You can't stop them altogether if your email address is well known, but a good way to stop most of them is to use Gmail (www.gmail.com) and choose an unusual user name so that the automated robots can't just "blast" at all predictable names (e.g. don't do "johnsmith@gmail.com", do "johnsmith2249@gmail.com") If you don't want to actually use the GMail web interface, that's OK, they do support POP3/SMTP and IMAP interfaces for your regular email program, and GMail can also forward your mail to another address after it has passed through the spam filter.

you can also set the spam filter to high on you internet provider e-mail I personal do not allow any thing over a week to stay in bulk folder, thenbe sure to mark any thing you do not want as spam and delete,and block images until you choose to see them this will slow thing way down and be careful what you click on, or what forms, surveys etc you feel out as this starts spam this next item is something I give out to people when I work on the PC, e-mail safety RULES FOR E-MAIL 1. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THE SENDER, PUT A CHECK MARK IN BOX AND MARK AS SPAM AND DELETE 2. IF THERE IS NOTHING IN THE SUBJECT AREA, AGAIN PUT A CHECK MARK IN THE BOX AND MARK AS SPAM AND DELETE. 3. IF YOU RECEIVE AN E-MAIL AND THE MESSAGE AREA THE IS ONLY AN ATTACHMENT, AGAIN CHECK MARK IN THE BOX AND MARK AS SPAM AND DELETE. THESE ARE THE MOST COMMON WAYS FOR SPAMMERS TO SEND VIRUS AND SPYWARE THOUGH THE E-MAIL SYSTEM. ANOTHER THING IS IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, CHANCES ARE IT IS! MARK AS SPAM AND DELETE. THERE IS A WEB SITE THAT YOU CAN CHECK OUT MOST E-MAILS THAT KEEP SHOWING UP OVER AND OVER TO SEE IF THEY ARE TRUE. http://www.snopes.com also called the urban legends site.