E-mail Questions

E-mail has revolutionized communication; we send millions of them every day. It's fast, flexible and just like the Post Office it sorts and delivers it to our door.

Everyone's e-mail is directed through a mail server, similar to the way our mail carrier delivers our letters. My e-mail address is Lauri@wiseowlops.com. My mail server is identified in the last part of our address (after the @). Wiseowlops is my Post Office (server) and Lauri is my specific mailbox.

A major difference between regular mail and e-mail is security. E-mail is not secure - consider it a postcard, anyone who sees it can read it. This is why you never want to send any sensitive information (such as credit card or social security numbers) by e-mail.

Immediacy and convenience are advantages of e-mail, but we like saving on postage too, which leads us to our first question:

Q. Why do I get so much junk mail?

Because it's free - it costs practically nothing to send out a few million e-mail messages which makes it widely used and abused. Software "robots" extract your e-mail address from web pages, chat rooms, even sites where you have signed up for shopping, banking, or other information.

Q. How do I know which are important?

Screen your mail by asking yourself a few questions.

• Do you know who sent you the message? If not be careful.
• Consider whether you have a good reason to read it.
• Does the subject line make sense?
• Be wary of suspect words such as 'free', promises of money, or investment opportunities. Also, watch out for symbols like '$'or '#'.
• Creative senders start with 'Hi there'. Many even "steal' addresses from your friends and family   to lure you into their trap. That why's we check the subject line.

The basic rule - if you're concerned about an e-mail, delete it. If it was from your friend, you can always pick up the phone.

Q. Is there anything I can do to stop receiving junk e-mail?

There are some steps you can take, but it won't go away, because it works. Junk mail has been proven to be an effective method of advertising.

• First and foremost Never ever reply to a SPAM e-mail … Never!
• Most offers to remove your name from a list are untrue and result in your name getting added to even more lists.
• Secure your computer with a good Antivirus program and a good Spam Filter
• Always hide the names of people when sending to multiple recipients

Q. How can do I hide names?

There are three addressing methods for sending e-mail:

• To: recipients are the audience of the message
• Cc: (carbon copy): recipients are publicly informed of the message, and
• Bcc: (carbon copy): recipients are discreetly informed of the message.
  BCC sends a message to multiple recipients, but they do not see the other recipients. It is effective when multiple parties do not know each other. It is also sensible as a anti-spam precaution because it avoids making a long list of e-mail addresses available.

So now that you know how to hide addresses, you can practice using bcc and drop me a note at lauri@wiseowlops.com. I'd love to hear your questions and want to know what's on your mind.