Number 284 - January 2007

Do You Really Know How To Forward E-Mails?
by Frank Kelly, Colorado River Computer Club Do you really know how to forward e-mails? This was written by a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read the short letter below ...
Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT. Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail (Spam)? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an email there is information left over from the people who got the message before you and sent it to you, namely their email addresses and names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds.    All it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across their computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and send junk mail to them or sell them to spammers in the hopes that you will go to the site and they will make five cents for each hit that they sell. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel and because someone included visible email addresses in their Forwarded message! How do you stop it? Well, there are four easy steps:    (1) When you Forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them or backspace them or cut them -whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first though and then you will have full Editing capabilities for the body and headers of the message If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to Edit the message at all. (I find this a great time to correct spelling, take out those pesty "send this to 10 friends and your will come true" statements.)    (2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, DO NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding e-mail address. Always use the BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses. This way the people you send to only see their own e-mail address and no one else's. If you don't see your BCC: option, click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy.    When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it, providing extra security and privacy to all the people in your Address Book.	(3) Remove any "FW:" in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even correct spelling.    (4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual email you are reading. Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 FW: pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual, final page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent. (Many people will not open all those emails for fear of getting a virus so your message may go unread.)    Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to Forward it to a number of people or your entire Address Book. The email can be Forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses.    FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient's). Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition -and, again, you will protect the privacy of those in your Address Book and provide them additional security against viruses and spammers.    So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses by working together and respecting the privacy and security of one another.    Frank Kelly is a member of the Colorado River Computer Club, Lake Havasu City, AZ, http://www.crccaz.com. Frank has his own Webpage, http://www.citlink.net/~kelcomp/fgkhome.htm. Have a look!
Number 284 - January 2007