Getting Spammed to death by calls for medicare Advantage

[GaryE]

On my smart phone, I get maybe 1 spam call per week. I've never had a political ad, but I'm in a different country with different rules (and rulers). Text spam is even rarer.
e-mail spam is a thing of the past - I haven't heard from a single Nigerian royal family member in years. They'd never sell me fish, even though their country has wonderful ones.
Facebook coughs up pretty young women who want to be my friends. I'm sure they don't exist in the real world, or they wouldn't be interested in old guys. Could they be a scam aiming for the early phases of dementia, for guys with bank accounts? Heaven forbid!
My old man annoyance is when Windows 11 not only won't stay off my lawn, but seems to have planted itself in it. It's a spyware operating system. I have a now outdated desktop that I use permanently offline to hold a large digital music collection, and even windows 10 gets very upset it can't contact the mothership. It tries very hard and clutters up my screen with earnest confessions that it's failing to connect. I suspect windows 11 would be worse. Many updates on my laptop override the settings I've put in to block bloatware or unnecessary (to me) apps. I see the push to use AI operating as less and less of a choice now.

I'm sure a lot of people have tried to avoid the corporate surveillance in these systems, but it becomes harder and harder to do. If you want to find a job, or even run many brands of aquarium lights, you need a smart phone. A few years ago we had large scale student campaigns for lower tuition, and all the old geezers were going on about these kids being able to afford phones. Those old guys hadn't been job hunting in the modern world.

 

[Essjay]

e-mail spam is a thing of the past

In the last 11 days, my email server has put 28 emails in my spam folder.

Double glazing - 6
Mcafee expired - 7 (don't use Mcafee)
Email account suspended - 2 (obviously not, I'm still using it)
Cloud storage expired - 3 (don't use it)
Car finance/insurance - 4 (don't have a car)
Gambling sites - 3
Another antivirus expired - 2
Pain relief - 1


OK so I don't get Nigerian royal family emails but I do get plenty of spam emails. Including TFF according to my main email provider (I had to create an account with a different provider just for TFF)

 

[GaryE]

I only count the ones that get through. The spam filters are very efficient on my server, much like on the forum.

 

[jaylach]

You can also register, in the US, on the do not call list. You can al tell the caller to remove you from their call list. Telling the caller to remove you from their list is a Federal law and they must comply. This helps but does not totally stop as many of these call systems are located at sea outside of the 3 mile limit so are in international waters.

If you want to look here is a link to the do not call site.

National Do Not Call Registry

How to stop most telemarketing calls through the National Do Not Call Registry.

www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov

I get almost zero spam calls or emails but years ago I got a bunch from a group that named themselves as Microsoft Windows saying that an attack on my system was detected and they could help. I was bored and decided to play a bit. I played the part of the frantic consumer and kept leading them on while giving no actual info. When I got tired of this playing I just told them that I used to have my own computer business and, also, had 5 awards from Microsoft and knew they were a scam. The caller just replied with something like I guess you don't need our service and hung up. Never got another such call.