SPAM Museum, Austin MN (100 mi. south of Twin Cities)

E-mail Rage... Just like road rage, e-mail rage drives us all a little crazy sometimes. If you're like me, you dream about a special place in hell for the people that send you spam. (Relax, Peter.) Even decent companies frequently don't make it easy to unsubscribe from an e-mail list. And, of course, your junk mail problem is compounded when you post your e-mail address publicly on your web site. (Hey, you're in the service business!)

So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to experiment with an anti-spam program called Matador from MailFrontier. Wow. It works. Matador catches 80-90% of my junk e-mails. Now instead of being "greeted" by dozens of offensive e-mails every morning, I see only two or three. Sure, it's not perfect. But it's a huge step toward reclaiming control of my desktop.

Another aggravating web experience is seeing pop-up ads that are automatically generated when visiting a popular web site (like Yahoo). So I downloaded Pop-Up Stopper and have not seen a pop-up since. Yes, buying and installing these programs is a minor hassle. But that pain is definitely outweighed by the gain in peace of mind.

How do you fight for control of your life online? Send me your ideas. I'll report in a future Dispatch.

Spread the Word... Many thanks to Claritas and SiteReports for sponsoring the PikeNet Dispatch. We could not provide this free service without sponsors (and kind readers like you!). We're very grateful. If you would like to sponsor future issues, please send e-mail or call me at 415-485-6700.

--Peter Pike