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10.  The ABE Statewide Summer Institute will be held at St. John's University Campus in Collegeville, August 2-4, 2006.  More details have been posted.  All within the Marshall Region are asked to run their ideas for presentation through Pat first.   Also if you have an interest in attending this conference, please let Barb or Pat know by May 1st.   This does not commit you to attend but would give us an idea of how many would be interested in attending.  Click on the link below to read more and to download a Call For Presentations form.
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/summer_institute.htm
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11.  From Pat:  We have posted the information I provided on March 16th when I testified in front of the Senate Committee hearing our bill to increase ABE revenue.   The committee did pass a recommendation following testimony to include this request in a letter to the Finance Committee.   There is also testimony from two ESL students who spoke.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/testimony.htm
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13.  Thought for the week:  I'm always ready to learn,  but I do not always like being taught.  ~Winston Churchill

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14.  Tech Tip:  Spam – Why Do I Get It?
I love Spam!  I grew up on it.  Fry it up in a skillet – put it between 2 pieces of Chicago rye bread  - mmm.  Hey - I’m not talking about that kind of SPAM! 

I’m talking about the spam that arrives in your Inbox every time you check your email.  That kind of spam isn’t so inviting! 

Can you do anything about it?

Yes – there are some things you can do about it.  But first. here is a short list why you get spam in the first place.

• Your email address is placed on web pages
• You join news groups, online forums, or sign up for free items on the internet
• You visit chat rooms sometimes called IRC (Internet Rely Chat)
• Your company stationery, business cards or brochures have your email address on them.
• Your email is listed in internet yellow Pages (or white pages).
• You give your email address out to your friends.

First, how do spammers get your email address?  Well, the list is huge – But I will give some of the top ways spammers work.

• Spammers have programs that “spider” through web pages looking for email addresses.  They look at the source code of a webpage seeking out the mailto: HTML tag.  If your address is on a web page, it may be found be a spider.
• When you fill out a form and put in your email address - or you sign a guestbook, you are putting you address out for spammers to pick it up.   Some companies actually sell their lists or some lists are published on the internet.
• Posting to UseNet with your email address.  UseNet is an Internet-based bulletin board that allows reading and posting of "news" in various "newsgroups." There are thousands of newsgroups covering a myriad of topics.
• From joining mailing lists.  Spammers try to get entire mailing lists of subscribers from servers.  Believe it or not, some mail servers will give them out when they receive a request. 
• There are people finder sites (white pages and yellow pages) that now have email directories.  Sometimes your email address gets registered in these.  For example - HotMail will add E-mail addresses to BigFoot by default, making new addresses available to the public.
• Some companies sell their email list of addresses to make extra money.

Well, there’s even more, but these are the main ways that spammers get email addresses.

So, how do you solve the Spam email problem?

1.  The first answer is simple:  Do not give your email address out over the internet to anyone.  If you do, you are at risk of starting to receive spam.  

2.  Use a separate email address for registering at web sites that require an email address.  I have a Hotmail account, a Yahoo account, a Gmail account, and several other accounts that I use when I go to a site that requires putting in an email address. 

Here’s a list of the top 10 free email services.

http://email.about.com/cs/freeemailreviews/tp/free_email.htm

3.  Use spam filters.  There are some good free ones and some good commercial ones.  Here is one of the best free ones.

http://www.spampal.org/

4.  Use disposal email address services.  Read more about that here.

http://email.about.com/cs/disposableaddr/a/disposable_addr.htm

The top 10 disposal email address services are here.

http://email.about.com/cs/dispaddrrevs/tp/disposable.htm

5.  Use Spam filtering tools.  Here is more information about different services.  There are a lot of options here. 

http://email.about.com/od/spamfilteringservices/

6.  Got a Mac?  Here are Mac spam fighting tools.

http://email.about.com/od/macspamfightingtools/

Most internet service providers provide a spam filtering service for their customers.  Some ISPs are better than others.  If you aren’t satisfied with the filtering your ISP provides, it may be time to switch providers.

Next week, we will learn how to set your own filters in Outlook and Outlook express.