JUNK e-male is the Major Irritant of the week.

This morning I was reading that one of the prime ways you can discourage spam companies is by NOT responding to all that junk mail that ends up in your box.

Every day my e-mail becomes clogged with unsolicited spam designed primarily for men. Just in case you were considering ordering some of the products advertised in your e-mail because you think it guarantees anonymity, consider this story.

A little while ago, a friend of mine ordered some cooking products through one of the mailbox companies in Bermuda. One day she arrived home to find a box on her front door step. Not looking too closely, she tore into it thinking, finally, her stuff had arrived.

Then her fingers hit something creamy and then something sharp. In the box she found several broken bottles of something. Upon closer inspection, she found that the box contained an assortment of male sexual enhancement products.

On the front of the box was clearly marked the name of the person who had ordered it. (My friend wouldn't tell me who, no matter how much I begged).

And the situation became worse when she learned that the mailbox company in Bermuda had not only mixed up the address, but also the credit card details.

"You bought it, you pay for it," was basically what the company said.

"Look, I didn't buy this. What use would I have for such a thing, and someone else's name is written on the front of the box," she said.

Finally, with the utmost reluctance, the mailbox company agreed to take the charge off her card. She returned the package, and eventually received the things she really ordered.

I think of this story every morning when I open my e-mail. Every day I get at least 20 junk messages, most of them trying to sell male products. Spam drives me insane. As a Logic Communications Ltd. customer of several years, I have to say their spam filters leave a lot to be desired.

Because I live normally abroad and have an American Internet provider it is easier for me to check my Logic e-mail through the web than to call a long-distance telephone number to download my messages.

The first problem is that my Logic account only allows me to filter a limited number of words and phrases.

IF I say, "I do not want any message with the words 'male parts' in the subject line", messages with that subject line are filtered, but not messages with that in the body of the message. If you want messages with 'male parts' in the actual text automatically trashed, that's another filter - and as I said before, you are only allowed a few.

If I don't check my e-mail daily, my box becomes so clogged with male self-esteem products, get-rich-quick schemes, and weight loss products that I sometimes have trouble opening my e-mail account.

I am only allowed so much space to store my messages. That's fair. The problem is, if I exceed the size, I get a message that says something like "quota exceeded, please erase some mail to make space".

Then all my messages disappear. How are you supposed to erase messages if you can't see them? You can see and erase messages in your sent mail to make space, but if you have no sent mail (because you erased it all the last time this happened) what are you supposed to do?

A few weeks ago, after I had some problems opening my e-mail, I called a technician at Logic. He was very helpful. He said he would sign me up for this new Logic service called Postini.

A little while later, I found I had a link to Postini in my mailbox. I went there, turned the filters high and waited for something to happen. That day, I continued to get the usual spate of e-male.

The next day, same thing. I went in, turned the filters up even higher. Nothing. To date, Postini has not filtered, delivered or quarantined a single piece of spam. Am I missing something?

Some Internet providers take the attitude that spam is not their problem. It is just a nuisance and up to the customer to deal with. Today there was an article called Are you an easy ID theft target? onMsn.com.

The article was sponsored by McAfee Security, a company that makes virus protection software, among other things. The article stated that, actually, spam is not harmless, it can be a serious security problem for the community.

"Law-enforcement officials and security experts advise that spam is often used to target unsuspecting consumers and lure them to 'official looking' web sites - such as a billing centre for an online service provider or the front page of a mortgage information form. When users enter passwords, Social Security or credit-card numbers, the information can be taken, used or sold by identity thieves."