How To Check Spam on Gmail and Protect Yourself From Malware Attacks

If you are one of the 1.5 billion Gmail users in the world, then you are one of the 1.5 billion that are subject to the risk of spam mail. It’s there, with Google noting that they clean out over 100 million spam messages every day. Some of them come from millions of paying businesses, and others come from hackers engaging in cyber warfare, with an estimated 94 percent of spam in any email address containing malware.

The main ways that Spam filters have improved over the past few years are as follows:

You can protect yourself from becoming a phishing victim by checking and cleaning your spam filters regularly. A good mail security program can also help you to get those decisions faster with an automated process that scans and informs on spam email immediately. Learn how to check spam on Gmail here.

What is Spam?

Spam is defined as messages in email that are irrelevant or unsolicited and sent to many users at once. It is estimated that 80 percent of attacks are generated by the user that receives the attacks. When you click on what looks like an innocuous link but isn’t, you are the one that harms the machine, and possibly the network it is on. If it is a business machine, even worse. Your company could lose thousands in that instant.

For the hackers, the goal is to sell something, and for malware exploits, the goal is to take data and not money. It is unclear where the term “spam email” came from, although many experts say the term points back to an old Monty Python sketch.

In this sketch, a couple is eating at a restaurant where Spam, a brand of meat sold by Hormel since the 1970s, was on every item on the menu. Then, Spam was considered a bulky product that took a room on shelves but was an affordable way to eat. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to eat, however, and it is this distaste that many feel when they receive spam in their Gmail.

Still, Gmail will filter spam for you, to help you to avoid becoming victimized by ransomware and malware attacks. You need to know what spam looks like in order for you to be able to protect yourself from today’s sophisticated methods of attack.

How Gmail Filters Spam

Gmail filters spam by using text and client filters to sort mail for you. Mail is sent automatically to a spam folder that you can delete or is automatically deleted for you. Google uses its own algorithms to detect phrases that are common in spam emails, such as “free” or “online business.”

Google also uses Client Filters that will analyze what email spam is, and mark spam as it comes in. Google also allows you to mark spam as it is received so that you can take control of what is and isn’t in your email.

Naturally, every technical system is not without flaws. You may receive something in your spam folder that is not supposed to be there. For that, Google gives you the option of checking your spam.

How to Check Spam Gmail

When you are in your Gmail, you can begin to check your spam mail from your Inbox. Click on the More button at the top, and a drop-down menu appears. Select Spam from this menu.

If you are using a mobile application for Gmail, go to the hamburger menu to locate your spam. It may be called “Junk” mail as well. Review the messages to determine if there are any that you want to keep.

Select any messages that you want to keep, and open the mail. In the top menu, select “Not Spam.” To get rid of all mail in your spam folder, select the Delete All Spam Messages now at the top of the mailbox.

Get Help Checking Spam

The threats of spam mail are not as innocent as they seem. Although we may spend a lot of time being annoyed by the plethora of junk mail that hits our Gmail inboxes every day, the sad truth is, it could be harmful. It could cost you money, you could lose your device to a viral or malware attack, and spam mail can and does bring businesses down every day.

An email service can help you to get help checking spam. Part of the problem with spam cleanup is that we often aren’t sure what is and isn’t spam, even if it is in the folder. An email application or service can help by reviewing those emails for you and letting you know what is or isn’t safe to look at. It will use algorithms and science to assess email identities, links within the content, and attachments to emails to help you to make good email decisions.

If this seems like a task that you are unsure of handling, let us know. Outsource your spam mail needs and we will help you to learn how to manage your Google suite to enhance and improve your productivity. Try Havoc Shield’s Mail Armor service that will scan suspect emails for you, and let you make the decision on whether or not it is safe.