Byte of the Week

I have a new favorite commercial site: Lindskoog Florist in downtown Minneapolis. I kind of think of Lindskoog as THE skyway florists. (I was happy to see they service outside the skyways too.)

I had reason this weekend to visit their web site and I just love it. They are currently hosting a contest to win $100 by answering one question that is answered on the site. The site is really well organized – it even starts with specials, which I have to admit is where I start when buying flowers.

The search feature is helpful (especially when answering the contest question) and the site map is called the index, which is another thing I love.

My least favorite web site of the weekend is the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It has been down all weekend. All I get is an error statement, which is too bad because often I love the MIA site – partially because they are usually so up-to-date.

Today’s Byte is a guest Byte from Tom McGrath
in Minnesota. Tom sent me this great suggestion and I asked if I could use it pretty much asis.I find that I am receiving more and more email that has the look and feel of spam or virus mail. In fact, some real people can compose email that looks more like spam and virus infected mail than virus and spam generators can manage.

My personal rules are:

Always start the email with a reference that will assure the recipient that it was not written by a bot. (Referring to a previous communication or specific issue in the first paragraph will accomplish this.)

Explain clearly what any attachments are in language that could not be anticipated by a virus.

Avoid non-standard abbreviations, especially in the subject. I have seen my spam filter, a Bayesian filter, send legit emails to Junk
Suspects when the subject used multiple non-standard abbreviations. I think it picks these up as the nonsense words that are often used to try to fool these kinds of filters.

I receive my email using Outlook. I use it with the auto-preview (not preview pane) turned on. This lets me see the first three lines of the message without opening it. Based on what is in these first three lines I determine if I will open the message or not. Do I ever make a mistake and junk an email I would prefer to open. Maybe, how will I ever know! Still I think everyone would be well advised to make the subject and first lines of the email they send beg to be opened.

(Ann’s note – I would agree and emphasize good use of subject lines. I try to get as specific as possible both to let folks know my message isn’t spam but also so that it’s easy for them to find later if they archive it.)

Last night I was helping my husband promote a one-day conference on Irish Literature & Music. (If you’re interested you can learn more here. It made me think that a lot of people are shy about sending emails to folks, when they shouldn’t be. Done right, sending email can be very effective. I successfully use email often to share info with strangers (often to promote conferences). Here are the steps I take.

I think of people who would generally have an interest in my message. For example it seems that local English teachers might have an interest in the Irish Lit conference.

Once I have a target group I think of two ways to reach them: through an association where they might be a member and through personal email. For example there is a MN Council of Teachers of English and I can get many of the teachers’ personal emails through their school web sites.

I send personal notes to associations asking them to forward the message on to their members, I ask them to add the event to their calendar if they have one, and I might offer to write an article on the topic if appropriate. This is a good way to reach a lot of people.

With personal emails I make them personal. I use the person’s name if I have it and I try to make a connection to the person using whatever info I have been able to glean from their web site. It might be as simple as saying “…since you teach English I thought you might be interested…” Sometimes I can glean more, “I see that you wrote your PhD on James Joyce, so I bet you’d be interested in…” Reaching people these two ways has worked very well for me.

It takes a long time to email this way – but the return on investment is usually pretty good. And rarely have I had anyone who was upset about receiving an unsolicited email message.

Free email accounts are great! Thye can help separate work from fun email. They are good options for kids. They are good options when you have an ISP that keeps changing their name, thereby changing your email address. As promised last week, I’m outlining a few of the free email options out there:

Gmail - This is Google’s free email offering. I know some folks who love it!

Pros – you can import contacts from other email accounts; search feature is second to none; you can report spammers in an effort to filter out the bad guys.

Cons – keyword ads are placed on the mail pages; due to search features some feel Gmail is (or soon won’t be) private. Interesting – because of the extensive search feature, Gmail encourages you to “archive” messages rather than delete them.

Yahoo Mail – Yahoo mail has been around for quite a while.

Pros – it works for a lot of people; you can receive messages up to 10MG (good for photos); it integrates with Yahoo Messenger.

Cons – Yahoo has been known to change it’s privacy policy, which could mean sharing your address with third parties

FastMail – I don’t know a lot about Fastmail but in doing research it caught my eye.

Pros – you can access Fastmail from Outlook and other email clients; (In other words it supports POP and IMAP access.) you can choose from a long list of domain names to use.

Cons – does not support encrypted messaging; does not store a lot of mail.

If you are looking for other options, About.com has a nice list of their top 10 favorite free email options.

Email is still the most popular application on the Internet. Since I get questions about email I thought I’d send a few answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Email is not private. So never send your credit card number, social security number, or other information you’d rather not share via email.

Email lives longer than cockroaches. It lives on your computer and on your Internet service provider’s (ISP’s) mail server. So, it’s not a good place to keep secrets.

Work email is the property of work and people have been fired for misuse. If you need a non-work account there are free options; I’ll outline a few next week – including Gmail.

Don’t open suspicious email. Spam and viruses can look as if they come from anyone. When in doubt, don’t open strange email or attachments.

Get a virus checker (learn more in this old Byte). Ask your ISP about any industrial virus checker they might use. (I’m super happy with IP House and their virus/spam checker.)

Never reply to unwanted, unsolicited email. Once you reply, the spammers know your address is good. Even if they never use it themselves – they may sell it.

On an unrelated note, a Byte subscriber sent me a fun Minnesota podcasting site last week: The Sounds of Minnesota. It’s a short directory of MN podcasts. Some topics are not for the faint of heart – but some (others) look good.

Email Worm Spreading Fast was the headlines for the Minneapolis Star Tribune online yesterday. The latest email virus is out there – and I have been hit. Like the Sobig virus last summer, I have been targeted but not infected.

So, what does this mean? Well, the good news is that I do not have the virus. The bad news is that I received 100 infected email messages from 10:00 pm Monday to 6:00 am Tuesday. My virus checker (Symantec) catches the virus and deletes it from my inbox. However I must manually approve (click OK for) each deletion. It doesn’t sound like a lot – but I have done it literally hundreds of times in the last two days!

What is this virus? I have seen this virus called Norvag and Mydoom. It arrives attached to an email message as a file with one of these extensions: .bat, .cmd, .exe, .pif, .scr, or .zip. The subject lines I have been seeing are results, status, test, and hi.

What does it do? If you get the virus, it can open a backdoor into your system, potentially execute arbitrary files, and allow a hacker to access your network resources.

How can I avoid the virus? First, get and/or update your virus checker. (I wrote an earlier Byte on this.) Second, never open unknown attachments. Even if you know the sender, don’t open anything unexpected or suspicious. The virus can disguise itself as a friend! In fact, many viruses (this one included) will grab random email addresses to put in the “sender” field of the email message. This does not mean that message came from that friend. Another nasty result is that if your email address has been grabbed – you will get email messages telling you that the message you sent had a virus or was undeliverable. This does not necessarily mean you have the virus or that the message came from your computer.

How can I avoid the email? I wish I knew. Yesterday I decided to play hooky and get hundreds of infected email at the end of the day rather than 15 at a time throughout the day. On a tangential note – St. Paul’s ice palace is worth the trip.

For more information on the virus (including what to do if you are infected) check out the Symantec web site.

Spam in Austin is good spam in email is bad. I’ve been seeing a lot about spam these days, which made me think that it’s always a good time for anti-spam reminders for anyone who uses email – which by definition includes this list. Here are some tips and suggestions:

Never reply to a spam message – even if they say “to remove yourself from this list please reply”. Once you reply they know that your address is good and that you read your email. Even if they never email you again – they will often sell your address to another spammer. (Removing yourself through a web site is an even worse idea.)

If you participate in online chats (such as any of the Google Groups) use a separate email account. (You can get a free account at Eudoramail.) Some spammers scan public chat areas for email addresses.

Minimize the number of times you submit your email into an online form. This might be another opportunity to use the free email mentioned above. Read any online agreement carefully before you “agree” or provide an email address. (I once received an email card from a friend that looked legitimate – but when I read through the lengthy process to download the card I realized that it asked me if it was OK to send the same message to all of my email contacts. Luckily I hadn’t just “clicked OK” – my friend wasn’t so lucky, he hadn’t intended to send me the card at all. In fact all of his contact has received the same email as I had.)

Minimize the number of times your email address shows up on the web – especially as a link. Some spammer “harvest” email addresses from web sites. You must balance accessibility with the risk of spam.

If you get a lot of spam, consider setting up an email filter to block suspicious email. (I wrote an earlier Byte on the topic; you can access it here.)

This week I thought I’d share my favorite e-newsletters. Some are work related; some aren’t.

GrantStation – A terrific list if you like to keep your eye on national nonprofit conferences and funding opportunities.

Dictionary Word of the Day – The name says it all!

Tourbus – Topical articles on a wide range of Internet issues, mostly targeting the end user.

The Rake – For local folks only – The Rake sends coupons and special invitations to events in the Twin Cities.

Great Dating Ideas – Cheesy and embarrassing yes, but I got two good ideas from this very sporadic newsletter!

I got the following email today and I wanted to send it you today for two reasons. One – it’s a great tip for any ATM users. Two – it reminded of what a powerful tool email is. This message was forwarded 3 times before it reached me.

Sending email message of value is a good way to spread the word and to get your name out in front of a lot of folks.

From Tim Lynch, St. Paul Police
Informational relay (FBI and Local Police Alert)
tim.lynch@ci.stpaul.mn.us

Thieves are putting a thin clear, rigid plastic “sleeve” into the ATM card slot. When you insert your card, the machine cannot read the strip, so it keeps asking you to re-enter your pin number. Meanwhile, someone behind you watches as you enter and re-enter your number.

Eventually you give up, thinking the machine has captured your card and walk away. The thieves then remove the plastic sleeve complete with card, and empty your account. The way to avoid this is to run your finger along the card slot before you put your card in. The sleeve has a couple of tiny prongs that the thieves need to get it out of the slot, and you will be able to feel them.

Law enforcement would like as many people as possible to be aware of this scam, so please pass this information on to your friends and family and associates.

I spoke with a great group in Anoka yesterday and we were all bemoaning the prevalence of unwanted email. So I thought I’d look up some information on email filters for various email clients and would share what I learned with the group. An email filter will help reduce the spam you see in your mailbox.

Below are a few sites that help set up filters with popular email packages:

Setting up Email Spam Filters using Outlook Express (BerkshireNet)

Setting up Email Spam Filters using Microsoft Outlook (BerkshireNet)

Setting up Email Spam Filters using Netscape Mail (BerkshireNet)

Setting up Email Spam Filters using Eudora (BerkshireNet)

Garbage Mail (Helps with AOL)
Not being an AOL user this is the best I can do for the AOL folk.

Also, you might want to check with your Internet service provider to see if they have any services that can help reduce spam. VISI is my email provider and they offer a few options.