Web Week

SpamGuard

Junk-mail block Internet portal Yahoo has introduced SpamGuard, a free junk-mail filtering service aimed at reducing the amount of spam sent to its members' email inboxes. The service can block graphics from being downloaded automatically when a message is opened and protects users from web beacons - invisible tags in an email that trigger an alert to the spammer that the email has been opened and the address is "live".

Waiheke speeds up

A Telecom upgrade of the Waiheke phone exchange means islanders can now sign up for the company's high-speed internet service Jetstream. About 4046 business and residential lines within 5km of the exchange will have access to the service telecom.

Cyanide low-down

With terrorism threats involving cyanide facing us on the home front, read about cyanide and what it can do at atsdr and cyanidecode

Earthquake check

If you hear the ground rumble and want to see if it was an earthquake, check the scientific site that has real-time monitoring of disasters at geonet

Freebie site

Adding to industry nightmares over free downloading of audio and video files on the net, Dutchman Pieter Plass has set up thehonestthief The site is to encourage file-sharing companies to set up in the Netherlands, where courts have ruled that file-sharing services such as Kazaa have a legal right to exist.

Scam biteback

Those annoying Nigerian scams continue to arrive in readers' inboxes and are best ignored. If you do feel the urge to reply, flooble has made it easy for you.