Spam Headaches

The Hassle: Spam! It's driving me nuts. Could you give me some relief?

The Fix: I use throwaway e-mail addresses for Web forms, mailing lists, and online purchases. EarthLink, my ISP, gives me an unlimited number of Anonymous Email Addresses (write to me at tyres91423@mypacks.net). Once I set up a disposable address, I use it until it picks up spam. The free Mailexpire.com service similarly forwards messages from a disposable address to your real e-mail account. Or sign up for a Gmail account to share with people outside your circle.

Be sure to see our other stories on disposable e-mail addresses and creating spam filters.

Tool of the Month: As-U-Type Checks Spelling and More

Here's a shocker: I have replaced the spelling checker in Word and my e-mail program with As-U-Type, an amazingly useful tool that's worth every penny of its $40 price (download the free trial). As-U-Type also catches and fixes spelling errors in Excel and other apps--even dialog boxes and browser forms. You can set the program to complete words and phrases automatically, such as generating "PC World" when you enter pcw. In addition, you can assign a block of text to a keystroke combo: For instance, when I press <Alt>-T, it inserts "thanks for reading my column," along with a signature line; it even pauses long enough for me to insert the recipient's name.

Contributing Editor Steve Bass writes the Tips & Tweaks blog. Contact him at hasslefreepc@pcworld.com.