Google Calendar Spam Has Become A Menacing Problem, Here's How To Stop It
When it comes to online life, where there is a will, spammers will find a way, unfortunately. Even more unfortunate, unwanted messages are not always contained within email. More recently, they have been spilling out into Google Calendar, and depending on bad the situation is, you may find that your calendar is filled with bogus events. Can something be done about this?
Fortunately, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Obviously, the first place to start is your email—marking junk mail as spam and implementing more aggressive controls are the first steps, because you are attacking the problem at the source. This is not always enough, though.
Here's the thing—Google Calendar has a feature that can scour your emails and then automatically events you are invited to, or add things like flight information when you book an airline ticket. It's a handy feature when used appropriately. However, hackers are using the feature to muck up calendars with things like bogus contest prizes and other scams and spam.
If you are at your wits end, the solution, while drastic, is to prevent Google Calendar from automatically adding events. To do this, follow these steps...
- Open up Google Calendar and click on the Gear icon in the upper-right corner, and then click on Settings.
- in the left-hand column, click on Event Settings.
- See where it says Automatically add invitations? Click on the corresponding arrow and select No, only show invitations to which I have responded.
There is another option to allow for automatic entries to be added, but without notifications being sent unless you have responded "Yes" or "Maybe." However, this still can clutter Google Calendar, if you are getting a bunch of spam entries added already.
Following the above steps will stop Google Calendar from automatically adding any invitation that gets sent to you. To take things a step further, you can prevent events sent to you in Gmail from being added to your calendar as well. To do this, follow these steps...
- Open up Google Calendar and click on the Gear icon in the upper-right corner, and then click on Settings.
- In the left-hand column, click on Events from Gmail (not Event Settings).
- Uncheck the box labeled Automatically add events from Gmail to my calendar.
- A warning box will pop up. Click on Okay.
Sadly, there's no middle ground option—either you allow Google Calendar to automatically add entries, both legitimate and illegitimate ones, or disable the feature altogether. If you're not having a problem with spam on your calendar, you may want to leave things alone and keep these settings in the back of your mind. However, if your calendar's become a mess of fake entries, flipping these toggles will help you restore some order and sanity.
