I am now afraid to read my mail and answer so many ads, what do I do?

[Kittysue]

ONLY open emails from people you know or mailing lists you have signed up for. Anything else is spam and potentially malicious.

If you are getting too much spam, then open a new account ONLY for friends and family. With that account, never post your email on any public message board, online profile (facebook, myspace, etc), never use it to sign up for any websites, mailing lists or contests. Never use it to buy anything online. If you keep the address only for friends and family and don't open any emails from people you don't know you may still get occasional spam but not much.

Then just check your other account once every two weeks or so to see if there are any legitimate mails