How to reduce email spam

I am getting a lot of email spam, how can I reduce the amount of spam I receive?  Do you have any tips on how I can reduce the amount of spam I get?

YourHost.com offers spam filtering on all email accounts we host.  If you have not read the knowledgebase article regarding how to utilize our spam filters, you can find the article here:

http://support.yourhost.com/kb_article.php?ref=3382-SDZX-8546

In addition to content filtering, we also run an anti-virus checker on all incoming emails with attachments.  Emails coming in with an executable extension such as .exe, .bat, .com are all automatically rejected.  The rest of the email attachments are scanned for virus.

Here are some tips to help you reduce the amount of email spam you receive.

1. Domain whois records.  One of the number 1 source for spammers to obtain emails is through domain whois records.  All domain names display your personal information such as your name, address, phone number, and email address.  Spammers like to scan domain names to phish out email addresses, sometimes even your name and mailing address.  They then turn around and spam you, or sell your information to other spammers.   We highly recommend you to turn on domain whois privacy feature, which will hide your personal information from spammers.
   
   Domain whois privacy is a *FREE* feature from YourHost.com if you have your domain name registered and renewed through YourHost.com.  Other registrars charge extra to have domain whois privacy feature turned on.  You can move your domain names to us and request to have the whois privacy feature turned on.  For existing customers that register and renew domains through YourHost.com, all you have to do is to submit a support ticket., and list the domains you would like to have domain whois privacy turned on.
    
2. Another common place for spammers to obtain your email addresses is through your website.  Often people list their email addresses on their websites, not knowing there are web robots that search through web pages to steal email addresses.  The best way to combat this is by removing email addresses from all your web pages.  Instead of listing your emails, setup a secure php contact form to allow customers to submit forms to you.  By utilizing a secure contact form, spammers will be unable to obtain your email addresses online.  This will greatly reduce the amount of spam you receive.
   
   You may contact YourHost.com to build a secure contact form for you here:
   
   http://yourhost.com/about-yourhost/contactus.php
   
   
3. If you have an email address that has been in use for a long time, and it's an email address that was listed on the domain whois record as well as on your website, you may want to consider creating a new email address.  Spammers like to recycle their email lists, so once you are on their lists, you will most likely continue to get spammed.  By doing the above 2 steps will greatly help you reduce the spam you receive in the future, but it will not remove your email address from spammers that already have your email address.   Spammers also like to sell your emails to other spammers, so there may come a time when you want to start fresh.  You could try creating a new email address with your first and last name, first and last initial, a combination of both, etc..