If you’re like most people who spend a fair amount of time online, then you often have to fill out a lot of forms, whether you’re shopping, looking for information, or filling out various applications. Inevitably, you’ll be asked to provide your email address. And unfortunately, that can lead to lots of unwanted email.
If you’re not planning on maintaining an ongoing relationship with the web site you’re visiting, then it makes sense to use a disposable email account instead of your real one. The basic idea is to use a “throwaway” email address in place of your real one. It remains active long enough for you to confirm and interact with the current web site, but you don’t have to worry about your real email address getting out.
The are two ways to go about doing this. One is to use a free email address service, like Yahoo Mail, Gmail, or Hotmail. Here, you usually keep a permanent email address but only use it for things you only need to sign up for and not for your regular daily email. Another option is to use a dedicated service for temporary email addresses. These services often provide an email address that only lasts for a few minutes or hours–enough to let you fill out a form and confirm, but then the email address goes kaput! Both have their pros and cons. Here’s a list of some popular disposable email sites: