Spammers seem to always find a way

Q. I have two e-mail addresses, one for my friends and another I give out to commercial companies that require an e-mail address. How then do spammers get the e-mail address I use only for friends? I think it’s through the cutesy e-mails these friends forward me, jokes and touching stories, etc. They think spammers could only get my e-mail address if I download something. Who’s right?

A. It could be anything from your friendly service provider selling the e-mail (look for fine print saying the company or its “partners” may send you e-mail) to, yes, friends forwarding mail with your address all over kingdom come.

As for the downloads they’re talking about, spyware that harvests e-mail addresses for spammers could find your address on someone else’s hard drive if you’ve corresponded with that person.

Spammers will find a way. Sometimes it seems like they’re just guessing, trying every combination of letters as a possible address. If I were you, I’d ask my friends not to use my address on the CC: line, which is visible to all recipients, but on the BCC: line, which gives you some privacy from others on the list.

Q. After surfing the Web with Internet Explorer, I always go to Tools ... Internet Options and delete the history, cookies and temporary files. However, there are always a few stubborn addresses that will not clear from the address bar. Is there an easy way to make them go away, or are they a permanent fixture?

A. Theoretically all you need to do is clear the history, which is the basis for the recent addresses in the address bar, but some addresses stay and stay.

I’m told there’s a sort of bug involving images that prevents some items from deleting. Be careful when you delete cookies, because they may contain important passwords and other information you’ll have to re-enter if you delete them.

Two ways of dealing with the address problem: The easy way is to use shareware such as CleanIE that shows you the addresses Internet Explorer is saving and lets you delete them completely or selectively — download at vb2java.com/cleanie.html.

The direct, difficult way is to delete a file called index.dat, the source of this information that won’t go away. This is a pain, though, because you can’t delete it while you’re using it, and you’re using it when you’re logged on to the computer. If you want to try it, a fellow named Mario at TweakXP.com has the easiest way: tweakxp.com/article37372.aspx.

Q. When we try to get on the Internet, sometimes — but not always — we get a message about a “runtime error” in Internet Explorer, and that “the application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.” I have contacted our service provider and the person that set up our computer, and they all say they have never heard of this or seen it.

A. Terminate in an unusual way — one of my favorite messages.

Could be a TV movie some day. Nobody seems to have a good explanation for this, but everyone seems to get relief by uninstalling the Google toolbar. Go figure.

XTim Henderson is database editor for the Miami Herald’s computer-assisted reporting team. Send questions to thendersonmiamiherald.com.

© 2007 McClatchy Tribune