| This problem has been around since the dawning of | | | | you do not know. If you see messages coming from |
| Adam and Eve. When the Lord punished them for | | | | senders having a title to their names, it is a good bet |
| eating from the Tree of Knowledge, He wisely left | | | | these are Nigerian 419 messages that are scams. |
| out the punishment called Getting Rid Of The Junk. | | | | Messages coming from a bank where you do not |
| They had to figure out how to get rid of the trash. | | | | have an account are "pfishing" scams that have gone |
| Today, the Information Age piles up all kinds of trash. | | | | astray. Beware of messages coming from senders |
| All of it is electronic. Most of it is unsolicited. A lot of | | | | that use your financial institution. Flag them, then |
| it is scam. A typical inbox will get over 1000 | | | | check on their validity later. |
| messages a day, most of which is unsolicited junk. | | | | NEVER open a message containing an attach file |
| To combat this plague, we have resorted to | | | | coming from a sender you do not know. This is an |
| innovations such as spam filters, junk e-mail filters, | | | | open invitation to destroy your computer by allowing |
| and blocking software such as super duper firewalls. | | | | viruses or spyware / malware to enter your system. |
| Some of these devices do not work very well, and | | | | Step 6 Sort the In Box by Subject. This will group all |
| many of them get rid of valuable e-mail. Junk e-mail | | | | remaining messages by Subject. Most of these |
| will still get through. Valuable e-mail will still get | | | | messages are spam or are from scam operators. |
| blocked. | | | | Here is what to watch for: |
| Because computers still cannot reason, a human being | | | | Messages starting out with dots, dollar signs, |
| must still filter the junk mail and save the valuable | | | | currency amounts, or any other non alphabetic |
| e-mail. Here is how I do it. I will be the first to admit | | | | characters: These are spam. Delete. |
| it is not totally fool proof. | | | | Messages starting out with your name. The sender is |
| Step 1: Open Microsoft Outlook Express. All of the | | | | trying to personalize the message. You do not know |
| incoming e-mails will be read into the in-basket. I go | | | | the sender from Adam or Eve. Delete |
| get coffee or else catch up on writing. | | | | Messages starting out with "Congratulations" What |
| Step 2. Sort the in-basket by date and time received | | | | major accomplishment did you do that rates a pat on |
| Step 3. Flag each message I think is important. It | | | | the back? This is spam / scam. Delete |
| could be from an important person or company or it | | | | Messages starting out with splash introductions. You |
| could have a Subject that catches my interest. Be | | | | didn't ask for a splash. These are UCE otherwise |
| very careful to flag everything and don't miss | | | | known as SPAM. Delete. |
| anything. | | | | Messages coming from an unknown sender with all |
| Step 4 Click on the Flag icon at the top of the | | | | capitol letters. These are Spam. delete |
| Outlook Express toolbar. Then, select all the flagged | | | | Messages starting out with "You" These could be |
| messages by pressing Shift + click for the bottom | | | | SPAM but this isn't certain. |
| message in the grouup. Then move the group using | | | | If the sender is a legitimate person as opposed to an |
| drag and drop to a special category box I've named | | | | autoresponder, you may recognize the Subject may |
| called Flagged Items. This takes all the good stuff out | | | | convey enough interest to make you read the |
| of the In Basket and saves them. | | | | message. Again, nothing is certain. |
| Step 5 Sort the In Basket by Sender. Then, review | | | | If you get 1000 messages a day, this screening |
| the In Basket by scrolling down the sorted list. This | | | | technique will reduce the load to a more manageable |
| will catch any good stuff that might have been | | | | 200 messages. Again, remember that nothing is |
| missed. When you find any good stuff, flag it and | | | | certain. You could be letting in SPAM / SCAM into |
| when done, group the flagged items and move the | | | | your system. On the other hand, you could be |
| group to the flagged item box | | | | blocking out valuable e-mail. Remember, computers |
| Note also that you will see messages from senders | | | | cannot reason, but you can. |