Make sure you are up to date

A huge amount of spam is actually sent from standard PC's connected to the Internet that have been exploited / compromised.

Make sure you:

1. Keep your computer software up-to-date and periodically check for updates manually as well as waiting for your computer to tell you.

2. Are protected by a firewall - ideally on your router and your computer - but at least on your computer.

3. Keep your anti-virus and spyware software up-to-date - plus schedule frequent scans.

4. Periodically scan your computer with another spyware scanner.

5. Do not run / install software from untrusted sources - this includes browser plug-ins etc.

6. Consider using a different web browser - Internet Exporer is the most popular browser and most people try and exploit this one. Other browsers like Opera or Firefox could be an option to consider.

USA largest source of spam

Almost one in four (over 23%) of spam detected in July originated in the US.

China came second with 20% and South Korea third 7.5%. After those were (in order of worst to best): France, Spain, Poland, Brazil, Italy, Germand, United Kingdom, Taiwan and Japan.

Of course with any figures it is also important to consider the number of machines and total volume of email sent!