Whenever you give out your email address, someone with a mailing list could add it to their list. For example, alot of bbs's require you to enter your email address before you can post, some require it even to read. Forums that require a membership often require you to create a profile of yourself, including an email address. All of these bbs's and message boards' historical contents are stored on some computer somewhere, going back as far as ten years. Automated computer programs called 'spiders' and 'bots' can scan through archives looking for email addresses to add to the spammer's mailing list.

What is really dangerous is responding to personal emails from people you are unaquainted with, especially those who attend universities. Universities are where most viruses are created. In fact the odd hacker is so skilled that he only needs your IP address and your response to his message to ping directly onto your hard drive and upload a taylor made trojan horse. This bomb can then be triggered a few days later to disable your hard drive, preventing both access and formatting.

Cost of new hard drive: $130.00

Watch out! Most people are ok, but some are not.