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Do You Need CAPTCHA?

A CAPTCHA or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart is basically a kind of test that helps to distinguish a computer from a human being. It is under the trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. You can visit http://www.protectwebform.com/ for detailed information on CAPTCHA.

After a CAPTCHA is installed, when there is an attempted access to the system there is a test given to determine if it is a human or a computer attempting access. Generally, CAPTCHA uses a picture of some distorted letters or numbers and asks for them to be retyped. A person can understand what the distorted letters are supposed to look like, while a computer cannot. Therefore, if the right answer is given, the test determines they are human. It's very easy to use and you can learn more about it at http://www.protectwebform.com/smartcaptcha.

Most website owners opt for a function wherein the visitors can send in their feedback without allowing spammers to barge in. The moment you post your email id on the net, you can rest assured of the attack from the spammers. Automated programs that are better known as bots have the ability to scan your website and parse out your mail id. The spammers use the email ids for many purposes without your knowledge or permission.

Another option is CAPTCHA that does not allow the spammers to get access to your email ids. Many websites and sign-up pages use CAPTHCA. It assumes that computer programs cannot read distorted characters. It is considered fairly reliable.

As a fully automated program, CAPTCHA is so advanced it creates tests that can only be completed properly by humans. And since it runs itself, you don't have to baby-sit the system for it to work. This is why so many webmasters use CAPTCHA to keep their sites safe and secure.

The key to CAPTCHA is using it to stop spammers before they ever get access to your email. Once they have it, you have lost the game and they will be regularly sending you spam emails you don't want.

Many email services and online blogs are the ones who could benefit most from CAPTCHA. If you have webmail accounts through Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo, you know how many spam e-mails seem to get into the system. In addition if you regularly read online blogs, you have likely seen some that have had a long string of spam postings. CAPTCHA can stop these posts from happening by catching the spamming programs before they have a chance to do their work.

There are others out there that claim to do what CAPTCHA can do. They have created similar programs that ask varying questions to allow someone to get into a site or sign up for a blog. None of them are as reliable as CAPTCHA because with a database, any of the other programs questions could be answered, while the CAPTCHA image recognition system is foolproof.

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