Are you getting just a little too much [tag]spam[/tag] in your email? I don’t know about you, but I have been averaging over 400 [tag]spam email[/tag] messages per day in my email accounts. The filters trap most of them, but quite a few still have to be dealt with – and that is a waste of my time. So how does one begin to control the massive amounts of spam that arrive everyday?

Obviously, one of the best ways is to convince the spammers that the email address they are sending to is not a valid email address. And if you happen to be using [tag]Apple[/tag]’s [tag]Mail.app[/tag] on a Mac, the job is a little easier if you know about the Bounce command.

The Bounce command will send an email back to the sender with a message that make it appear that it came back from an invalid mailbox. If the spammer is actually using a valid email address themselves, they may filter it from further use by their spam generating program (their bulk mailer). Hey, every little bit helps.

To use the Bounce feature, you simply select the mail(s) you want to return and select Bounce from the Message menu – or simply type Shift-Command-B. You will then see this warning box:

Click OK and the email is bounced back to the sender. I typically select all (Command-A) in my junk mailbox as well and apply the Bounce command. I just started my Bounce program this past week so I don’t have any idea whether it is working, but any chance to lessen the spam load is welcome.

Do you think other email programs should include this type of feature? Let me know how you feel by commenting on this post. Use the comment form below.