PHILADELPHIA -- Just about everyone who uses e-mail knows how annoying spam messages can be. The flow of spam, unsolicited e-mail, has grown in the past few years and technology experts don't see and end in sight.

But the experts offer some tips to keep unwanted mail out of your inbox.

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"From Friday afternoon until Monday morning, I'm going to get, no exaggeration, 1,300 to 1,600 e-mails," spam recipient Marc Swartz said.

Swartz works from home and is fed up with the invasion of spam. First, he feels it's a huge waste of time.

"It's counterproductive to my ability to be a productive citizen, especially someone working out of the house. No. 3, it exposes myself [and] my family to things we would never want to be exposed to," Swartz said,

The problem? There's no way to stop it.

For spammers, it's easy and isn't very expensive to find new ways to send spam into your inbox.

Some computer experts suggest the latest way for them to capture your e-mail is from chain letters that get circulated. Those messages collect information when you visit Web sites -- even when you respond that you want to be taken off a list -- they collect your address.

Technology expert Ken Hartman offered the first step in avoiding spam: "The best thing to do is to not respond to spam messages that you get. Also when you're signing up for Web sites, information or you're buying something online, use a different e-mail address than your primary address."

The next step is to filter as much spam as possible. There are a number of software programs available ranging from free to a few hundred dollars that will help you filter. Those filters look for key words in the e-mails to stop them.

But spammers are getting tricky getting around spam filters, experts said.

Finally, take action if you're getting unwanted e-mails.

"At the very least, you should contact your local authorities. You should also contact your [Internet service provider] and demand that they put the filter on their end to try to cut down on that [spam]," Hartmen said.

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