e-Mail is the abbreviation for Electronic Mail. It was one of the first abbreviations beginning with 'e', for electronic activities/ things that mimic physical stuff. Today, of course, there are scores of terms that have the e-prefix - some of these being e-Book, e-Shopping, e-Learning, e-Ticket, etc.

Postal mail is slow, which is why it is sneeringly called 'Snail Mail'. e-Mail is near-instantaneous: the IT Departments of huge organizations guarantee that any e-Mail sent out by anyone in the organization to anywhere else in the world will reach the recipient within a maximum of two minutes. And, that any e-Mail from any part of the world to anyone in the organization will be received within a maximum of two minutes. Anything more than two minutes is considered sub-standard!

With Mobile services flourishing, SMSs (Short Messaging Services) have become extremely popular too. However the following are the drawbacks of SMSs, in comparison with e-Mail:

SMSs are a lot more expensive - an SMS is considered to be the first 160 characters sent. Any extra characters are counted as the second (and third, fourth, etc.) SMS and are charged extra, by the Mobile Telephony Service provider. On the other hand, a single e-Mail may contain as many characters as you please, it is just one single e-Mail. Moreover, these are not chargeable, for it utilizes the existing Internet connection at the office or home
SMSs cannot contain attachments. MMSs (Multimedia Messaging Service) may contain small attachments, but these attract more charges. Sending/ receiving MMSs are also a lot slower than sending/ receiving e-Mail. However, one may attach just about any kind of file, any size, and any number of different files, with an e-Mail

Its not as if e-Mail is a panacea for all communication requirements - today, the problem of Spam is so real, that organizations invest tens of thousands of dollars in installing AntiSpam equipment and software! A piece of recent statistics is that today, the world over, more than two-thirds of all e-Mail received are Spam Mail - mail that the recipient did not ask for! Therefore, if organizations do not protect themselves from Spam, it would result in a colossal loss of man hours! Studies have shown that a person spends about 15 seconds to glance through a mail and identify it as Spam. Thus, a person receiving 100 Spam mail spends 1500 seconds - i.e., nearly half an hour out of his/ her 8-hour work day, just separating their Spam mail from their genuine mail!

Again, most viruses are today distributed by their creators over harmless-looking e-Mail. Organizations therefore spend tens of thousands of dollars in buying and implementing AntiVirus equipment and software. If organizations (as well as individuals) do not protect themselves from Virus-infected mail, they risk losing all their precious data to the Virus! The losses are so large that they cannot even be assessed correctly!

So what is the solution - never send or receive another e-Mail for the rest of your life? Certainly not - that's rather like not stepping out of your home for fear of being crushed under a speeding vehicle, isn't it? The best that can be done is;

Purchase and use best-quality AntiSpam and AntiVirus Software
Update both your AntiSpam and AntiVirus software regularly - a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link and a Computer Security product (such as AntiSpam or AntiVirus product) is only as good as the last update!
In addition to AntiSpam, AntiVirus (and AntiSpyware, which is a slightly different story - click the link here to read all about it!) ensure that your Browser and Operating System are current and updated as well!
Follow the global e-Mail etiquettes that we have enumerated later on in this page
Follow the safe e-Mail practices we have enumerated later on in this page

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NOTE: Safe e-Mail is not about Point 1. or 2. alone, from the list above. It is all about ALL the 5 points listed above!

Brief introduction to e-Mail

There are two kinds of e-Mail systems. The first is called PoP3 Mail (short for Post Office Protocol) and the second is called IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).

Under IMAP, you may access electronic mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a shared or dedicated Mail Server. The IMAP Mail Server allows a "client" email program (such as Microsoft's Outlook/ Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird and others) to access remote message stores as if they were present on the user's Computer, at his/ her location. Under IMAP, there is no need to transfer messages or files back and forth between the Mail Server and the User's Computer(s). The user may access his/ her mail even while traveling, without requiring to transfer the mails to his/ her Computer. In fact, the user may check both new as well as old mail, from more than one computer. You will recognize that most of the free e-Mail services (GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, etc.) essentially follow IMAP. Most of them today offer PoP Mail services as well.

On the other hand, the PoP Mail system requires that the user transfer all mail to his/ her Computer. Of course, the user may choose to retain a copy of the mails on the Mail Server too. Thus, PoP works best when the user has a single Computer, as all mail can then be downloaded to this Computer. If the user downloads mail to multiple Computers (without choosing to keep a copy of the messages on the Mail Server - a setting that he/ she would have to set up for each computer that is used to access PoP mail), then the user's mail would be scattered on multiple computers! A rather obvious drawback of the PoP system is that if your mail system or machine crashes, the process of recovering your mail is tedious. With IMAP, since your mail resides on the Mail Server, your Computer crashing does not make your mails inaccessible!

Before you ask - No, it is not possible to configure your mailbox to accept both IMAP as well as PoP Mail! For those interested, here are the key similarities and differences between the two e-Mail systems:

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Common Characteristics:

Both e-Mail systems support offline operation
Mail is delivered to a shared e-Mail Server that is "always on"
New mail is accessible from a variety of client platform types
New mail is accessible from anywhere in the network
Clients available for PCs, Macs, and UNIX Computers
Protocols deal with accessing e-Mail only - both systems depend on the SMTP (Send Mail Transmission Protocol), to send e-Mail
Both methods support persistent message IDs (for disconnected operation)

POP protocol advantages:

Simpler protocol; easier to implement
More client software is currently available

IMAP protocol advantages:

Can manipulate persistent message status flags
Can store messages as well as fetch them
Can access and manage multiple mailboxes
Can support concurrent updates and access to shared mailboxes
Suitable for accessing non-email data; e.g., NetNews, documents, etc.
Can also use offline paradigm, for minimum connect time and disk use
Companion protocol defined for user configuration management (IMSP)
Constructs to permit online performance optimization, especially over low-speed links

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The Key goals for IMAP include;

To be fully compatible with Internet messaging standards, e.g. MIME.
To allow message access and management from more than one computer
To allow access without reliance on less efficient file access protocols
To provide support for "online", "offline", and "disconnected" access modes
To enable support for concurrent access to shared mailboxes
To ensure that client software needs no knowledge about the server's file store format

In summary, although IMAP is a superior e-Mail system, PoP is currently a lot more popular. However, with virtually all e-Mail clients offering both PoP and IMAP facilities, it is likely that the IMAP system will gain popularity.

A look at select e-Mail Clients

Our discussion of e-Mail clients will be restricted to Windows-based solutions. Under the Windows platform, the following are the best-known e-Mail clients:

Microsoft Outlook Express

Microsoft Outlook Express is perhaps the most popular e-Mail client today. It is freely bundled with Windows and is a light software that loads and retrieves mail quickly and efficiently. It lacks the powerful Calendar and elementary groupware facilities of Microsoft's paid-for e-Mail Client, Outlook. It also has elementary Spam filtering capabilities - not the more powerful Spam filtering capabilities of Outlook, though it matches Outlook for the ability to create mail rules.

Under Windows XP, Outlook Express mail and attachments are by default stored in .DBX files, with the Address Book being stored separately in the file Address Book, which is a file with the extension.WAB. These files are by default located in the folder, C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express, where <User> is the User's Login Identity and {GUID} is a folder with a long alpha-numeric name, that is created when you install Windows XP. If you are recovering from an Outlook Express crash, you will need to separately restore your mail (.DBX files) and Address Book (.WAB file).

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is yet another popular e-Mail client. It is bundled along with Microsoft's Office Suite and may also be purchased singly. It has facilities for electronic scheduling of your appointments as well as rudimentary facilities for sharing mail and documents with your colleagues, friends or family members. Outlook also has fairly powerful Spam filtering capabilities, as well as excellent, yet easy-to-understand facilities for creating mail rules. Although it takes significantly more time to load up and if purchased along with MS Office, costs about US$100, it is the best choice e-Mail client, if you must have features such as electronic scheduling and groupware features.

Under Windows XP, Outlook saves all information - your mail, attachments as well as your Address Book, into a single file carrying the file extension .PST. This file is located in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. However, if you have created a Personal Address Book, it would carry the extension .PAB and by default, would be located in the same folder

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Here is a comparison between Outlook Express and Outlook, along with a brief note on which should be your choice.

Microsoft Outlook Express is free and is included with the Microsoft Windows operating system, while Microsoft Outlook is commercial ware. It has to be purchased along with the MS Office suite or purchased separately
Outlook Express is designed for home users who do not need to share their appointment schedules/ files with other users. On the other hand, Outlook is designed for the corporate user who is on an always-on Leased Line and who needs to share appointment schedules and files with co-workers. Outlook is more a messaging and collaboration client, rather than a plain-vanilla e-Mail client. It integrates Calendering and Contacts Management with e-Mail
Both Outlook Express as well as Outlook are designed to work with all Internet standards. Both support SMTP (Send Mail Transfer Protocol), PoP (Post Office Protocol) as well as IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol), along with support for current technologies like Light Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), HTML and Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension Hypertext Markup Language (MHTML), Secure/ Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) and Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). In addition to these, Outlook also supports vCalendar, vCard, iCalendar and full support for HTML Mail. Outlook Express lacks features that allow the user to work seamlessly with Microsoft Office Applications, while Outlook is built to seamlessly work with these as well

Qualcomm's Eudora
Qualcomm's Eudora has a very dedicated fan following the world over, for its simplicity and ease of use. Eudora is Adware - therefore though it is completely free for use, you would have to watch advertisements whenever it is open. A difference with Eudora is that it stores attachments separately - not with the mail itself. Therefore, in case you need to retrieve older mail after your computer goes through a mail crash, there is the extra step of recovering your mail's attachments as well.

Mozilla's ThunderBird
Mozilla's Thunderbird is considered to be a very safe e-Mail client. This is in large measure due to the fact that it is not very popular, worldwide. For those used to Outlook and Outlook Express, Thunderbird's interface is likely to look unfriendly.

Netscape's Pegasus Mail
Pegasus Mail is yet another e-Mail client that is preferred by very few users worldwide. We at WellOiledPC have not studied it in detail, though we have used the Netscape browser and find it to be an excellent browser. For our shoot-out of Browsers, click here

Opera's built-in e-Mail client
Although we have checked out Opera's browser and find it to be light and extremely user-friendly (but for the glitch in running Java applets), we have not studied its e-Mail features. Opera e-Mail is also not widely used. For our shoot-out of Browsers, click here

Choosing the best e-Mail client

We at WellOiledPC recommend Outlook Express and Outlook. These are the most popular amongst e-Mail clients, with every other e-Mail client offering facilities to import mail, attachments and address from these clients. Both these are long-standing products with excellent features and extremely simple-to-use interfaces - you cannot go wrong, when almost everyone else the world over uses one of these e-Mail clients!

WellOiledPC Tips on choosing between Outlook Express and Outlook

Choose Outlook if:

You require elementary groupware/ discussion group functionality
You require integrated Calendars (with To Do Lists, Alarms, etc), etc.
You require a robust e-Mail client because you send/ receive a large number of mail daily

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Global e-Mail Etiquettes

In normal, everyday conversation, we all abide by certain basic norms. For example, you wouldn't shout at your listener unless you had real good reasons to. You wouldn't turn your face away from the speaker for too long or otherwise convey your lack of interest in the conversation - instead, you would tactfully end it, and so on.

e-Mail too is a form of communication and there are certain basic, global etiquettes while going about e-Mailing. These etiquettes are mostly targeted at keeping the reader of your e-Mail as comfortable as possible, just like a real-world conversation. Remember, these are basic norms - not 'fundas' or 'tips' that will help you with your online marketing efforts: volumes have been written about these - mostly trash - and hundreds of websites have sprouted on the Internet, 'guaranteeing' to turn you into a millionaire while you are trimming your moustache! All bunkum, needless to say!

Here are some important etiquettes, that we believe are basic to e-Mail: wherever possible, we present examples:

Use Title case while sending e-Mail, whatever be the importance of your message. Using All Capital letters is considered 'shouting', in the world of e-Mail, since ALL-CAPITAL LETTERS SEEM TO - SORT OF - DEMAND YOUR ATTENTION!
In the same vein, avoid using Bright Red Text or Bold Text at the drop of a hat. The message that (unwittingly) goes out to receivers of e-Mail using ALL CAPS, Bright Red Text or All Bold Text is that the sender is demanding their attention. This amounts to disrespecting the recipient's time, by the sender!
Do not use different font types in your e-Mail. Usage of Different fonts for no apparent reason only serves to distract the reader from your message! Similarly, eschew the temptation to use too many text colors, if you are in the habit of doing so - different text colors too end up distracting the reader from the thrust of your message. Black or Dark Blue text against a white/ light background is easiest to read. White or Yellow text against a dark background is equally readable too.
Use Bold, Italics and Underlined text appropriately, to highlight your points alone. Their overuse would once again only serve to distract your reader!
While on the topic of fonts, here is one more: Do not use different font sizes, as it will again end up distracting your reader.
It is a good idea to keep your e-Mail brief and to the point. No elaboration is required for this etiquette! However if you do require an explanation, it is the fact that reading text off a computer monitor is a lot more difficult than reading text printed on paper.
It is a good idea to create your e-Mail signature or V-Card and have it automatically appended to your e-Mail, if you are a sales person or frequently need to send e-Mail to a number of strangers. An e-Mail signature is practical since it lets your recipient know just how (s)he may get in touch with you. It is also a warm gesture, letting your recipient know just who the sender of the mail is. Specially since the number of spam mail hitting mailboxes worldwide is sky-rocketing by the day!

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Your e-Mail signature should contain the following elements:

Your Full Name
Your Full Address - Home or Office, as appropriate
Your Telephone Number - Landline, Hand Phone or both, as appropriate
Your e-Mail (although the reader may 'Reply To' your mail, it is a good idea to explicitly mention your e-Mail, in your e-Mail signature)
Your Website address or your organization's website address

Apart from the above, you may also add your company's tag line or logo, if you are sending official mail.

It is also common to append an appropriate Season's Greetings, depending on the festival drawing near. Thus a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! is a good idea if used in December and a laughable one, if used in March...

All e-Mail clients allow you to create your own e-Mail signature. You have the option of creating multiple signatures and appending different signatures to different mail. For example, you may append a short signature to mails that you are replying to, while you may append your complete signature to a new mail you are about to send to someone you are mailing the first time. All this can be configured automatically too, so that you do not need to manually append the appropriate signature to each mail!

The norm for using the To:, Cc and Bcc: fields while sending e-Mail are as follows:

The To: field should be used where the recipient needs to act on your e-Mail, or you want to inform the recipient about an action done by you. One-to-one e-Mail always uses the To: field.
The Cc: field should be used for recipients who only need to be informed that you have given instructions to the concerned person (i.e., the person in the To: field)
The Bcc: field should be used only where you do not want the people in the To: and Cc: fields to know who else you are sending the mail to. The Bcc: field cannot be read by anyone except the sender of the mail. (In fact, even the sender cannot read it at a later date, with Outlook Express. On the other hand, Outlook saves this information and makes it visible later on as well)

Here is an example that should clarify the above Thumb Rule:

Situation:

You sought advise on which Notebook to buy, from your three friends A, B and C.
A and B know each other, while C is not known to either A or B.
Your friends A and B recommend Vendor V, while your friend C recommends Vendor W.
You now want to place your Notebook order with Vendor V, after due consideration of both their proposals.
You would like to do it such that your friends A and B know that you are placing your order with the vendor they recommended.
You also want Vendor V to know that your are informing your friends A and B about the purchase order you are placing with him. However, you do not want him to know about your friend C
You do not want A or B to know that you had consulted friend C in this matter.
You want to inform your friend C that you are placing your order, but to a Vendor recommended by your other friends A and B.

Solution:

You should put Vendor V's e-Mail address in the To: field
The e-Mail address of your friends A and B should be put in the Cc: field
The e-Mail address of your friend C should be put in the Bcc: field

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Again, two rules of thumb with respect to using the To:, Cc: and Bcc: fields while sending an e-Mail are:

Put the e-Mail addresses of all persons you are sending the e-Mail to in the To: field, if you are mailing 5 persons or less
If you are mailing more than 5 persons, it is best to put your own e-Mail address in the To: field and all other e-Mail addresses in the Bcc: field. You may even leave the To: field blank - your mail will still be delivered to each and every person in the Cc: and Bcc: fields. Remember that the actual body of the message is displayed after the list of recipients, under all popular PoP3 and IMAP mail clients. Therefore, if you have a hundred e-Mail addresses in the To: or Cc: field, you are forcing the recipient to scroll endlessly, before (s)he gets to read your e-Mail! When the addresses are put in the Bcc: field, it is not visible to the recipient and therefore, your message body appears right at the top of the e-Mail they receive from you

Here are some more useful tips while sending mail, based on the length of your mail:

If your e-Mail is only a screen-full or less, it is best to send it in the mail body
If your e-Mail spans across more screens - say 5 screens, it is best to send it as a text or Microsoft Word or Adobe Reader attachment. It becomes easier to view the attachment in its native application, at this stage
If your e-Mail is really huge and extends across several screens, making it larger than, say 512 KB, it is best to zip it up before attaching it to your e-Mail. Certain file formats - like databases and spreadsheets, can be compressed to 10% of their original size! Also, almost everyone uses WinZip these days, so the recipient would not face a problem unzipping zip files. The benefit is that it takes you much less time to attach a zip file (as it is compressed, and therefore, occupies much less space) and it takes the recipient much less time downloading a compressed Zip file too. The disadvantages of having to download the zip file and then unzip it are outweighed by the advantage of sending/ downloading it quicker

WellOiledPC Recommendation:

bxautozip is a wonderful utility for zipping up attachments, even if you are the forgetful sort. It is for Outlook and Outlook Express users alone, though. With bxautozip installed, you may set your preferences so that bxautozip automatically zips attachments, before the mail gets sent. For example, you can set your preferences so that any attachment larger than 512 KB is zipped up automatically, before you send the mail. It is bxautozip's responsibility to check whether your mail has any attachment, when you click on the 'Send' button. It intervenes at this stage and if it finds an unzipped attachment larger than the size you specified in its settings (512 KB in our example here), it promptly zips it and names the file as 'attachments.zip', before letting Outlook/ Outlook Express actually send the e-Mail. With bxautozip installed, we at WellOiledPC have saved oodles of time and bandwidth! bxautozip is freeware, you may download it from the link, http://www.baxbex.com/bxautozip.html

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Safe e-Mail practices

Tracert

While the previous topic on e-Mail etiquettes was merely to let you send a clear e-mail in a pleasing manner to your readers, this topic - Safe practices - will help you attract less Spam Mail. It will also help ensure that your mail does not land up in your recipient's Junk e-Mail folder. Apart from ensuring that the recipient does not miss your mail, it will also make it that much more difficult for unscrupulous elements to steal your digital identity.

Note - the following tips alone are not sufficient to stop spam completely or make it impossible to steal your digital identity. These tips are at a very fundamental, basic level. Practicing these will make it easier on your Spam Filters and reduce the load on your Firewall, Antivirus and AntiSpyware programs.

One of the first things you need to know is that your e-Mail (or indeed, any piece of data that you send out from your computer) goes through a number of interim stops (Servers), before it is delivered to the final destination. For example, here is the detailed 'Traceroute' from our Computer, to the closest GMail server.

As you may observe, there are a total of 19 stops along the way, before it reaches the GMail server (googlemail.google.com) The time it takes for reaching each interim computer and the IP Number or name of each interim destination is also given, in the screenshot to the left.

In spite of so many interim destinations, your e-Mail is received by most respondents, usually in under a minute.

However, do note that an unencrypted e-Mail (in fact, ANY piece of unencrypted data) that you send out from your Computer can be read at any of these interim destinations!

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Most of the times, you would not bother encrypting your e-Mail, but you would CERTAINLY want to encrypt your Credit Card or Bank details, when you purchase stuff over the Internet! This is why you ought to check whether the site you are using your Credit Card at possesses a verifiable SSL Certificate. We at WellOiledPC have ensured your safety by implementing the thawte SSL Certificate. Therefore, when you shop with us, all your data arrives in an encrypted form, where our Server decodes it. For more details on the need for Encryption and how to check whether the seal displayed at a site is genuine, check out this link

Check out our SSL Certification on either of;

a) http://www.welloiledpc.com/index.htm

b) http://www.welloiledpc.com/securitypolicy.htm

Click on the thawte Certificate at the bottom of each of these pages, to verify.

Everything under the sun has pros and cons. While a knife may be used to butter toast, it may also be used for murder. Similarly, e-Mail is definitely a boon, but it has cons that are just as bad as murder! This section presents some of the most basic precautions that you must take, so as to minimize the chances of your coming to grief. Do note that merely following these tips is not sufficient guarantee that your digital identity is safe - you still need to run up-to-date AntiVirus and AntiSpyware solutions!

Here are the tips that will help protect your digital identity as well as ensure that your mailbox receives as little spam mail as possible:

NEVER reply to suspicious mail. Unless you work at the White House (and even if you do...), you are not likely to receive a personal e-Mail from President George Bush. Not only is such mail is almost certainly spam, it may even be the first attempt at fishing out your personal details. If you receive such a mail, the best course to adopt is to configure your e-Mail client (or your IMAP mail account) to flag it as Spam and move all subsequent mail from the sender/ entire mail domain to your Spam folder.
NEVER reply to suspicious mail. You are unlikely to receive mail from, say, President George Bush. Not only is such mail is almost certainly spam, it may even be the first attempt at fishing out your personal details. If you receive such a mail, the best course to adopt is to configure your e-Mail client (or your IMAP mail account) to flag it as Spam and move all subsequent mail from the sender/ entire mail domain to your Spam folder.
It is not always a good idea to click the 'Unsubscribe' link provided in a Spam mail. By doing so, you may end up confirming that your e-Mail exists and that you check it regularly! If you unsubscribe from such mails, do not be surprised if you start receiving ten new spam mail the very next day! A good rule of thumb is to unsubscribe from a spam mail only if it specifically carries your e-Mail address. Mail that has been sent by a stranger to 'Unknown Recipients' or to a 'Suppressed Mailing List' or to someone not known to you (with your name not appearing in the To: or Cc: fields) is most likely a phishing attempt, sent to ferret out your personal details!
Ignore mail supposedly sent out by Banks/ Financial Institutions like PayPal, Bank of America, Citibank, etc. Especially if you do not bank with them! Such mails are definitely mischievous, if not downright dangerous! It is a good idea to forward such mails to the authentic organization - usually they are quick to thank you for your action! For example, any suspicious mail that claims to be from PayPal should be forwarded to spoof@paypal.com. By forwarding such mail to the genuine organization, you are helping them fight spam! Ignore mail sent out from mail domains that are a close match to popular mail domains. For example, a mail supposedly sent out using the domain yarzoo.com is almost certainly spam.
Various versions of fraudulent mail circulates the Internet these days. Some of these are as follows:
- Mail informing you that you have won a huge amount of money
- Mail informing you that someone in Nigeria has left you a huge sum of money
- Mail informing you of secret ways, using which you may earn thousands of dollars every day, for a few minutes of work every day
- Mail offering you a job at an organization you have never heard of, leave alone applied for
- Mail requesting you to help in locating missing children, pets, etc.
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Whatever be the story version or the actual wording, all these have one thing in common: all of them solicit your personal details - if not in the first mail, then in a subsequent mails, if you respond to the first one. Your best course of action is to configure your e-Mail client to flag it as Spam and let it move all subsequent mail received from the same source to your Spam folder. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT EVEN TRY TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM SUCH MAIL!

Coping with Spam

Spam is defined as unsolicited mail. Spam mail may not designed to harm your Computer or you, it is usually merely a big waste of your productive time. It is impossible to completely eliminate all spam mail, even for a few days at a stretch.

The task is complicated by the fact that what is Spam to you may be a useful mail to someone else, and vice versa. As we have said in other sections too, currently there is no easy way to stop Spam completely. All that you can do is to adopt safe e-Mail practices and thus, restrict your spam e-Mail count. Even restriction will save you precious time, frustration and money. e-Mail practices to reduce Spam include the following:

1. Keep your e-Mail Address away from public eyes as far as possible

Spammers create e-Mail Harvesting programs to collect e-Mail Addresses from places like Internet chat rooms, Web sites, Newsgroups, Guestbooks and blogs, to which you post. Instead of posting the e-Mail address as, doctorkent@hotmail.com, posting it as doctorkent-at-hotmail-dot-com will make it immediately decipherable to humans, while e-Mail Harvesting programs would just not be able to catch it!

2. Choose complex e-Mail Addresses

Spammers also attack Mail Servers and use a method called Dictionary Attack, in their attempt to send out Spam Mail. In this method, Spammers get access to a Mail Server. This is easy, considering that mail servers MUST grant access to e-Mail! Once inside the server, spam is sent out to different combinations of letters and common names at the server. Thus, a simple e-Mail address like joey@mydomain.com would be easier to attack, than a more complex address like joey_dsouza@mydomain.com.

3. Choose to NEVER click Links in Spam e-Mail

The fact that you should not click a Spam mail’s link to the merchandise advertised in it is a no-brainer: after all, you’d only be lead to products or services you do not want. What is equally important is that you do not click ANY link in the Spam mail – not even the Unsubscribe link! If the spammer has gone to the unscrupulous lengths of doing a Directory Attack (another form of e-Mail harvesting) on your mail server, the chances are that he isn’t going to stop himself from sending you mail in future, just because you have unsubscribed! In fact, by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link in the Spam mail, you are merely confirming that your e-Mail address is correct and that you check it regularly! So, instead of being bothered by one undesirable product or service, you would end up being bothered by half a dozen such products and services in the immediate future!

Instead of clicking on the links inside a Spam mail, you could type the link into your browser and visit the links mentioned in the spam mail. Do not be surprised if you end up with a ‘Page Not Found’ message, more often that not! This means that the links in the mail do not lead anywhere, except to the Spammer’s private collection of ill-gotten e-Mail addresses!

4. Use a good e-Mail Filter

All e-Mail Clients have built-in, easy-to-use Spam Filters. Popular free e-Mail services running the IMAP protocol - such as GMail, Yahoo Mail, etc., have excellent Spam filtering capabilities as well. It is to your advantage to put them to maximum usage.

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In addition, there are freeware and commercial software that specialize in identifying Spam and removing it before it reaches your Inbox. Some of the reliable Personal AntiSpam products are;

JunkSpy MailWasher Matador Norton Internet Security SpamAssassin SpamButcher SpamCatcher SpamKiller SpamNet

Pretty violent names, huh? While we have not tested all these products, we have used MailWasher with great results and have no hesitation in recommending it. For more details about Spam Mail, check this link

5. Use a good Virus Scanner

As mentioned earlier, the dividing line between Spam mail and Virus mail is very thin. Many mails containing viruses as attachments can also be detected and stopped, by Server-level AntiSpam solutions. However in case a few still slip through, a decision on your part that you will never open or accept attachments with mail that is suspect Spam, will serve you well!

We would like to re-emphasize this: while all the above best practices can help lower the number of spam and Virus-laden e-Mails that you receive, these are not substitutes for an AntiVirus program! You MUST invest in an effective AntiVirus program, so that your PC stays WellOiled at all times!

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How e-Mail works

Click this link to understand how e-Mail is sent and received, over the Internet.