How do spammers know if you open their e-mails?

HandsOff: By web-based I'm referring to email services like Yahoo or Hotmail, where you login and view your email through your web browser (as a webpage). POP3 is where you use a email client (program) like Thunderbird, Outlook, PocoMail, Opera mail, etc. If you're using a client, then you can change the settings as described above, or use something like Benign. You could also use something like MailWasher that will show you the first part of email messages in plain text and allow you to delete messages before you download them. I've found that after you get MailWasher trained it's pretty good at identifying SPAM without marking too many legit messages.

Many email services provide both ways of getting your email, what matters is how you actually view the mail because it's actually when you open the message that this stuff happens. Comcast has both POP3 and web access. If you're using the webmail interface, you might consider getting one of the email programs like Thunderbird or PocoMail. You can check Comcast's email FAQ for more info.

If you really want to stick to the web interface, you can go into the preferences and change it to "List HTML as an attachment only" in the Display preferences, so that it will display emails as text only.

 

Paranoid-

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but I did read

"...SpamVampire (Google for it) may be the most appropriate response - but be sure that you are comfortable with the ethics of using it and, if so, reserve it for the most persistent offenders."

I will check it out. It is always nice to see what drastic measures that some loose cannons out there may be using. Just from the description, it may be too much for me , but it's good to be up on things.

-HandsOff

 

Back after reading the rest, and wanted to post and additional comment or two.

Elder said:

"I'm always connected to the internet, so I do read my mail at the same time. Not very practical IMO.
Even at my work we're always connected and I do open every mail too, unless I recognize it as spam or it has been flagged by the antivirus (attachments removed)
Quote:
, AND, most importantly, do not needlessly open attachements. Even your friends/clients may inadvertently send you a virus.
Agreed, don't open attachment and if from your friends/clients scan it first prior to opening it."

That's kind of what I think too. I want to be sensible, but I don't want to be a prisoner on my own computer.

Notok, and others, - When I get photo's or files, they are always in the form of links that need to be clicked on, so they aren't opened automatically. Comcasts filtering, I recall as being pretty useless from a practical standpoint, though technically, yes, they do offer it. For instance you can set it to receive mail only from a list of senders. Well, imagine all the problems that would cause! I don't want to work harder, I just want a better result. Deleting doesn't even bother me, its the principle that comcast is somehow working against me that does.

For instance, deleting with report message as spam, almost always coincides with delivery of more spam. What's up with that


-HandsOff

 

Yes, exactly my thought. While I can set my email client offline, I almost never do, unless my kids want to play with TuxPaint.

If these links are from a trustworthy source, I don't see any harm clicking on those links.
Besides all links clicked, open in Opera which is pretty much secure.

Don't know, but it could be a coincidence. Spam comes and goes.
One day you're submerged with spam and the next you almost receive nothing.
Never reported spam, so I don't know for sure.
99% of all spam I receive is put in my Junk folder, so it doesn't bother me much.