal with a lot of spam in your email but it is important to remember that no spam filtering program can completely eliminate all spam. You should always use your best judgment before you click any links or add any personal information on any website.