Set Up a Disposable Email Address

Many websites that involve registration, such as online forums and shopping sites, require an individual to provide an email address as part of the registration process in order to gain access to the features of the site. With the proliferation of websites that require an email address, the trouble, however, is that some of these sites might end up using the email address provided by the user in order to send out spam. One good way to deal with this is to use a disposable email address. A disposable email address works in such a way that a unique and temporary email address can be set up for every unique contact. This way, the user will not be required to give out his or her real email address, and can just have the messages received in the disposable email forwarded to the real email. When the disposable email starts receiving unwanted spam messages, the user can simply delete the temporary email address, without affecting his or her real email address or losing any of the other contacts.

Steps

  1. Understand the advantages for and circumstances in which you should be setting up a disposable email address.
    • If you are signing up for a website which you are not sure is completely credible or trustworthy, you can use a disposable email address to potentially avoid getting junk mail.
    • A disposable email address will help in ensuring that your online security is not compromised by lessening the personal information that you are required to give a website, such as your real email address.
    • A disposable email address can be set up for free, and can be kept active until the time that you do not require it anymore.
  2. Learn about the features of a disposable email address in order to find a service that would match your needs.
    • Most, if not all disposable email accounts have the option of message forwarding, in which you can have the messages received in your disposable email address forwarded to your primary email. This way, you would only have to manage your primary email account.
    • Some disposable email accounts can be set to have an expiration date, so that the email address would be automatically deleted after a specific length of time.
  3. Search the web for disposable email address services that would match your needs.
    • Major email service providers such as Yahoo Mail and Gmail give the users the option to set up disposable email addresses as an add-on feature.
    • Many other disposable email services are available for free and require no registration.
  4. Once you have selected the disposable email service that suits your requirements, set up your temporary alias.
  5. Use your disposable email address for one-time registrations or other activities you might require it for.

Tips

  • Keep a list of which disposable email address you have provided to which website.
  • Set up several different disposable addresses, in order to have unique email addresses to provide various websites which might require you to register.

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Sources and Citations

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