Email is a powerful computer tool that individuals use to communicate with others all around the world. What would some of us do without email? Instead of picking up the phone, we can send an email to our loved ones, to a business partner, to our college children and more. Emails have helped to close deals and to start businesses.

However, there are a small number of individuals who use email as spam and scams. These are people who have created a wedge between the advantageous use of email and the disadvantages. When you receive an email, pay close attention to the subject or title. Do not open emails that you don't recognize or will tell you that you have won something. Usually, if you win something, you are notified by mail and not by email.

There are some that not only use their Computers to access the Internet, but to use email communications to "phish" for your personal information. What is "Phish?" This is a way to get you to click on a link inside the body of the email and in so doing; the phisher would be able to retrieve your personal information including passwords and bank account information.

The Phisher may only be guessing, but sometimes are right on the mark, when they send you email from your bank. If you are not familiar with the concept of phishing, you will easily fall for it. They will copy and paste the bank's logo into the email to make it look authentic. However, if you look at the email address, you will notice that it is probably not from the bank. Be cautious. Take time to look for any clues that makes the email look fraudulent.

Be careful how you use email to send personal information such as social security, date of birth, address, passwords and usernames to family and friends. If this information is not deleted from their email inbox, anyone can get a hold of it and use it to your detriment.

Spammers use email to send you fake newsletters to your email with the option to unsubscribe. When you click the unsubscribe button, then it becomes a sleuth of spam emails constantly in your email inbox daily. Be careful of this old trick.

Be aware of emails that your friends forward to you, like the ones that they get with jokes or some motivational emails that tell you to forward it to your own friends and families. This is what hackers use to spread virus. Avoid reading them. It does not mean that you don't trust your friends or family, but you have to be careful of these spam emails. Since you don't know where the email originates from, then it is not safe for you to even open it.

You can block spam from your email inbox. Your email account has a specific feature to block certain email addresses from coming through to your email inbox. Utilize these features to make your email computing more pleasant.