Do you want to protect your real e-mail address from junk mail and viruses? There are two popular options.

1. Create a throwaway e-mail address at one of the many free web-based e-mail providers. Use this address when you need to sign up for newsletters and things at web sites you don’t fully trust. When it begins to get too cluttered, just delete the account and create a new one. Right now the best service for this is probably Yahoo! Mail. They have built-in spam filters that will move most of the junk to it’s own folder.

2. Get a disposable e-mail address. There are many services on the web now which let you get a temporary e-mail box to use on online forms. You can then check the e-mail address and get the confirmation or whatever you need before it expires.

In my opinion, the best is Jetable. This site lets you enter your real e-mail address (or your throwaway one if you’re really paranoid) and select how long you want a temporary address to be active. Your choices are One Hour, One Day, One Week and One Month. After hitting submit, you will get an alias e-mail to use where you want. Anything sent there will be forwarded to your real address for the duration you selected before it dies.

MORE FREE DISPOSABLE E-MAIL ADDRESSES

PookMail - Easy as pie throwaway e-mail addresses with RSS support. Create an alias@pookmail.com and check it here. Messages are cleared after 24 hours.

dodgeit - Hassle free temp email with RSS support. Simply make up a username@dodgeit.com and go here to check the account.

E4ward - Supports multiple aliases, forwarding. Register and create a username and dispense aliases.

GreenSloth - No registration, create your own alias@greensloth.com. Messages are cleared after one week.

KasMail - Register and get 25 throwaway aliases on that account to use on the web.

Mailinator - No registration, e-mails expire after a few hours. This site also runs a Google Maps plugin if you’re interested in seeing the kind of spam their disposable accounts are getting.

SpamDay - Register to get a free 24 hour temporary e-mail account.

TempInbox - Free temp e-mail with ATOM and RSS support. Also supports many different languages.