The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[junglejane]

I received a weird e-mail after being on the forum this am. It had a personal note that said " : ) You can do it!" Then it had an add for computer software and then a list of all these titles refering to encouragement and being wise and such. I am almost sure the personal note was refering to my weight loss. It was just a little disturbing since I did not post my email on my messages. Has this happened before or is it just a coincidence? Still happy to be on the forum!!!!!!------Junglejane

[24KaratGold]

Has to be a coincidence. Unca Tim, the webmaster here, is very protective of member's cyber privacy, and indeed if you post your own email address he'll go in and remove it so that it can't be used to spam you.

I've been on this forum for better than six weeks now, and never have had any spam that I can trace back to anything here. And I can tell, because the email that I used to register here is not my primary email account. It virtually never gets spam.

[raederle]

Yup, my experience is the same as 24K's. I expect it's either coincidence, or maybe you have spyware that's alerting someone to the kinds of websites you visit and then spamming you based on your surfing habits. Scary, but a reality. If it gets really bad you might try running an anti-spyware and anti-virus program to see if it helps.

[junglejane]

thanks! that makes sense. I'm relieved. I bet it is someone using spyware to see what websites I've visited. You are right. I'm a little embarrassed. I wasn't meaning to insult the integrity of the web master at all. I guess I'm a bit paranoid. Silly me.

[24KaratGold]

Hmm, Rae's right, hadn't thought about that part of it. Especially g-mail; isn't it designed to give you ads based on keywords in your emails? It's one of the reasons I don't have a g-mail account!

Try running Adaware (go to the lavasoft dot com website; can't post links here). It's a freebie, and it's good. Also try spywareinfo dot com, also free, and also good. At safer-networking dot org there is Spybot search and destroy (don't get there via a search engine, or you could end up at Spybot Doctor which is NOT the same and which I don't recommend just because I'm not familiar with it).

Finally, grisoft dot com has a free virus checker that caught some things that my Norton missed, and so did another virus checker at panda something whose address I don't have handy right now. I doubt that your problem is a virus, but since I have just had that good experience with the AVG7 freebie at grisoft it seemed like a good place to put the reference.

I have no connection with any of the above sites except as a user. They all came to me recommended by geeks, and I have had good experiences with each of them.

[Unca_Tim]

Another good idea is to take out an email account, or two or three, (hotmail or yahoo) strictly for use on the internet. That way you're not mucking up your main email account.

I've got several dummy accounts I use for input forms, memberships, inquires, or ordering things on the web. I get dozens of "interesting" emails on those accounts daily that go straight into the garbage and it keeps my main email addy free of spam.

We do enter most everyone on Nancy's newsletter, but immediately remove them if asked, and ABSOLUTELY do not share those emails with ANYONE.