Sometimes it's better to make mistakes on your own so you can learn first-hand the successes and failures of a particular move. Other times, it really is better to let someone else make the mistakes and then you can learn from them without the hardship or distress. We've decided to give you a few helpful hints that could ease your frustration and help further your success. But of course, if you would rather repeat any of these "mistakes" to learn first-hand, we've forewarned you.

Using e-mail on sign-up forms:

As an experiment a few weeks ago, we decided to see how much e-mail was actually SPAM from "trusted" free online e-mail systems. Not to negate any particular service, the same process was repeated on the top three free e-mail services.

• The Test - We took an online survey to receive a $50 gift card from a major department store chain. We took the same survey for all three e-mail accounts. The questions were pretty simple - do you like this, would you buy that, yes or no - and, of course, what is your e-mail address?
• The Results - Checking the e-mails the next day was the biggest surprise. We did get a response from the survey saying we needed to confirm our gift card, but there were also almost 30 other e-mails offering everything from more gift cards to credit cards to dating services. All three e-mail systems claimed to have SPAM filters and block unwanted email. There were any where from 20 to 40 e-mails that could be considered SPAM. Within four days, we had received over 400 e-mails for each account. All of the test accounts to date are still getting 20-plus junk mails per day - even when marked as SPAM.
• The Solution - Never use your primary e-mail account (or your primary business account) to sign up for anything unless you know how the e-mail address will be used. Even privacy policies do not protect your information if a company is sold or goes out of business - your information could be used or sold to someone else.

Keeping your private information private

We ran this test some time ago, but the results still may surprise you. If you think you're safe, you need to keep reading.

• The Test - We took an extra PC that had recently been repaired and connected it to the internet with no login password, spyware or antivirus program. We did nothing with the system for two weeks, other than leave it connected to the internet
• The Results - In the first week, we logged over 100 hacker attempts to access the computer and seven successful attempts. Each of the seven attempts used generic access passwords while trying to access email (either to send email or access the contacts list). Several of the attempts went beyond email and changed user settings allowing access to the complete PC. The PC was stopped when a virus was installed and attempting to send the virus through other computers that were vulnerable as well.
• The Solution - We've found hundreds of e-mails and spoken to many agents who still use "password" as a password, or something so simple any novice hacker with a few minutes of time could do serious damage. You may think "I don't have anything on my computer worth hacking", but any theft of information, or even the use of your system for malicious activity, can be harmful. If you are not using an alphanumeric password (letters and numbers) or using different passwords for different accounts, you really could be in serious trouble and not even know it.
  Your client list and your business can be used against you, so use different passwords for different accounts. If you use the same password for all of your accounts and a hacker figures out one, they have them all.
  Protect yourself and your business anytime you can. Take steps to make sure your information remains private.