There is a lot of bad advice out there when it comes to stopping junk email. People will tell you time-consuming ways to get marginally less spam. But there is really only one method that will solve the problem of getting too much spam. And oddly, few tech advisors talk about it.
Edward: @mac.com and @me.com are both older versions of @icloud.com. You should be able to receive email at both @me.com and @icloud.com with the name characters before the @.
edward
4 years ago
Gary:
I do get emails from both I cloud.com and me.com without difficulty. Is the incident of spam less with either of these two emails interchangeably?
Edward: They are the same service, same email location. No difference.
Don Palmer
4 years ago
Over the last few years, we have been phasing out Yahoo in favor of gmail. If we remove the Yahoo mail boxes, will that remove Yahoo, once and for all, or is addition action required? Thank you.
Don: You'll need to remove those account from System Preferences, Internet Accounts (You can get to it in the Mail app in Mail, Accounts). The great thing is you can still check your Yahoo email through their website if you occasionally need to.
Don Palmer
4 years ago
How remove Yahoo Account from iPhone 6? Thank you.
Don: Settings app. Passwords & Accounts. Choose the account and then Delete.
Don Palmer
4 years ago
Gary, you are the greatest! Yahoo has already been deleted. Thanks for your precise directions.
Caroline
4 years ago
Does using an email client, as opposed to using either gmail or iCloud online, make any difference to whether any spam gets through? I'd assume not, given that the filtering is done by the email services themselves. So... is there any benefit to using an email client? Gmail seems so comprehensive in what it lets you do, with signatures, labels and so on, that I wonder if using Mail or Spark or whatever is worth it.
Caroline: No, the Mail app shows you your inbox just like the website. So it is the same. Using an app like Mail can be nicer for composing and organizing your messages, and also seeing emails from multiple accounts at the same time like many of us do.
Rocky
4 years ago
I agree with you that gmail does a good job at significantly reducing spam. My old email provider was the cable provider. I still have my old email address but I forward it all to gmail and then they filter the spam. You may want consider adding this comment to your presentation. This way you do not have to get rid of old email and many users would like this.
Rocky: I still highly recommend that you get rid of your old ISP email address. See https://macmost.com/five-reasons-not-to-use-your-isps-email-service.html This should be easy for you now that you have a Gmail address. Just start switching things over and eventually nothing real is coming to your old ISP email.
Ian Waddington
4 years ago
Gary, great advice, as an iCloud account user I agree that spam seems to be very low. Another thing I like about iCloud is that I can use aliases. This allows me to have one or more different alias addresses on my main apple ID which I can delete and change if I want without ever revealing my actual Apple ID to anyone. Also, this appear as one account in the mail app which also keeps things tidy.
Caroline
4 years ago
Thanks, Gary. As I thought! Yep, I tend to use Spark as a clear and unfussy way of seeing emails from Gmail and iCloud accounts in a single Inbox.
Dara Hogan
4 years ago
Great piece Gary. I've been doing this (with Gmail) for years without realising that it was the optimum solution. Incidentally, is "Goggle" instead of "Google" a typo or am I missing something? Many thanks!
Gene
4 years ago
I used gmail in the past but switched to iCloud about a year ago. They both handle(d) spam well. I moved away from Google as I did not like being their "product".
Peter
4 years ago
Gary, so how do I switch to iCloud and when you say spam do you mean email from say Costco or Wayfair or Homedepot?
Ray
4 years ago
Gary,
Great presentation. Do I have to turn on the spam filter at iCloud ?
Peter: That's not spam. Spam is unsolicited email. So junk mail you get from people or companies you have never done business with. You can switch email by simply getting a new email address and starting to use it. Tell others to use it. Slowly switch your online accounts to use the new email address instead of the old one. See https://macmost.com/changing-email-addresses.html
Ray: No. iCloud does this on their server. There is nothing you need to turn on.
Steve
4 years ago
I use iCloud.com and it's great. So I totally agree with your evaluation of it.
My problem is that mail I'm receiving mail from a Yahoo Group email account that was legit at one time but has become Spam. Because I closed my Yahoo account when they were being hacked, I cannot access the Yahoo Group itself to "unsubscribe" (Yahoo doesn't recognize my user name and/or PW). I've tried to contact Yahoo directly, but they won't / don't help. How could I block emails from that specific Yahoo group?
Steve: Wow, that's a bit of a problem. How is the email even getting to you if that Yahoo account is closed? Can you just set up a rule at iCloud.com to have that email sent directly to the trash?
Steve
4 years ago
Thanks Gary -- Yes, based on Apple's advice, that's what I've done. So the email does go directly either to Junk or Trash (not sure why it goes one place one day and another on another). That minimizes the pain of having it in my Inbox.
I agree that it doesn't make sense that if my Yahoo account is closed I still receive the emails. But that's Yahoo for you .... (Grrrrrrrr....)
Steve: How about going back to Yahoo to log in... click on "forgot password" ... once they send a new one... you can go in and make the changes. It's may be worth a shot. I had a similar problem with dumping Facebook. Too long ago to remember the details of that experience ;-D
Jasper Robinson
4 years ago
Good points from Ian & Gene.
2 more thoughts:
1. I use a server-side rule in Outlook to move work e-mails that are from external domains to a folder. I check this—along with other mail-rule folders—*before* going to my Inbox. This makes it easy to pick up spam/phishing emails.
2 1Password allows you to find specific email addresses that you use for services. This makes it easy to transition from, say, ISP to iCloud if you're making the move.
Jasper Robinson
4 years ago
3. I assume that some spam gets out by generating likely email addresses from common names and known email domains. I use a password generator to make crazy iCloud aliases (Ian's tip, above), which are unlikely to be guessed.
4. Maybe adding "."/"+" in your email address to make it unique, *could* allow you to act. If your name is in that address, it's covered by law in Europe's GDPR as personal data. That said, I've never noticed it in my spam (maybe edited out?).
Tom: You can keep using @mac.com if you like it better. Doesn't matter.
Jim Terrinoni
4 years ago
You answered a question I had, yet hadn't bothered to ask. I have spent many hours (days/months) creating rules and trying to stop spam that Time Warner/Spectrum claims they will stop - and they don't. Your solution to go to stop doing the rules and change email providers was something I knew about yet your rational gave me a better comfort level.
Brian Marston
4 years ago
You did not address Google scanning and monetizing the content of your e-mail correspondence. Is this just urban legend?
Brian: Previously, Gmail has used the content of your email (an algorithm, not a person) to customize the ads you see at the Gmail site. I'm not sure if this is what you mean. It wasn't like they were selling your content. But they stopped that in 2017 anyway.
Sherry R
4 years ago
I created an icloud email account for personal use but I need another one for my husband and especially for our business. I read you can only have one icloud account. Is this an accurate statement?
Sherry: You should only have one iCloud account per person, yes. So your husband should get his own. For your business you should get another email account (if you really want), maybe something with Gmail but your best option is to have your own business web domain and an email address there.
Jonathan
3 years ago
Hi Gary. I sort of have the opposite issue. I have my own domain and forward everything to my iCloud address. the problem I have is I still have to look at the original mail account (usually by Outlook, to my domain provider) as some of my real mail does not show on iCloud. This includes my credit card companies and some other statements. I have to manually forward them to my iCloud account. Is there a way to approve an address, domain? I have tried adding to contacts. Thanks
Jonathan: Is it that your original mail account isn't forwarding them? Or is it that iCloud is sending them to spam? With a problem like that, I wouldn't do this at all. I would just have both accounts in the Mail app and check your original Mail account directly. Since you have your own domain, you should have better controls for spam through that service. If not, then take your domain to another service.
Jonathan
3 years ago
Not sure if its not forwarding, or iCloud not accepting. iCloud NOT sending to the spam folder just never shows anywhere . Mostly CC accounts bank info etc.???
Jonathan: Sounds like those are not being forwarded. You may just want to change those account emails to use your iCloud account and skip the forwarding. Or, stop doing the forwarding and just access that account normally. Or, use a different service for that account.
Lisa
3 years ago
I have a @Mac.com email address that I've been using for years, but that's the address that gets tons of spam. Do I have to switch to an @iCloud.com email address to get rid of the spam? Not sure what to do.
Lisa: They would be the same. You can start using @icloud.com right now, but your @mac.com email goes to the same place. How much is "tons?" Are they corp emails and newsletters? If so, just start using the unsubscribe links in those.
Lisa
3 years ago
Gary: no, the spam emails are for things like solar panels, diabetes medications, fibromyalgia treatments, explicit dating sites. I get about 5-10 a day and it's driving me crazy! I've never ever signed up for any of this stuff and never heard of these sites. I think they're from fake email addresses (lots of letters and numbers) that keep changing, like you mention in the video. What should I do?
Lisa: Don't waste time on them. When you see on press delete and move on. 5-10 should just be 5-10 seconds of your time at most.
Kevin
3 years ago
I have to agree with Lisa. I have a Mac.com email address that I have been using forever. I rarely use it any more because of the copious amounts of spam that I get. I just counted 37 spams emails in the past 5 days. Marking a message as spam is completely and utterly useless - and so it forwarding those messages as an attachment to spam@icloud.com. Another email address I've had for over a decade and used on every website imaginable doesn't get as much spam as my iCloud account.
Is .me the same as icloud. Com? I use me.com as my mail app
Edward: @mac.com and @me.com are both older versions of @icloud.com. You should be able to receive email at both @me.com and @icloud.com with the name characters before the @.
Gary:
I do get emails from both I cloud.com and me.com without difficulty. Is the incident of spam less with either of these two emails interchangeably?
Edward: They are the same service, same email location. No difference.
Over the last few years, we have been phasing out Yahoo in favor of gmail. If we remove the Yahoo mail boxes, will that remove Yahoo, once and for all, or is addition action required? Thank you.
Don: You'll need to remove those account from System Preferences, Internet Accounts (You can get to it in the Mail app in Mail, Accounts). The great thing is you can still check your Yahoo email through their website if you occasionally need to.
How remove Yahoo Account from iPhone 6? Thank you.
Don: Settings app. Passwords & Accounts. Choose the account and then Delete.
Gary, you are the greatest! Yahoo has already been deleted. Thanks for your precise directions.
Does using an email client, as opposed to using either gmail or iCloud online, make any difference to whether any spam gets through? I'd assume not, given that the filtering is done by the email services themselves. So... is there any benefit to using an email client? Gmail seems so comprehensive in what it lets you do, with signatures, labels and so on, that I wonder if using Mail or Spark or whatever is worth it.
Caroline: No, the Mail app shows you your inbox just like the website. So it is the same. Using an app like Mail can be nicer for composing and organizing your messages, and also seeing emails from multiple accounts at the same time like many of us do.
I agree with you that gmail does a good job at significantly reducing spam. My old email provider was the cable provider. I still have my old email address but I forward it all to gmail and then they filter the spam. You may want consider adding this comment to your presentation. This way you do not have to get rid of old email and many users would like this.
Rocky: I still highly recommend that you get rid of your old ISP email address. See https://macmost.com/five-reasons-not-to-use-your-isps-email-service.html This should be easy for you now that you have a Gmail address. Just start switching things over and eventually nothing real is coming to your old ISP email.
Gary, great advice, as an iCloud account user I agree that spam seems to be very low. Another thing I like about iCloud is that I can use aliases. This allows me to have one or more different alias addresses on my main apple ID which I can delete and change if I want without ever revealing my actual Apple ID to anyone. Also, this appear as one account in the mail app which also keeps things tidy.
Thanks, Gary. As I thought! Yep, I tend to use Spark as a clear and unfussy way of seeing emails from Gmail and iCloud accounts in a single Inbox.
Great piece Gary. I've been doing this (with Gmail) for years without realising that it was the optimum solution. Incidentally, is "Goggle" instead of "Google" a typo or am I missing something? Many thanks!
I used gmail in the past but switched to iCloud about a year ago. They both handle(d) spam well. I moved away from Google as I did not like being their "product".
Gary, so how do I switch to iCloud and when you say spam do you mean email from say Costco or Wayfair or Homedepot?
Gary,
Great presentation. Do I have to turn on the spam filter at iCloud ?
Peter: That's not spam. Spam is unsolicited email. So junk mail you get from people or companies you have never done business with. You can switch email by simply getting a new email address and starting to use it. Tell others to use it. Slowly switch your online accounts to use the new email address instead of the old one. See https://macmost.com/changing-email-addresses.html
Ray: No. iCloud does this on their server. There is nothing you need to turn on.
I use iCloud.com and it's great. So I totally agree with your evaluation of it.
My problem is that mail I'm receiving mail from a Yahoo Group email account that was legit at one time but has become Spam. Because I closed my Yahoo account when they were being hacked, I cannot access the Yahoo Group itself to "unsubscribe" (Yahoo doesn't recognize my user name and/or PW). I've tried to contact Yahoo directly, but they won't / don't help. How could I block emails from that specific Yahoo group?
Steve: Wow, that's a bit of a problem. How is the email even getting to you if that Yahoo account is closed? Can you just set up a rule at iCloud.com to have that email sent directly to the trash?
Thanks Gary -- Yes, based on Apple's advice, that's what I've done. So the email does go directly either to Junk or Trash (not sure why it goes one place one day and another on another). That minimizes the pain of having it in my Inbox.
I agree that it doesn't make sense that if my Yahoo account is closed I still receive the emails. But that's Yahoo for you .... (Grrrrrrrr....)
To clarify: if still using ...@mac.com is it necessary to change to ...@icloud.com?
Steve: How about going back to Yahoo to log in... click on "forgot password" ... once they send a new one... you can go in and make the changes. It's may be worth a shot. I had a similar problem with dumping Facebook. Too long ago to remember the details of that experience ;-D
Good points from Ian & Gene.
2 more thoughts:
1. I use a server-side rule in Outlook to move work e-mails that are from external domains to a folder. I check this—along with other mail-rule folders—*before* going to my Inbox. This makes it easy to pick up spam/phishing emails.
2 1Password allows you to find specific email addresses that you use for services. This makes it easy to transition from, say, ISP to iCloud if you're making the move.
3. I assume that some spam gets out by generating likely email addresses from common names and known email domains. I use a password generator to make crazy iCloud aliases (Ian's tip, above), which are unlikely to be guessed.
4. Maybe adding "."/"+" in your email address to make it unique, *could* allow you to act. If your name is in that address, it's covered by law in Europe's GDPR as personal data. That said, I've never noticed it in my spam (maybe edited out?).
Tom: You can keep using @mac.com if you like it better. Doesn't matter.
You answered a question I had, yet hadn't bothered to ask. I have spent many hours (days/months) creating rules and trying to stop spam that Time Warner/Spectrum claims they will stop - and they don't. Your solution to go to stop doing the rules and change email providers was something I knew about yet your rational gave me a better comfort level.
You did not address Google scanning and monetizing the content of your e-mail correspondence. Is this just urban legend?
-Brian M
Brian: Previously, Gmail has used the content of your email (an algorithm, not a person) to customize the ads you see at the Gmail site. I'm not sure if this is what you mean. It wasn't like they were selling your content. But they stopped that in 2017 anyway.
I created an icloud email account for personal use but I need another one for my husband and especially for our business. I read you can only have one icloud account. Is this an accurate statement?
Sherry: You should only have one iCloud account per person, yes. So your husband should get his own. For your business you should get another email account (if you really want), maybe something with Gmail but your best option is to have your own business web domain and an email address there.
Hi Gary. I sort of have the opposite issue. I have my own domain and forward everything to my iCloud address. the problem I have is I still have to look at the original mail account (usually by Outlook, to my domain provider) as some of my real mail does not show on iCloud. This includes my credit card companies and some other statements. I have to manually forward them to my iCloud account. Is there a way to approve an address, domain? I have tried adding to contacts. Thanks
Jonathan: Is it that your original mail account isn't forwarding them? Or is it that iCloud is sending them to spam? With a problem like that, I wouldn't do this at all. I would just have both accounts in the Mail app and check your original Mail account directly. Since you have your own domain, you should have better controls for spam through that service. If not, then take your domain to another service.
Not sure if its not forwarding, or iCloud not accepting. iCloud NOT sending to the spam folder just never shows anywhere . Mostly CC accounts bank info etc.???
Jonathan: Sounds like those are not being forwarded. You may just want to change those account emails to use your iCloud account and skip the forwarding. Or, stop doing the forwarding and just access that account normally. Or, use a different service for that account.
I have a @Mac.com email address that I've been using for years, but that's the address that gets tons of spam. Do I have to switch to an @iCloud.com email address to get rid of the spam? Not sure what to do.
Lisa: They would be the same. You can start using @icloud.com right now, but your @mac.com email goes to the same place. How much is "tons?" Are they corp emails and newsletters? If so, just start using the unsubscribe links in those.
Gary: no, the spam emails are for things like solar panels, diabetes medications, fibromyalgia treatments, explicit dating sites. I get about 5-10 a day and it's driving me crazy! I've never ever signed up for any of this stuff and never heard of these sites. I think they're from fake email addresses (lots of letters and numbers) that keep changing, like you mention in the video. What should I do?
Lisa: Don't waste time on them. When you see on press delete and move on. 5-10 should just be 5-10 seconds of your time at most.
I have to agree with Lisa. I have a Mac.com email address that I have been using forever. I rarely use it any more because of the copious amounts of spam that I get. I just counted 37 spams emails in the past 5 days. Marking a message as spam is completely and utterly useless - and so it forwarding those messages as an attachment to spam@icloud.com. Another email address I've had for over a decade and used on every website imaginable doesn't get as much spam as my iCloud account.