What's up with all this spam? How can I get rid of all this Junk Mail? My inbox is clogged with all these messages I don't want. What can I do about it?

These are just some of the recent questions people have been asking me.

And, believe me, I know where you are coming from! I get so much spam it drives me crazy. Generally speaking, the longer you have had an e-mail address, the more spammers have found you and the more lists you have been added to. So, one option is to get rid of that address and start over with a fresh new one.

But, if you are like me, you look at your e-mail address like your business phone number. Once people have it and know it, the last thing you want to do is change it. After all, it is all about making it as easy as possible to purchase your goods and services. If they can't contact you easily, they will just go somewhere else, right?

So, that leads us back to dealing with all these unwanted, often offensive, e-mails.

Once you have accepted that, there are three routes you can take ˜ dealing with them at the server level, within your e-mail program or purchasing and installing a specialized software package on your PC.

In order to attack spam at the server level, you must be using your own local mail server and be able to configure it to filter out the spam. So, for most small businesses this isn't a very realistic option.

Next is to use your own e-mail program to do some filtering. This is the best way to get started. You can set up rules or filters within your e-mail program to deal with common offenders. The basic idea is that every time a message comes from a specific person or has a specific word, the message is automatically moved to a designated folder or the trash.

By law, all advertisement e-mails are supposed to start with "Adv:" in the subject line, so that would be a great filter to start with. But, all the spammers know this and the law is not really enforced so it will really only put a small dent in the entire problem.

So, that takes us to using a third party software program. The one that has risen to the top and been getting a lot of press lately is a product called SpamKiller by McAfee.

McAfee is the company that makes all the virus protection software for your computer. While I haven't tried it myself, I have read several positive reviews from people who have.

The one thing to watch out for when using a program like this is recognizing the possibility that it may filter or delete a message that you really wanted ˜ like an order from your online store or your next big client. For that reason, I have not done it yet. But, if you aren't worried about that or are willing to take the risk, here is the Web address: http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/msk/.

In the end, my personal feeling is the best way to fight spam is to make it uneconomical for the people paying to send out those messages. In other words, if they don't get any return on their investment, they will stop sending the messages.

So, all we have to do is stop clicking on spam messages and actively boycott the companies that are using those advertising tactics. And never, under any circumstances, send unsolicited mass e-mails to promote your products or services.

Matt Molenar is owner and operator of MGM Internet Solutions and Web master of YumaCity.com. He can be reached via e-mail at matt@mgmdesign.com, or 928-782-5915.