PCWize Vol 4, Issue 04 - E-mail and beyond January 23, 2000 ______________________________________________________________________ Want more out of your e-mail, but just can't decide which e-mail clients to try, or just don't have the time to really check them out? ZDNET has done a fairly good review of some of the most popular packages out there. Please note that this is highly dated, and should only be used as a basic guideline to determine which packages you might want to D/L and try out. My favorite of course, (and what PCWize is written with) is The Bat! Currently in version 1.39, it still has a few hang-ups, but version 2 is just around the corner and I expect it to wipe the walls with the other e-mail software out there. ------ In this issue's "That's the News!" column, I provide a link to www.ebay.com. I wanted to share an experience my wife had using their services. Having your own domain name is great, especially when you can have unlimited e-mail aliases such as imadork@pcwize.com, or fakeaddress@pcwize.com etc. This capability has given me an unparalleled opportunity to rid myself of SPAM e-mail. I've got over twenty different aliases set up for all sorts of different things. For example, every User Discussion List (UDL, some people refer to them as just mailing lists) has an e-mail alias. Let's pretend that I am on a UDL called "Furry Tie Lovers" (apologies to anyone out there who is actually running a UDL named this. ), and all the e-mail on this list deals with, well, people who love furry ties! Before joining this list, I would create an e-mail alias called furrytie@pcwize.com or ftl@pcwize.com, and then join the UDL using that e-mail address. The same is true for when I post messages to usenet newsgroups. I have created multiple throwaway aliases such as usenet1@pcwize.com or news1@pcwize.com. So why do I do this? Two reasons; The first is that I can very easily set up message filters in my e-mail program to move messages addressed to imadork@pcwize.com to the imadork folder. The second reason is that if I start getting SPAM on an alias, then I know right away that whatever UDL, newsletter etc. that I am using that alias for, is either selling/giving away e-mail addresses of their subscribers, or they have a security problem and someone has stolen their subscriber database. These may not be definite, as some UDLs also keep on-line message bases that are available via the WWW to anyone. I tend to stay off these lists anyway, but sometimes it happens. Once an alias has been compromised (stolen, sold, found out etc.) then it is a simple matter for me to unsubscribe from the UDL/list, delete the e-mail alias, create a new one, and resubscribe using the new alias. Because each alias is unique to each UDL/list/purpose, I only have to do the above once, as opposed to say, unsubscribing from multiple UDLs/lists because I used the same e-mail address for all of them. Hey Leif!... I thought you were going to say something about ebay.com! Well, yes, I was. What all the prior explanation was for is so that you'd understand how I am so certain that the below happened the way it did. I set up an e-mail alias for my wife on PCWize, she then used it on ebay.com to bid on a purse (which she got a phenomenal deal on by the way!). ebay.com was the ONLY place in which she used this alias, and within days, she was getting between 8 and 12 SPAM per day. Needless to say, that alias was soon thereafter deleted. So what happened? Did ebay.com sell my wife's address? No, I doubt it. What more likely happened was that some unscrupulous person(s) used what is called a spider to scan web pages and extract e-mail addresses. Because my wife had bid on the purse, and happened to be the highest bidder for a while, her name and e-mail address were listed on the item's page as such. She just happened to get nailed by the spider. With the plethora of pages available on ebay.com, a spider would have a field day in collecting addresses. While a spider couldn't possibly get all the addresses, because the web pages are so dynamic (highest bidder changes often, items are sold and the page removed etc.), you could be one of the unlucky ones that it does collect. So what is my remedy for this? If you have your own domain and unlimited alias support, then by all means, maximize the benefits from it. If you don't have one or both of the above, then I suggest getting an e-mail address from hotmail or other such free e-mail provider service. I am not sure what ebay's rules concerning e-mail addresses are. It could very well be that they don't accept addresses like hotmail, so here is a directory that you can look at. They list hundreds of free and almost free e-mail services. Just scroll through until you find one that meets your needs. Hope this helps to make your day a SPAM-free one. BTW, in case you were wondering, I get over 150 e-mail per day, and I'm averaging about one SPAM message per month. ______________________________________________________________________ TOC 1. Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff 2. Software Review 3. Cool Sites 4. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's 5. That's the news! 6. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends If the columns in the below articles appear misaligned, it's because you are using a non-fixed width font. If you would like to see them nice and straight, change your e-mail font to Courier New. ______________________________________________________________________ ** A word from our sponsors ** ------ http://www.freecreditanalyzer.com - Get your credit situation analyzed online without affecting your credit report. ------ Want to see your advertisement here? For more information, go here: ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Voting Booth and Other PCWize Stuff ------ Click here to vote for PCWize as one of the best newsletters in the "E-zines Top Ten Poll"! It's just a click, no need to fill anything out. ------ Come visit the PCWize forum and live chat. You may discuss anything computer related and it's a good place to get help with any computer questions you may have. ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Software Review ------ I always thought that the interfaces to Star Trek computers were mondo-cool looking. Apparently so do a lot of people. How about getting a notepad replacement with the Star Trek look, or a calculator, file explorer, ZIP extractor, media player etc.? Now if someone would just come up with skins for my e-mail program! ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Cool Sites ------ I've never been big into things like tarrot cards, palmistry, crystal balls and such, but when I ran across this site, it just peaked my interest. I guess my decision to check it out had to do with the fact that the site owner didn't sound flaky or "out there." While I still didn't give it much weight, it was pretty interesting. ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Tips, Tricks, Do's and Don't Do's ------ Microsoft is really big on idiot proofing their software. For example, why did they find it necessary to force me to click the "View Files" link every time I wanted to get into my C:\Windows folder. Argghh! If you've moved out of the idiot stage and want to get rid of that annoyance, then all you have to do is go into the Windows folder and rename/delete the folder.htt file. I renamed it just in the extreme case I might need it again. Once this is done, you'll have to move out of the Windows folder and go back into it to see the change. If you're rooting around in your Windows folder and don't see it, that's probably because you've got Windows set to not display hidden files. To fix this, click on View (while a folder is open), select Folder Properties, View tab, under Hidden Files, select the Show All Files radio button. An additional note for this tweak. Once you rename or delete the folder.htt file, the Windows folder will show as just a plain window with files in it. What I mean here, is that it won't have the left-hand column with the folder information and file details. If this suits your tastes perfectly, then you can also do this to every folder on your hard drive by going into the C:\Windows\Web directory and rename/delete the folder.htt file there. However, if you want the Windows folder to have the left-hand column, then all you have to do is go to the same folder I just mentioned, and copy the folder.htt file into the C:\Windows directory. Oddly, I had to reboot my machine to be able to see this change take effect though. Although not as annoying, the Program Files folder also has a specialized folder.htt. Using one of the above tips will allow you to customize this as well. ------ Here is another tip to get rid of yet another pet peeve of mine. The task scheduler (the little icon in your task tray that looks like a window with a clock and a calendar book) is enabled by default to run some tweaking tasks at specified intervals. If you don't particularly care for it (I don't, because I tend to do all of this stuff manually when I feel like it), all you have to do is right click the Task Scheduler icon, select "Open", Click "Advanced" on the toolbar, and select "Stop Using Task Scheduler". If you ever decide later to use it again, just click the "Start" button, go to Programs / Accessories / System Tools, select "Scheduled Tasks", and when the Task Scheduler window pops up, click "Advanced" on the toolbar, and select "Start Using Task Scheduler". ______________________________________________________________________ 5. That's the news! ------ Remember that guy I told you about in issue 4.01 who paid the $35 USD bill to renew the passport.com domain name registration for Microsoft? Well, it seems that Microsoft reimbursed him $500 USD, and now he's auctioning off the check on ebay with the proceeds going to charity. If you've got some cash just burning a hole in your pocket, then maybe this is for you. Then again, you could always make a donation to the Ashley Gregory college fund too! ______________________________________________________________________ 6. Security Issues, Hoaxes, Viruses and Other Urban Legends ------ Please visit http://www.pcwize.com/tech/computer/secdef.shtml if you would like to know the definitions for hoaxes, viruses, worms and urban legends. ------ Those who have been with me a while remember the special edition of PCWize (back then it was VBOK) I sent out concerning the Happy99.exe/SKA virus/worm. Well, it's back! However, it has been updated slightly to a Y2K version, but remains largely unchanged. Hmmm, a lazy virus writer. I wish they were all like that! :^) Whether or not this was the first of its type (I don't really recall), in my mind it was the one that really got the ball rolling on this genre of re-mailing (reproductive-wise) virus/worms. It certainly was the most prevalent, as I received innumerable e-mail infected with it. Luckily, I never ran the Happy99.exe attachment and therefore remained uninfected. Well, lucky isn't really the correct word as I've made it a practice to never run attachments at all. What it does: The Y2K version pretty much does the same stuff that the '99 version did except that the fireworks display now says "Happy New Year 2000!!", and it keeps a list called LISTE.SKA of all the unfortunate recipients that you (once infected) have inadvertently sent the virus/worm to. This is good (if you can say that about being infected), as it makes it easy to notify those people that you have sent them a virus/worm. What to look for: Any e-mail that has an attached file called happy00.exe Go here for more info: ______________________________________________________________________ Well, that's it for this issue! Have a good week and I'll see you in seven days. Leif Gregory Copyright © 1997-00 by Leif Gregory. All rights reserved. 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