Get rid of junk e-mail from people you don’t know
Nov 05, 2002
THERE was a time when people did not dread opening their e-mail programmes, because you got messages from the people you knew.
THERE was a time when people did not dread opening their e-mail programmes, because you got messages from the people you knew.
Those days, pop-up windows, and flashing graphics did not distract you from the message at hand.
The formatting of the body of messages was simple: plain text, easy to read.
Now, we have to brace ourselves before opening Outlook. For every message we read, we have to hit the delete key to get rid of loads of junk mail.
But this is not the only problem. With a number of incompatible e-mail programmes in circulation, each with a different system of formatting and forwarding previously-sent messages, it has even become difficult to read legitimate messages!
Thankfully, programmers are hard at work trying to make e-mail an asset again, instead of a chore.
As a result some programmes like Watch Your Back!
(http://www.grinningshark.com, targeted at people who like no-nonsense e-mail messages, have appeared on the screen recently.
In addition this particular programme has no fancy fonts, background colours, or embedded objects that might contain viruses.
This tool, which acts as a Microsoft Outlook plug-in, can be set up to strip incoming e-mail messages of obnoxious and potentially damaging codes.
The tool can be configured either to wipe out incoming attachments or to allow particular ones.
You can download a free trial version of Watch Your Back! A registered copy is just US$12 (approx. sh22,020).
An annoying habit of many e-mail programmes are bad line-breaks and typographical symbols (such as “>†and “<â€), that pepper outgoing messages.
A nifty free utility called eCleaner will clean this up, as well as unwanted headers and bad HTML codes, that tend to make e-mail that has been forwarded unreadable.
eCleaner works its magic by scanning text that you highlight within your e-mail program.
Once you highlight the text and invoke eCleaner, pressing F1 will clean up the text in a cinch.
The program is available at http://www.lubbockinfo.com/cleaner.
Another program that does roughly the same thing as eCleaner but includes a few other niceties is eClean 2000 (http://www.jdsoftware.com/eClean2000).
eClean 2000 runs as a stand-alone application. It would be nice if tools such as this ran within your e-mail program, but so far such a program hasn’t yet been invented.
Nevertheless, eClean 2000 will strip out the garbage from messages that have been forwarded to several people.
eClean 2000 is shareware, not freeware. So after a trial period, you’re asked to pay the author a small fee.
The fight against spam - (unwanted, unsolicited e-mail), is of course never-ending. Mailwasher (http://www.mailwasher.net) is one of the most promising new entrants in this battle.
This freeware tool will scan your e-mail accounts and allow you to preview the mail that is waiting.
The program lists basic information about each e-mail message, including the sender and the subject.
You can also inspect complete headers and message bodies.
For unwanted messages, choose the option “Bounce or Delete†to send a “no recipient exists,†message back to the sender.
The message will appear to have come from your internet service provider.
The sender’s address then goes to Mailwasher’s black list of junk mail senders.
dpa
Those days, pop-up windows, and flashing graphics did not distract you from the message at hand.
The formatting of the body of messages was simple: plain text, easy to read.
Now, we have to brace ourselves before opening Outlook. For every message we read, we have to hit the delete key to get rid of loads of junk mail.
But this is not the only problem. With a number of incompatible e-mail programmes in circulation, each with a different system of formatting and forwarding previously-sent messages, it has even become difficult to read legitimate messages!
Thankfully, programmers are hard at work trying to make e-mail an asset again, instead of a chore.
As a result some programmes like Watch Your Back!
(http://www.grinningshark.com, targeted at people who like no-nonsense e-mail messages, have appeared on the screen recently.
In addition this particular programme has no fancy fonts, background colours, or embedded objects that might contain viruses.
This tool, which acts as a Microsoft Outlook plug-in, can be set up to strip incoming e-mail messages of obnoxious and potentially damaging codes.
The tool can be configured either to wipe out incoming attachments or to allow particular ones.
You can download a free trial version of Watch Your Back! A registered copy is just US$12 (approx. sh22,020).
An annoying habit of many e-mail programmes are bad line-breaks and typographical symbols (such as “>†and “<â€), that pepper outgoing messages.
A nifty free utility called eCleaner will clean this up, as well as unwanted headers and bad HTML codes, that tend to make e-mail that has been forwarded unreadable.
eCleaner works its magic by scanning text that you highlight within your e-mail program.
Once you highlight the text and invoke eCleaner, pressing F1 will clean up the text in a cinch.
The program is available at http://www.lubbockinfo.com/cleaner.
Another program that does roughly the same thing as eCleaner but includes a few other niceties is eClean 2000 (http://www.jdsoftware.com/eClean2000).
eClean 2000 runs as a stand-alone application. It would be nice if tools such as this ran within your e-mail program, but so far such a program hasn’t yet been invented.
Nevertheless, eClean 2000 will strip out the garbage from messages that have been forwarded to several people.
eClean 2000 is shareware, not freeware. So after a trial period, you’re asked to pay the author a small fee.
The fight against spam - (unwanted, unsolicited e-mail), is of course never-ending. Mailwasher (http://www.mailwasher.net) is one of the most promising new entrants in this battle.
This freeware tool will scan your e-mail accounts and allow you to preview the mail that is waiting.
The program lists basic information about each e-mail message, including the sender and the subject.
You can also inspect complete headers and message bodies.
For unwanted messages, choose the option “Bounce or Delete†to send a “no recipient exists,†message back to the sender.
The message will appear to have come from your internet service provider.
The sender’s address then goes to Mailwasher’s black list of junk mail senders.
dpa