Operating Systems

Your problem is not in any way the OS, but more your e-mail application and/or e-mail provider allowing such e-mails through their filters.

These e-mails should not really cause any alarm - spammers target anybody and anyone, although certain combinations of provider and name are more vulnerable.

Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail, for example, is a frequent target since a large number of users use it. A provider such as BT Internet or Virgin Media may not be focused on so much - not many users stick to the e-mail address given to them by their ISP.

User names also can increase vulnerability. A name such as "John Smith" will probably end up being the target of a huge volume of spam - spammers try multiple combinations of first and last names when sending their spam out. More obscure names, such as "omanes.alexandrapolites@emailprovider.com" or "cannibalistic_rune_carver@emailprovider.com" probably would not be found so easily due to the words being used not especially common in e-mail addresses.

You may wish to try setting up an alternate e-mail account and/or turning on your e-mail provider's webmail spam filter (the method varies for different providers, so instructions cannot really be provided).

You may also want to try an application such as Mozilla Thunderbird. Thunderbird, if trained well, is brilliant at detecting spam. Simply mark a few messages as junk and it will pick out 99% of dodgy mail after that. There also is the option to have rules set by SpamAssasin scan and pick up spam type e-mails in the preferences section too.

You do have to set up your account on Thunderbird though, but most e-mail providers give step-by-step guides to add your e-mail account to a third-party application.

~:)