| Sending your file as text inside the body of an e-mail message is better than using an attachment because the recipient doesn’t need any special application to open it. Instead the file will just appear as part of your message and therefore readable by any basic e-mail program. The only disadvantage to this tip is that you will lose some formatting in the text, and graphic images cannot be moved with the message. Another good tip is to beware of e-mail messages that seem to be sent from support@microsoft.com. These messages have a subject line like “your password.” However, they are bogus messages. If you click the file attachment in them, this action may unleash the Palyh worm. The Homeland Security Department has unveiled a Web site offering free cyber-alerts and computer advice. The new National Cyber Alert System will send urgent e-mails about major Internet attacks to those who sign up for this service.
Multiple E-mail Accounts
If you want to set up an e-mail account for many people, most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will give customers several mailboxes. For instance, America Online (AOL) provides seven for each account. You signed up to AOL with a master screen name. That means you have six more screen names available. To add names, find Settings on the AOL toolbar and click Screen Names, Create a Screen Name. You'll want to look at the Parental Controls if this is for a child. Other ISPs also offer extra accounts. Cox Communications, a big broadband ISP, provides seven. You can easily add addresses. You will have to configure your e-mail software for the new account. To do that in Microsoft Outlook, click Tools, E-Mail Accounts. Select Add a New E-Mail Account, and follow the wizard. In Outlook Express, click Tools, Accounts, select the Mail tab, click Add, Mail, and follow the wizard. In Netscape, go to the Mail window click File, New, Account, select E-Mail Account, and follow the wizard. Eudora calls accounts Personalities. To create a new account, click Tools, Personalities, right click Persona, click New, select "Create a brand new e-mail account," and follow the wizard. ePrompter is a program that simultaneously checks multiple e-mail addresses. It's easy to set up and you'll save time by not having to log into numerous different Web pages. ePrompter automatically and simultaneously checks and retrieves your e-mail messages from up to 16 password-protected e-mail accounts such as AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, Earthlink, Email.com, iName, Juno, Lycos, Mail.com, Mindspring, MSN, Netscape, POP3, OneBox, Rediffmail, SBC Yahoo, Switchboard, USA.net and hundreds of other e-mail domains. Each e-mail account is color coded to help you differentiate between accounts. It will automatically check e-mail and notify you of new mail through a jingle or bass riff.
Music/Sounds
To send some sounds or music with your Outlook Express e-mail, you
need only create your message and then choose Format, Background, and Sound.
When the dialog box opens, click Browse, locate the sound you want to use,
and then double-click its icon to select it. Click OK to insert the sound
into your message and close the dialog box.
Outlook Express 6
You can add a shortcut to Outlook Express in the Startup folder on
the Start menu so that it always opens when WinXP starts. This tip should
save you some time accessing Outlook Express.
Retrieve E-mail
Etrieve is a service that lets you listen to your e-mail through your telephone from anywhere at anytime. The e-mail is read aloud by a text-to-speech program. You can then respond to the e-mail still working through your phone by recording a voice message. Etrieve will e-mail this reply back to the sender with a voice attachment file. You don't need a new phone or e-mail address to use Etrieve. There's a free demo at the site
Saving E-mail Message
Most popular client and Web based e-mail programs, including MSN and
Microsoft Outlook, have an option for saving e-mail messages to a location
other than within the program itself. This feature comes in handy if you’d
like to save e-mail messages and open them later without the aid of an
e-mail program. Open the message and select Save As from the File menu.
The default might be a proprietary format, in MSN, for example, it adds
the extension .EMAIL. By scrolling through the options in the “Save As
Type” box, you can select .TXT, which can be opened later as a simple text
file, or HTML can be opened in a Web browser or another common format.
Spam
Almost everyone who uses e-mail has received “spam” or unsolicited e-mail. Some spammers even provide an "unsubscribe” e-mail address within the message so you can seemingly ensure no subsequent unwanted mail from them. However, the “unsubscribe” address is often actually a ploy. Your reply lets the spammer know he has reached a valid address. As a result, you may receive even more spam because your address can be added and/or sold to more mailing lists. There are several ways for you to eliminate these spam messages. If you use Outlook Express, select its Block Messages feature. From the Tools menu, select Message Rules and Blocked Senders List. For each e-mail address or domain that you want to block, click Add and enter the address or domain you to be block in the Add Sender dialog box. Ensure that the Mail Messages radio button is selected and click OK. If your ISP is AOL, select Mail Controls from the Mail menu. On the first AOL Mail Controls window, select the appropriate screen name under “Set Mail Controls For,” click the Customize Mail Controls For This Screen Name radio button and Next. Under “Allow And Block Screen Name, E-mail Addresses, And Domains” click the radio button to Block E-mail From The Listed AOL Members, E-mail Addresses, And Domains, Allow E-mail From All Others. Now you can type the e-mail address for the offending spammer, click Add, Summary, and review the controls. If they look correct, click Save. McAfee recommends spam messages be forwarded to the Federal Trade Commission. Other useful tips to reduce and/or eliminate spam include: don’t use Hotmail (Because of its popularity, spammers target this e-mail program.); ask your friends to leave you off chain letters; accept messages only from trustworthy people; don’t ever post your e-mail address anywhere on the web; and lastly, don’t ever click a link in a spam message. Even with all of those precautions, you will undoubtedly still receive spam. You’ll even receive it if you use spam filter utilities, but these programs will reduce the number of unsolicited messages. Some of these utilities include:
Streamline E-Mail
There are a few ways for you to help prevent your e-mail from being
misidentified as spam. 1. Always put something in the subject line. Many
people will ignore e-mail messages with blank subjects. 2. Keep the subject
simple. You should avoid words, expressions, and symbols that set off flags
such as exclamation points, or words such as FREE, opportunity, and Viagra.
Use a simple sentence that's limited to about five or six words.
3. Answer messages by responding only within the subject line. For instance,
if someone e-mails you with info about an upcoming event, you reply with
the subject line, "Got the event details – thanks. End of Msg.” There’s
no message except for your response in the subject block. The trick reduces
the number of e-mails that need to be opened by everyone.
Talking E-mail
With Win98/Me you can now have a pleasant voice announce the arrival of and read your e-mail messages. You can choose an animated cartoon character to do the talking. The registered version gives you a choice of characters and voices. Developed by 4Developers, Talking E-mail is shareware that uses Microsoft's advanced text-to-speech technology. It works with a standard mail account and leaves messages on your mail server so you can download them later with Outlook Express. No special hardware other than a sound card is required. You can download Talking E-mail.
Templates
This tip applies to anyone who needs to send similar e-mails, such
as customer service notes, group events, or instructions of some kind,
on a regular basis to friends, family, students, etc. The secret is to
create and use e-mail templates. This way you just type in the new information
and e-mail the message. Templates are easy to create. Open a blank e-mail
and enter the information that is always repeated. Leave blank space for
new information. Next, do the following, depending on your e-mail program:
In Outlook Express/Outlook, click File, Save As and then name the template
with the extension EML (OFT in Outlook). In the Save In box, select Desktop
and click Save. To open the template, go to the desktop and double-click
its icon. In Eudora, click File, Save as Stationery, and name the template.
In the Save In box, select Desktop and click Save. To open the template,
you must go to the desktop and double-click its icon. In Netscape, put
the template's name in the Subject box, click File, Save As, Template.
The template will be saved under “Templates in the Name” box in the Netscape
e-mail window. To open the template, click Templates and then double-click
the template in the Subject area.
Undeliverable E-mail
There are at least two good reasons why you could get a message that the e-mail is undeliverable. One, it is crucial that your e-mail program use the correct address for the ISP's outbound e-mail server. If the address is wrong, the mail will be undeliverable. The address is something like mail your ISP.com. Your ISP can give you the correct address. Here is how the address is set up in four popular e-mail programs. In Eudora, click Tools, Options, the Sending Mail icon, enter the address in the SMTP Server Box, and finally click OK. In Outlook Express, click Tools, Accounts, Properties, Servers. Now enter the address in the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) box, click Apply, OK, and Close. In Outlook, click Tools, E-Mail Accounts, select "View or change existing e-mail accounts,” and click Next, the Name next to Default, and Change. Now enter the address in the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) box and click Next, Finish.
In Netscape, click Edit, Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings, Outgoing Server (SMTP), enter the address in the Server Name box, and click OK. In AOL, if you're sending e-mail to another AOL user, you can enter that person's username only, for instance, johndoe. But, if sending e-mail to someone who does not use AOL, you must use the full address, e. g. johndoe@someisp.com. Two, you might get an undeliverable message if the ISP's e-mail server is down. If these possibilities don't apply, send your message later in the day.
According to AOL, the top 10 e-mail spam topics include: Viagra and other drugs, such as Xanax, Valium, and Celebrex, online pharmacy; get out of debt, sexual enhancement, online degree or diploma, low mortgage and insurance rates, work from home, porn, and “as seen on Oprah.”
|
