Spam & Email Ads

How the heck do I get rid of this stuff? I use Outlook and have the Rules turned on, and it does put most (but not all!!!) of the junk into the "trash" folder, but is there a way to stop it?

I also get mail that says its an "opt-in" mailing. Well, i did not opt in to anything! Whenever I sign up for a site and it asks me to check whether I want to receive mailings from their "partners" I always leave it blank. If I respond to an "opt-in" mailing to be removed will that be as bad as responding to a spam?

I have seen a few that I also think are highly illegal. Like one where you can "buy" a "universal drivers license" that is good in all countries. But i really don't want to spend hours tracking down the domain #s and writing to them.

I'm just sick of email ads.

 

Some ideas.

http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60071&highlight=spam

http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60333&highlight=spam

http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56551&highlight=spam

http://www.consultwebs.com/spamtips.htm