What you can do with e-mail Send or receive a simple message Send or receive a fancy formatted message Send or receive a picture, document or program Send or receive a URL or a whole web page Send or receive Spam Send or receive Adware, Spyware and Viruses Types of e-mail programs The kind that comes with your computer, e.g. e-mail Clients (Outlook Express – the one we’ll use as our example in this course) Vendor-provided services (AOL, Comcast, Verizon) The software-based kind you can buy or download for free, e.g. Juno Eudora Thunderbird The kind you seek out and join, e.g. Yahoo MSN Hotmail Google Gmail Creating a simple message Run Outlook Express Find it on your Start menu or Quick Launch Toolbar Left-Click to Run it Left-Click on the Create Mail button (far left on the Program toolbar). A form appears with your e-mail address in the FROM: line Address the message in the TO: line Type in a single e-mail address Type in multiple e-mail addresses separated by semicolons Get an address from your Contacts List (Address Book) – we’ll see how to do this later Enter a subject in the SUBJECT: line Type the Message in the large white space below Sending a Simple Message Be sure to spell-check it first Automatic Spell-check is turned on by default If you’d like to do it manually instead Turn off the automatic spell-check (on the Program menu choose Tools > Options > Spelling Tab and uncheck “Always check spelling before sending”) To perform the spell check manually On the Message toolbar choose Tools > Spelling or Left-Click on the Spelling Button on the toolbar or Press F7 Left-Click on the Send button (far left on the Message toolbar) Or Use Safe Send This gives you the opportunity to re-read your e-mail before sending it. It is a way of avoiding errors or misspellings (e.g ”to” instead of “too”) It is a way of insuring that there is nothing in the e-mail that could be unintentionally offensive to or critical of your correspondent To use Safe Send (on the Outlook Express menu) Left-Click on Tools in the Program menu Left-Click on Options Left-Click on the Send tab Left-Click on “Send Messages Immediately” to uncheck it Left-Click on the OK button Sending a message now requires two steps On the Message menu Left-Click on the Send button on the Message toolbar (the message is sent to your Outbox and can be reviewed) On the Program menu Left-Click on the Send/Receive button on the Program toolbar (the message is sent) Receiving a Simple Message Your incoming messages will be delivered to your Inbox Folder The contents of this folder are, by default, the ones you see when you start the program The messages you have not yet read are displayed in bold face and those which you have already read are displayed in normal face You can have your waiting messages delivered to you automatically On the Program menu choose Tools > Options > General Tab Then be sure that Send and Receive Messages on Startup (in the Send/Receive sections of the dialog box) is checked Or you can ask for them when you are ready to Uncheck Send and Receive Messages on Startup When you want to check on received messages, click on the Send/Receive button on the Toolbar By default, the contents of the first received message are automatically displayed. This is not a good idea since certain types of e-mail can contain spyware or viruses which can infect your computer when the message is displayed. A better practice is to change this default On the Program menu choose View > Layout. In the lower part of the dialog box, Left-Click on Show Preview Pane to uncheck it. Now the contents of the received message won’t be displayed until you double click on the message itself. This will give you a chance to decide (based on whom the message is from and the subject) whether you want to open it or not. Another way to protect yourself from spyware and viruses Prevent images and other external content from automatically displaying in incoming messages On the Program menu choose Tools > Options > Security Tab. In the Download Images section of the dialog box, Left-Click on Block Images and Other External Content in HTML e-mail to put a check mark in the box Managing Received Messages The only three things you could possibly want to do with a received message Throw it away without reading it Read it and then throw it away Read it and keep it In real life, you’ll probably most often throw it away without reading it According to InternetNews.com, 82% of all e-mail is Spam (electronic junk mail) Spam can usually (but not always) be identified by looking at the sender’s name or the subject of the e-mail To throw it away without reading it, click once on the message and then Click on the Delete button on the toolbar On the Edit menu, choose Delete Press the Delete button on the keyboard Press CTRL-D on the keyboard You can throw out multiple messages at the same time If they are listed contiguously in your Inbox Folder you can Left-Click on the first one, then Shift-Left-Click on the last one before deleting using one of the four methods above If they are not listed contiguously in your Inbox Folder you can hold down the CTRL key are you Left-Click on the ones you want to select for deletion In any case, the “deleted” message is moved to the Deleted Items folder If you make a mistake, you can retrieve messages from the Deleted Items folder by Clicking on the message you want to move to highlight it then clicking on the Edit menu and choosing Move to Folder…, then choosing the folder you want to more it to from the list Clicking on the message you want to move to highlight it then pressing CTRL-SHIFT-V on the keyboard and choosing the folder you want to move it to from the list Right clicking on the message you want to move, choosing Move to Folder… from the pop-up menu, then choosing the folder you want to move it to from the list Dragging the message from the Deleted Items folder to where you really want it to be NOTE: these techniques can be used to move any message (not just deleted ones) between folders. To permanently delete a message from your computer you must delete it from the Deleted Items folder. Click once on the message to highlight it and then use one of the techniques listed in VI.B.3. above to delete it. Or you can permanently delete ALL the messages in your Deleted Items folder by choosing Edit > Empty Deleted Items Folder (on the Outlook Express menu) To Read a message and then throw it away Double Left-Click on the message to open and read it, then On the New Message menu choose File > Delete Message (or press CTRL-D on the keyboard) or Close the message (by clicking on the X in the upper right-hand corner of the screen) and proceed to use one of the techniques listed in VI.B.3. above to delete it. Finally, to read a message and then save it You’ll want to save it somewhere where you can find it again Double-Left-Click on the message to open it and read it, then On the Message menu choose File > Move to Folder, then choose the folder you want to move it to from the list, or Close the message (by clicking on the X in the upper right-hand corner of the screen) and proceed to use one of the techniques listed in VI.B.6 above to move it to where you want it. You can create and name new folders and subfolders as needed To create a new subfolder Highlight the folder you want the subfolder to be within (if it is to be a main folder, highlight Local Folders). On the Outlook Express menu go to File > New > Folder and give the folder a meaningful name, or On the Move to Folder… dialog box, click on the New Folder button and give the folder a meaningful name After you have done so, you can move the message you want to save into the appropriate location. Managing your saved messages The folders containing your saved messages (as well as those still in your Inbox, Outbox, Sent Messages, Deleted Messages and Drafts Folders) are stored in various places depending on the version of Windows you are using To see where they are stored on your computer, choose Tools from the Program menu, then Options, the Maintenance tab and Left-Click on the Store Folder button The location of your saved messages will be displayed. (You may want to create backups of them from time to time.) Sending Files as Attachments The sort of file you’ll be sending as an attachment most often is an image file (.jpg, .gif, .bmp, etc.) It is considered good e-mail etiquette to insure that the image files attached to an e-mail message are small enough so that they transmit in a reasonable length of time. (Roughly 50K or 60K should be the maximum size of an image you send to someone.) The best way to insure that the image file you want to send is the proper size is to Navigate using My Computer (or Windows Explorer) to the folder containing the image or images you want to send Left-Click on the image file to highlight it (or choose multiple images using the techniques described in VI.B.4 above) On the Task Pane (left side of your My Computer window) in the File and Folder Tasks section, choose e-mail this file by Left-Clicking on it A Dialog box opens giving you a choice between “Make all my pictures smaller” and “Keep the original sizes.” Left-Clicking on “Make all my pictures smaller” followed by a Left-Click on the OK button will cause Windows to Resize the image (if necessary) to optimize it for e-mail transmission Open a blank e-mail form with the image file attached, ready to address and add your message as described in III.C, D and E above If you want to send a picture from the Web Right click on the picture Choose Send Image and proceed as in III above Sending Documents or Programs as Attachments It is not feasible to resize document files or software programs (other than by “zipping” them – a subject for another course) Thus you should follow these steps to send an e-mail with a document or program attached Click on the Attach Tool (paperclip) or (on the Message menu) go to Insert Menu > File Attachment Navigate in the directory to the document or program file you want to attach Click once on it It is attached and an additional line at the top of the e-mail shows the name of the attached file. Sending a Message to More Than One Person Often, for reasons of keeping a group of people informed or getting responses from a group of people, you’ll want to send an e-mail to more than one person. There are two ways to do this You can type an group of e-mail addresses directly into the "To" line at the top of the e-mail form You can get the names from your Contact List (Address Book) - more about this later Courtesy Copy (CC:) – Use this to send copies of the e-mail to additional people and to let the primary recipient know that you did so Blind Courtesy Copy (BCC:) – Use this to send copies of the e-mail to additional people without having their names or e-mail addresses appear in the message. The most common use of BCC: is to send a mailing to a group of people without revealing their individual e-mail addresses to each other. (e.g. sending a news release to a number of different news outlets without revealing to any of them which outlets you are using.) Formatting Message Text On the New Message menu, choose Format Menu and be sure that Rich Text (HTML) is chosen (not Plain Text) Use the Formatting Toolbar just as you would in a word processor to Set the font Set the size Set the paragraph style Set the text enhancement (bold, italic, underlined, color) Add numbering or bullet points Set the indenting Set the alignment (left, center, right, justified) Insert a horizontal line Create a hyperlink Insert a picture Adding a Signature An e-mail signature is anything (text or image) that you want to appear at the end of each of your e-mails Sincerely, Your Name Always remember “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana” Creating a Signature On the Program menu choose Tools > Options > Signatures Tab Click on New Choose whether you want text or a file (picture) as your signature Type in the text you want as a signature or browse for the file you want to use Applying a Signature In the same Dialog box, Left-Click on “Add Signature to all outgoing messages” to place a check mark in the box Note that you can separately control whether your signature appears on replies and forwarded messages by Left-Clicking on the check box just below If you would like complete control over whether or not a signature is included, First, make sure the “Add Signature to all outgoing messages” box is unchecked Then, when you’re ready to send your message, if you want a signature, go to the Insert menu and choose Signature (or simply press CTRL-SHIFT-S) Using Stationery Stationery is the name for a colored or artistic background of an e-mail Outlook Express comes with some prepackaged stationery On the Message menu choose Format > Apply Stationery A list of about 8 or 9 colors and patterns will appear Click on the one you want. If you don’t like it, click on another or on No Stationery Click on More Stationery to see additional types available Or, if you really want to do it right, surf to http://thundercloud.net/ for a REALLY wide choice of free downloadable stationery To make a particular stationery automatically appear in all of your e-mails On the Program menu choose Tools > Options > Compose Tab In the center section of the dialog box (labeled Stationery) click on the check box for Mail to put a check in it Click on Select and choose the stationery you want to use Click on OK to finish the job Using Business Cards (vCards) A Business Card (vCard) is a generally useful thing containing contact and directory information that anybody can import in their address book easily. If you send a vCard with your e-mails in Outlook Express, the recipient can simply add this vCard to their address book. Instantly they will have access to all your e-mail addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, your birthday (depending on how much of all that information you are willing to give away). Creating a vCard Creating a vCard is as simple as creating an Address entry for yourself.(See Section XII below) Applying the vCard to your e-mail On the Program menu choose Tools > Options > Compose Tab In the bottom section of the dialog box (labeled Business Cards) click on the check box for Mail to put a check in it Click on the drop-down arrow and choose the entry you created for yourself (you can edit it further if you wish by clicking on the Edit button) Click on OK to finish the job Prioritizing a Message If your recipient is equipped to identify priority messages (see XII.A.2 below), you can add a priority setting to a message by Left-Clicking on the Priority button on the New Message toolbar and choosing High, Normal or Low If you choose High, a small red exclamation point will be displayed to the left of the senders name, calling attention to the message. Don’t overuse this. You’ll get the reputation of “crying wolf.” Requesting a Receipt You can set up Outlook Express to display a receipt for e-mail you send. The receipt is sent when the message recipient has displayed your message. This is useful when you are sending time-critical information, or any time you want confirmation that your message has been received. To request a receipt for individual messages, in the new message window, on the Tools menu, click Request Read Receipt To request a receipt for all messages, on the Tools menu, click Options. Then, on the Receipts tab, select the “Request a read receipt for all sent messages check box.” Replying to a Message Reply vs. Reply All When you are reading an incoming e-mail message you’ll see at the left end of the toolbar a button labeled Reply and another labeled Reply All If you click on Reply, a new message form is created already addressed to the person whose e-mail address (or name) appears in the From: line of the message you were reading If you click on Reply All, a new message form is created already addressed to the person whose e-mail address (or name) appears in the From: line of the message you were reading AND ALSO ADDRESSED TO ANYONE WHO WAS COURTESY COPIED (OR BLIND COURTESY COPIED). Use this with care. Including Message Text in Replies By default the text as well as all the addresses of all the recipients of the original message will be included in the Reply (or Reply All). To change this, open the Program menu and choose Tools > Options > Send. Click on the check box next to “Include Message in Reply” to uncheck it This default setting is useful but can cause problems You should ALWAYS remove (highlight and delete) the addresses of the recipients of the original message In Replying to an e-mail message, it is often useful to quote the salient parts of the original message and respond specifically to each of them. This requires some cutting and pasting. Do not include in the Reply any unnecessary text from the original message. You need a way to help your reader easily distinguish between the quoted segments of the original message and the new information in your reply. Using right carats (>) on each quoted line, or italic type, or indenting the quoted sections will all work If you don’t follow the suggestions in 2. above, your replies will not only be hard to read and understand, but will also look terrible. Forwarding a Message The only difference between replying to a message and forwarding a message is that in the case of forwarding, the TO: box is left blank. Everything pointed out in XII.B.2 above also pertains here. We have all received forwarded messages (usually jokes or pictures) that have passed through several hands before reaching us, and often there are several sets of e-mail addresses included in them. NEVER include the previous addresses in a forwarded e-mail Managing Contacts (Addresses) Outlook Express includes a fairly powerful and useful address book. It can be accessed from the Program menu (Tools > Address Book) or by Left-Clicking on the Addresses button on the toolbar Adding a New Contact. Once the address book Dialog box is open, to add an address, you can ether Left-Click on the File menu and then Left-Click on New Contact, or Left-Click on the New button on the toolbar and then Left-Click on New Contact, or Press CTRL-N Note: If you choose either 1. or 2 above, you’ll see that you can also add New Groups or New Folders. These are discussed below The Address Book Properties Dialog box opens, displaying seven tabs Name – Here is where you will enter the new contact’s name and e-mail address (mandatory) and her/his title and nickname (optional). You can enter multiple e-mail addresses (just type them in one at a time, clicking on the “Add” button after one) but if there is more than one e-mail address, one of them must be designated the default. This is the one Outlook Express will use unless you choose otherwise The drop-down list box named “Display:” is where you determine how the contact names in your Address Book will be sorted First Middle Last Last First Middle or Last (comma) First Middle The is the only tab on which you MUST enter information, the rest are optional Home – Here you can, if you wish, enter home address and telephone information as well as the URL of a personal web site. There’s also a Map button with which which, once the address information has been entered you can, with a Left-Click, display an Expedia map of the location. If you Left-Click “Default,” thereby placing a check mark in the box, the home address will be used when (for example) printing out mailing labels, a process not covered in this course Business – Here you can, if you wish, enter job information such as title, department, company name, address and telephone numbers, and the URL of the company web page. There is also a Map button identical to the one on the previous tab. Personal - Here you can, if you wish, enter additional personal information about the contact Other – Here’s space for more general information (e.g. what you talked about the last time she called or the current status of a joint project) NetMeeting – If you communicate with this contact via NetMeeting, here’s where you can put the relevant information and there’s a button on which you can Left-Click to initiate a NetMeeting call Digital IDs – If you and your contact use Digital IDs ($19.95 from Verisign) to encrypt your e-mail correspondence, here’s where you store the information needed to decrypt incoming messages from this contact Only the Name tab is required to contain information in order to add the name to the address book (contact list) When you’ve entered the information you need, Left-Click on the OK button Other Ways to Add Contacts Right-Click on a received e-mail and then Left-Click on “Add Sender to Address Book From the Program menu choose Tools > Options > Send and Left-Click on “Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book” Groups and Folders in the Address Book By default, all the contacts are listed alphabetically according to how you chose to list them on the Name tab of the Address Book (see section XII D.2.a above) However you can create Groups or Folders in which to aggregate them according to any system you want. Suppose you have in your address book some friends and relatives, some business associates, some people from a church group and a list of addresses to whom you send a club newsletter which you write once a month It is much easier to establish Groups to distinguish these four categories of contacts or to create four separate folders to hold them. There are pros and cons associated with both Groups and Folders Folders Pros – It is a very neat way of organizing your contacts Cons – If a contact needs to be included in more than one folder, you must have two instances of her/his name in your Address Book Groups Pros – A single contact name can be included in more than one group Cons - The groups you create are displayed alphabetically along with all the names in the Address Book. If you have a lot of names, finding things can start to get a little difficult The Process of creating Folders and Groups is very similar Creaating and Using Folders In the Address Book Dialog box, Left-Click on the File menu and then Left-Click on New Folder, or Left-Click on the New button on the toolbar and then Left-Click on New Folder or press CTRL-R A Dialog box will appear in which you will type the name of the new Folder, then Left-Click the OK button The new Folder will appear in the list on the left side of the Address Book Dialog box You can now drag names (Left mouse button) from the general list of contacts into the new folder. As you do so the names will be removed from the general list and placed instead in the new folder. If you need a name in more than one folder (or if you’d like it to appear in the general list as well as in the folder,) you must copy and paste it to the new location, thus creating a duplicate entry. Creating and Using Groups In the Address Book Dialog box, Left-Click on the File menu and then Left-Click on New Group, or Left-Click on the New button on the toolbar and then Left-Click on New Group or Press CTRL-G A Dialog box will appear in which you will type the name of the new Group. You can also, on the Group Details tab, enter additional information out the group. On the Group tab you can add names to the group by Left-Clicking on the “Select Members” button, Left-Clicking on names in your contact list that appears in the panel on the left to highlight them, and then Left-Clicking on the “Select” button. You can add any name on your general contact list to as many groups as you like without having to duplicate it Left-Clicking on the “New Contact” button and proceeding as described in XIV.D.2 above. This will add the name to both the group and the general contact list Entering a new name and e-mail address in the text boxes below the window displaying the current Group Members Names. This will add a name to the group without adding it to the general list. One entry in the Address Book has not been mentioned yet. It is Shared Contacts When more than one Identity (see below) shares a single e-mail Account (see below), the identities can share address by placing them in the Shared Contacts Address Book Using the Address Book Addressing an e-mail to a single contact On the New Message form, Left-Click on the little book followed by the word To: at the left end of the second text box at the top of the form. Your Address Book will open Locate the name of the person to whom you want to send the e-mail and Left-Click on the name to highlight it Left-Click on the “To” button next to the top box on the right; the name will appear in the box Left-Click on the OK button The name will appear in the “To” text box at the top of your message Addressing an e-mail to more than one contact You do this exactly as you did to address the e-mail to a single contact except that you either: Left-Click on a name then Left-Click on the To: button, repeating this as often as necessary to get all the names you need into the To box, then Left-Clicking on the OK button to return to the message. All the names you selected will be in the To text box, separated by semicolons or Left-Click on all the names you need to highlight them If they are listed contiguously in your Inbox Folder you can Left-Click on the first one, then Shift-Left-Click on the last one If they are not listed contiguously in your Inbox Folder you can hold down the CTRL key as you Left-Click on the ones you want to select Left-Click on the To: button to display them in the box Left-Click on the OK button The names will appear in the “To” text box at the top of your message Sending Courtesy (CC:) and Blind Courtesy (BCC:) copies You’ll perhaps recall that Courtesy Copy (CC:) is used to send copies of the e-mail to additional people and to let the primary recipient know that you did so; while Blind Courtesy Copy (BCC:) is used to send copies of the e-mail to additional people without having their names or e-mail addresses appear in the message The process of using the Address Book to do this is identical to that of addressing an e-mail to single or multiple contacts except that after the contact names have been highlighted, you Left-Click on either the CC: button or the BCC: button and the names appear in the CC: or BCC: text box in your message. Message Rules What are Message Rules Mesage Rules are used to cause Outlook Express to take a specific action when a specified kind of e-mail arrives Message Rules are accessed from the Program menu (Tools > Message Rules > Mail) To create a rule, Left-Click on the “New” button. The New mail rule Dialog box appears. It has four sections: Select the Conditions for your rule – Here you specify the circumstances under which the rule is activated Certain people’s name(s) appear in the To, From or CC lines Certain words appear in the Subject line or the message body The message is marked priority, is larger than a certain size or contains an attachment Etc., (including All messages) Select the Actions for your rule – Here you specify what you want to have happen when one of the conditions you have set occur Move or copy the message to a specified folder Leave it on the server, delete it from the server or from your inbox Forward it, Display the message header in color, Mark it as read, watched or ignored, flag it (see below for a description of watched, ignored or flagged messages) Respond to the message with some “boiler plate” Rule Description – As you select conditions and actions for your rule, the rule is built in the Rule Description box. Left-Click on the condition and/or action to specify it in detail Name of the rule – Here is where you give your rule a meaningful name You can subsequently Modify, Copy or Delete a rule using the appropriated button in the Message Rule Dialog box Using Message Rules to Make Your e-mail Life Easier Here are some example rules I’ve created to make my e-mail life easier: For all messages with the name of a SeniorNet volunteer in the From line, display them in blue (this helps me identify them in the list of received messages) For all messages containing the words “Hours and Miles” in the subject line, move them to the appropriate folder (this saves me the trouble of moving them by hand since they tend to dribble in.) Around the 10 th of the month, I open the folder and record the results.) Using Message Rules to Reduce Spam For all the messages with the words (fill in the blank) in the From line, delete them from the server. What I do here is whenever I start receiving e-mail from a sender I don’t want to hear from (e.g. Staples, Newport Mansions and others that I have given my e-mail address to for some purpose), I modify the rule to add their name to the list. For all messages with the words (fill in the blank) in the Subject line, delete them from the server. This is similar in that I add words to the list whenever I’m bothered by incoming e-mail that I don’t want. Examples include XXX, blond, blonde, Viagra, enlarge, etc. Other Ways to Manage Your Incoming E-mail Flag You can flag a received message to call attention to it On the main menu, Left-Click to highlight the message, then on the Message menu, Left-Click on Flag Message If your message list’s Flag column is turned on (see below) a small red flag will appear next to the message You can also create a Message Rule that will automatically flag in-coming messages that meet the specified Rule Conditions. Watch/Ignore You can watch a conversation that is of particular interest to you. A conversation is an original message and all its replies. In your Inbox or newsgroup message list, select the conversation you want to watch, and on the Message menu, Left-Click on Watch Conversation. If your message list 's Watch/Ignore column is turned on (see below), a small icon that looks like a pair of glasses will appear next to all the messages in a watched conversation. You can also ignore a conversation by selecting the message in the conversation you want to ignore and, on the message menu, Left-Clicking on Ignore Conversation. Ignored messages will have the international don’t symbol displayed in the Watch/Ignore column on the message list You can even hide Ignored messages. Open the Outlook Express Help menu, Left-Click on Contents and Index, Left-Click on the Search tab, type “Ignore” in the text box and Left-Click on the “List Topics” button. In he list of topics that appears, Left-Click on “Ignore a conversation” and follow the direction there Other Options and Settings Customizing the Outlook Express Screen Layout (View > Layout) Here you specify what elements you want to display in the wndow At minimum you’ll want Folder List – the list of the folders you use to organize your e-mail. The defaults are Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items and Drafts Toolbar – Just so you have its functionality In addition, you can add Contacts – Your Address List Folder Bar – A bar that is displayed just below the toolbar and tells you what folder you currently have open – essentially useless Outlook Bar – A bar that is displayed at the left side of the screen and enables you to move between folders. It you use Outlook, it also gives you access to the calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes Status Bar – A bar that is displayed on the bottom of the screen, just above the task bar. It displays the current status of certain aspects of the program Views Bar – A bar that is displayed just below the toolbar (and above the Folder Bar if that is activated). It contains a drop down list control that allows you to specify which messages are displayed (all messages, unread messages, or unread and unignored messages) In the lower half of the Layout Dialog box there is a control to display or hide the preview pane (this is the part of the window that displays the content of the first message in a group that has just been downloaded). It is a good practice NOT to display this pane. Columns In the message window (the largest window in the upper right part of your screen where the list of messages in the current folder is displayed), it is possible to show eleven different columns of information about those messages: From To Subject Date and Time Sent Date and Time Received Size in KB Priority Watch/Ignore Flag Attachment Account Right-Click anywhere on the Heading of the columns, then Left-Click on Columns. Put a check mark in front of the ones you want displayed Highlight an item and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange the columns in the order you want Highlight an item and type a number in the “The selected column should be __ pixels wide” text box to set the width of a column. (You can also set the width of a column at any time by dragging the vertical bar separating the column headings) Accounts and Identities An account is the relationship between you and your e-mail provider (Verizon, Comcast, etc.) Each account includes (at a minimum) information on a username, a password, the address of the in-coming mail (POP3 or IMAP) server and the address of the out-going mail (SMTP) server. Other information might include signing certificates, encryption rules, port numbers, timeout durations, etc. Contact your e-mail service provider to get this information. To see or change the information regarding your account(s), on the Main menu choose Tools > Accounts. Highlight the account you are interested in and Left-Click on the “Properties” button Not surprisingly, you’ll use the Add button to add an account and the “Remove” button to delete one. An Identity is the collection of folders, contacts and configurations associated with one user of an account There may be any number of identities associated with a single account. Identities are typically used when more than one person is doing their e-mailing on a single computer To create a new identity: On the File menu choose Identities > Add New Identity Enter the name of the new identity and when asked if you want to switch to it now answer Yes. The Internet connection wizard will take over. Enter the name as you want it to appear on the out-going e-mails Enter the e-mail address associated with the new identity Enter the server information (see XVII.C.1.a above) If you want to set a password on the account type it in the appropriate text box If you want to import messages and contacts from another identity you can do so on the next screen To switch identities, from the File menu choose Switch Identity.,.. then highlight the one you want to use in the listbox and Left-Click the “OK” button To modify the properties of or delete an identity, from the File menu choose Identities then highlight the one you want to modify or delete and Left-Click on the “Properties” or “Remove” button as appropriate. Avoiding Spam Definition of Spam Spam is nothing more than unwanted e-mail. It is seldom if ever a threat to the safety of your system, but it is intrusive and time-wasting Some things you can do to try to avoid getting spam Don’t give your e-mail address to anyone you don’t want to hear from again Use a false e-mail address when registering on web sites If you must give an e-mail address (e.g. to confirm a registration or order) use a temporary address such as those available from http://www.spamgourmet.com/ Don’t ever unsubscribe from spam. This merely serves the purpose of informing the spammer that your address is real Use a spam filter Many ISPs provide spam-blocking services, but they are notorious for being too arbitrary (e.g. blocking requested information on breast cancer) Legislation has been proposed (and adopted in CA and UT) which uses a sort of "caller-ID" approach, requiring spammers to give their true addresses There are many software programs available for blocking spam at the level of the individual user Black-lists (create a list of addresses you don’t want to hear from and lets through addresses not on the list) b. White-lists ( create a list of addresses you do want to hear from and block all addresses not on the list) Challenge/Response (creates both a black-list and a white-list. When an e-mail from an address not on either list arrives, a "challenge" e-mail is returned to the sender. If he/he responds, the e-mail is passed through and the address is added to the white-list) Beyesian (uses a probability theory approach to analyze the address, subject and content of a message in order to classify it as good or not. Learns from experience) Anti-Spam software Spam Inspector (http://www.giantcompany.com) $29.95 Spam Eater (http://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=5522-2&affiliate=22430) $24.95 Qurb (http://www.qurb.com/account/buy_now.php) $29.95 e-mailProtect (http://www.contentwatch.com/products/e-mailprotect.php) $29.99 e. Choice-mail One (http://www.digiportal.com/) $39.95 Spam Bully (http://www.spambully.com/download.php) $29.95 A unique approach is to view and sort out the spam before the e-mail even gets to your computer: Mailwasher (http://www.mailwasher.net) $37.00 A Word about Identify Theft (Phishing) Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information. The FTC, the nation’s consumer protection agency, suggests the following to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam If you get an e-mail or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click on the link in the message. Remember that AOL, eBay, your bank or credit card company and other web sites related to your money will NEVER send out requests for passwords, PINs, or other sensitive information via e-mail If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization in the e-mail using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address. Don’t e-mail personal or financial information. e-mail is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. If you initiate a transaction and want to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s Web site, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins "https:" (the "s" stands for "secure"). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons. Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to determine whether there are any unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances. Report suspicious activity to the FTC. If you get spam that is phishing for information, forward it to spam@uce.gov. If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at http://www.ftc.gov/, and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft Web site at www.consumer.gov/idtheft to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from ID theft. E-Mail Etiquette 32 Rules found at e-mailreplies.com A Few More Rules from Steve Bass’ Blog Don 't use e-mail as an excuse to avoid personal contact - Don 't forget the value of face-to-face or even voice-to-voice communication. E-mail communication isn 't appropriate when sending confusing or emotional messages. Think of the times you've heard someone in the office indignantly say, "Well, I sent you e-mail." If you have a problem with someone, speak with that person directly. Don 't use e-mail to avoid an uncomfortable situation or to cover up a mistake. Remember that e-mail isn 't private - I've seen people fired for using e-mail inappropriately. e-mail is considered company property and can be retrieved, examined, and used in a court of law. Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should assume that e-mail over the nternet is not secure. Never put in an e-mail message anything that you wouldn 't put on a postcard. Remember that e-mail can be forwarded, so unintended audiences may see what you've written. You might also inadvertently send something to the wrong party, so always keep the content professional to avoid embarrassment. Remember that your tone can 't be heard in e-mail - Have you ever attempted sarcasm in an e-mail, and the recipient took it the wrong way? E-mail communication can 't convey the nuances of verbal communication. In an attempt to infer tone of voice, some people use emoticons, but use them sparingly so that you don 't appear unprofessional. Also, don 't assume that using a smiley will diffuse a difficult message. Use a signature that includes contact information - To ensure that people know who you are, include a signature that has your contact information, including your mailing address, Web site, and phone numbers. Summarize long discussions - Scrolling through pages of replies to understand a discussion is annoying. Instead of continuing to forward a message string, take a minute to summarize it for your reader. You could even highlight or quote the relevant passage, then include your response. Don 't Share - If you and your live in (spouse, lover, significant other, partner... whatever) use the same e-mail address, stop it. Extra e-mail addresses are free and consolidating e-mails into one mailbox is confusing the dickens out of me because I never know who I'm writing to. Use separate identities. Think short and use paragraphs - Obvious, right? Nope. I get e-mails with one long paragraph the length of the Gettysburg address. Break it up into three or four smaller ones. By the way, my limit is three or four paragraphs. After that I start dozing. Send a test message to a buddy to make sure your e-mail program isn 't removing paragraph returns. Use your real name - I know you love your beerbelly49832@aol.com e-mail address. The problem is I haven 't a clue who you are, so add your real name in the signature line.