Does Linux reduce spam?

Question

Since I started using Linux, the amount of spam received by my Yahoo email account has reduced considerably.
Could that be attributed to Linux, or is it just a coincidence?

Answer 1

Linux would not really have anything to do with how much spam you get in your Yahoo email account. There is a chance that you have/had viruses on your Windows installation that were sending you & other people spam, so it could have had an effect.

Answer 2

The implication here is that Microsoft Windows increases spam. Such an implication is false. The term 'spam' is used to pigeon-hole a type of email that is 'unwanted' by its intended recipients.



You'll receive 'spam' regardless what computer operating system you use.



I primarily use a GNU/Linux-based computer operating system, and I get 'spam'. I use the Yahoo! Mail filters to send the 'spam' to the 'spam' folder on the Yahoo! Mail servers.



So can you.



On the flip-side...



It may be that Microsoft Windows presents more of the user's information at every Web site visited. But I am not privy to the accuracy of this statement, so I cannot definitively declare that this is true. IF it is true, though, it might explain how advertiser's acquire Windows users' email addresses. But, like I said, I have no idea whether Microsoft Windows is more profligate (than GNU/Linux and GNU/Linux-based Web browsers) with the information it shares with Web sites.

Answer 3

Generally speaking it should have no effect. Your email is web-based and Linux is not in any way responsible for the spam filtering on it, that's entirely up to Yahoo's own services.



The one exception would be if your previous system was already infected with some kind of spyware that was cataloguing your email address. Windows is understood to be more susceptible to malware than Linux, but it's unlikely you actually had any in the first place.

Answer 4

SPAM = Selected Public Adressed Mail. It has nothing to do with an operation system like linux or others it is all about your email adress that is selected to be spammed, and your email adress has no relation with Linux or another Operating System.

Answer 5

You personal operating system has absolutely nothing to do with mail received on Yahoo's email servers (which, in all likelihood, were running Linux long before you switched).

Answer 6

It's a coincidence. Yahoo mail works from inside your browser, and is independent of the operating system. The reason is probably because Yahoo mail was recently upgraded.