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Email Management
By S. Housley
If you utilize a computer at home or
work it is likely that you use email. Email is an electronic message that is
sent from one computer to another following a specific protocol (Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP). As email's popularity has grown so too have
the inherent problems with email.
In order to send email you must have
the exact spelling of the email address. If there are any typographical
errors in the recipient's email address then an unintended recipient could
receive the email message. When creating an email address avoid characters
that cause confusion, like the number 1 (one) and the letter l (el), computer
fonts often cause those two characters to have similar appearances. Try to
create an email address that cannot easily be misspelled.
As email has
become a popular communication medium the email address should not be too
long or complicated, but easily
said in a phone message. Choose an email
address that is easy for others to remember, as a pen is not always
handy.
Unfortunately spam, unsolicited email has become common
place,
though many countries are taking action to make
spamming illegal, these
measures will unlikely have any short term effect on your email inbox. Many
email clients that are used to read and respond to email messages,
include basic filtering options that will sort your email messages into
folders, based on rules that you define. Email messages can typically be
stored and filtered by sender, subject and contents. There are also a number
of 3rd party tools available for limiting the amount of spam received.
Spam filters typically use different filtering technologies.
When evaluating whether a spam solution fits your needs consider sorting
filtered email into a specific mailbox for review prior to deletion. This
will prevent any important messages from being unintentionally
deleted.
As with almost anything, the best defense is a good
offense.
It is best not to post your email address in public forums, where
spammers can harvest it. If you have a website consider typing out the email
address: 'name at domain.com', without using the "@" symbol, as this will
prevent the address from being abused by email harvesting bots.
Another alternative is to provide a contact form rather than an email
address.
Resources: Email Clients -
http://www.messaging-software.net/e-mail-client-software.htm
Spam
Filters -
http://www.email-software.org/spam-filter-software.htm
About
the Author -
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc.
http://www.notepage.net a company
specializing in
alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging
software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
, and http://www.small-business-software.net
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