By Matt Farrington-Smith: Windows Live Editor

Lovely spam and the scareware menace

A new report from Microsoft shows of all e-mails sent, 97% are spam. Do we have reason to be worried?

A new report from Microsoft shows that the percentage of spam e-mail received is worryingly high. The report spans a six-month period (July-December 2008).

The spam level currently stands at the heady heights of 97%, prompting the rise and rise of cyber crime - as cyber criminals attack e-mail servers. Cyber criminals are using spam as a scare tactic to antagonise and unnerve us. This means that the vast majority of e-mail messages sent over the Internet are unwanted: they have malicious attachments or are phishing attacks or spam.

At the time of writing the jagged spam landscape comprises of adverts for pharmaceuticals (sexual and non-sexual), dating/sexually explicit material, financial products, fraudulent diplomas, get rich quick schemes, gambling, stock broking, and illegal software. But as unforgiving and bleak this landscape is, we will always manage to batten down the hatches and keep spam from picking the locks.

Report-findings show that spam content was dominated by product advertisements, primarily pharmaceutical products (48.6%), together with non-pharmacy product ads (23.6%).

Does it scare you?

Spam isn't the only online threat highlighted in the recent study. 'Scareware' is the term given to rogue software, bereft of benefit, and engineered to solely hinder and provide unnecessary grievance to the unsuspecting user.

The emergence of the conficker worm heralded a new dawn for scareware, and the industrious cyber criminal went on the attack.

But how does the scareware find its way onto your computer in the first place? The main source of scareware stems from popup advertisements, much in the same way as clicking on a rogue link contained within an e-mail. Scareware can in-fact also contaminate this way, sometimes posing as an attachment from an e-mail of unknown origin. However, Hotmail is heavily fortified by OneCare Anti-virus scanner and will set alarm bells ringing should such corruption invade your inbox of solitude.

Want to do more? Give your browser protection a boost by downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer if you haven't already done so.

How to stay safe in Hotmail

The latest incarnation of Hotmail benefits from significant investment in anti-spam measures.
Strict filters have been introduced, along with the inclusion of safe lists, added mark as safe and mark as junk options. With all of these enhancements strapped to our utility belt most spam e-mail is caught before it starts to stink out our inbox. So what are you waiting for? Let's block those suckers!

Here is what you can you do to prevent e-mail meltdown:

How to block a sender's e-mail address

Located towards the top-right of your mailbox, the 'Options' menu hides some of Hotmail's most powerful features. Open up the Options menu by clicking on it.

Select 'More options' from the bottom of this tab.

Junk e-mail has its own sub-section so it should be easy to find. We want the 'Safe and blocked senders' option.

Next click 'Blocked senders'. Messages from blocked senders are automatically deleted.
To block, type the e-mail address in the dialog box, and then click 'Add to list'.
You can also keep an eye on the blocked senders list and remove any anomalies, should you happen to add someone you shouldn't.

Mark e-mail as safe

Sometimes you may find that legitimate mail (often from mailing lists) finds its way to the trash or junk folder. Luckily you can specify 'Safe senders' and 'Safe mailing lists' so now you can legitimately manage who is allowed to send you e-mail.

The lists are handled in much the same way as 'Blocked senders'. Enter an e-mail address in the field specified and whack 'Add to list'. Voila! Messages from this contact will never see the inside of your trash can.

Set the junk mail filter
The junk mail filter can be controlled with just a few mouse-clicks. Go into the 'More options' menu and choose 'Filters and reporting'.
There are three filter options: 'Low' (obvious junk e-mail is sent to the junk e-mail folder), 'Standard' (most junk e-mail is sent to the junk e-mail folder), and 'Exclusive' (everything is sent to the junk e-mail folder except messages from your contacts and safe senders).

By default - 'Standard' protection is adequate for most users. We personally tend to employ a dual filter and blocked senders approach, but obviously judge what is best for you.
Handy hint: You should occasionally check your junk e-mail folder to make sure that good messages don't get put there by mistake.

Choose when junk mail is deleted

If you plan to make drastic changes to your e-mail protection, the importance of this next tip should be underlined.

You have two options to alter the schedule of e-mail deletion: 'Later' (junk e-mail is automatically moved into the junk e-mail folder, where it is deleted after ten days), and 'Immediately' (this effectively does what it says on the tin).

Switching to 'Immediately' right-away could potentially mean you lose e-mail from genuine senders if messages arrive from outside your circle of Hotmail/Messenger contacts.

How to report junk e-mails

One final weapon in our arsenal is to report the offending e-mail and unscrupulous sender to Microsoft and the companies who help us fight junk e-mail.

The option to 'Report junk' is turned on by default. This menu option can be found on the same screen as 'Filters and reporting.

Turning this on means that every time you receive spam e-mail and flag it as 'junk', a report is magically created and whisked off to a secret lair. Minimal effort on your part, but your inbox will be safer because of it.

Windows Live channel will leave you with these chilling yet emotive words from Ed Gibson, chief security advisor at Microsoft UK - "...the weak link now is you and me." So, don't let the cyber criminals prevail - tighten up your inbox security.