Before you enter an online contest and sign a form asking for your postal and e-mail addresses, realize that signing up for contests may open your inbox to a deluge of messages. Some may come from the company in question; others may come from companies with which the contest owner may do business. Sometimes, unfortunately, your email address may be shared with third parties and then resold to others, resulting in spam.

Thus, before signing up for a contest, you may want to consider using a free email address. These can be acquired and removed easily, so if you start to receive a lot of spam, you can scrap an account without causing any problems for your main account. Two such providers are Yahoo at http://www.yahoo.com and HotMail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Print This Tip

Get E-Mail When New Tips are Online

Return to the Electronic Mail page.