IF you think you spend too much time dealing with junk e-mail, you're not alone.

Each day, nearly 80 percent of all e-mail sent is spam, according to a recent study by the University of Maryland.

That means that if you get your fair share of that junk e-mail, you're probably at the breaking point, as you sift through the mountains of junk e-mail looking for one or two legitimate messages.

But there are ways to fight back - and they don't include angrily firing off messages to those who sent you the unsolicited mail or wasting yet more time by pursuing other retaliatory methods.

Instead, you can use both technology and know-how to fight back against what is essentially a problem that's not about to get better any time soon. Here's a rundown of what you can do.

Pretend you don't exist
The goal number one of spammers is to get you to read their e-mail. If they think you don't read it - or don't even receive it - they may not sell or pass your e-mail address on to other spammers.

That's why you should never, ever respond to a spam e-mail message. If you lose your cool and fire back an angry message, your e-mail address is confirmed, and you will cement your place on perhaps dozens of other spam senders' lists.

Not only should you not respond to a spam e-mail message; you shouldn't even look at one. That's because many spam messages today contain graphics - sometimes invisible - that signal to the spammer that your e-mail address is valid.

These graphics are commonly known as "beacons". All you have to do is open or even preview a message containing a beacon in order for your e-mail address to be identified as active.

Beacons can only work, however, if your e-mail program is set up to show all embedded graphics. If you turn off the ability of e-mail messages to display embedded graphics, you're safe against the threat of beacons.

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