STOP Getting Spammed by Your Own Email Address

Over the last few weeks I have noticed that spammers have started more and more spam email from YOUR/MY email address. The email is from YOU and also to YOU. Chances are you have your email address white-listed . Here's a little trick I use to stop these emails from getting into my Inbox.

First why would you email yourself…last week I wrote a tip on how you can stay organized by emailing yourself… that could be a reason.

Here's how you can move the spam emails out of your Inbox but still keep the real emails you have emailed yourself.

Decide on a few characters that you will type in the Subject of every email that you send yourself. Keep it simple as you want to be able to type these characters from your BlackBerry etc as well. Use something like QAZ or whatever is easy for you to type.

Any time you send yourself an email type those characters in the Subject e.g. Instead of "Pick Stuff from Supermarket", you would need to type (say) "QAZ Pick Stuff From Supermarket".

Now setup Outlook.

1. Add your own email address to the Safe Senders list in Outlook (this is probably already done)

2. Create a Rule in Outlook so that all emails from your email address get moved to your Junk Mail folder, except those with your special tag in them (QAZ in the example above)

Click Tools - Rules and Alerts
Click New Rule to display the Rules Wizard

Click Move messages from someone to a folder.
Click people or distribution list. Enter all your own email addresses in the From field and click OK.
Click specified folder. Use the screen that comes up to select the Junk E-mail folder and click OK.
Click Next
Click Next

Tick except if the subject contains specific words.
Click Specific Words. Enter the tag (QAZ in example) and click Add. Click OK

Your Rules should look something like the following:

Click Finish.

Now anytime Outlook receives an email from you, it will get moved to the Junk Emails folder, EXCEPT when they have your special tag. EASY!

Does this tip work for you. Do you have other better methods. Tell me what you think by leaving a comment on the blog.

Related Links:
Fine-Tuning Spam Filtering in Outlook

Make sure the Subject of your email is right for the recipient

There was a big jump in sales for SendGuard over the last month so this month's product tip is for SendGuard.

We did a survey last year to see what annoyed people about emails they received. Number 1 on the list was MISLEADING SUBJECTS… and most of the time the misleading subject was an accident.

First an explanation… a common cause for incorrect Subjects is… I need to send an email to someone who is not in my contact list… I find an email from them and click Reply… I type my new message but I FORGET TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT.

The contents of my new email have absolutely nothing to do with the original Subject!

How does SendGuard protect you from this… anytime you do a reply on an old email, SendGuard will ask you if you want to change the Subject.

How old is an old email… that's up to you. You can decide on how old the email has to be before the prompt will be triggered. SendGuard's default is 28 days and that works well for me.

To turn on this feature and/or to change the number of days:

Go to your Inbox.
Click Tools-Standss-SendGuard-Settings.
Click on the Subject Guard tab.

Change the appropriate settings and click OK.

Do you think this is a useful feature? Let us know by leaving a comment on the blog.

Outlook To Do Lists for the Disorganized: Use Emails instead of Tasks

Need to make sure that you get something done… EMAIL YOURSELF! This works much better for me then putting it on a Task List. Why? Like many people my Inbox acts as my real (or at least more immediate) Task List.

Here are some ways to get the most out of this super easy tip.

1. Basic Way: Just Email yourself when you need to remember to do something.

2. Need to follow up on an email that you are sending out to a client: BCC yourself on the email and a copy will end up in your Inbox.

3. From your BlackBerry or other email-enabled phone: This is my FAVOURITE. It means that I can update my To Do List from anywhere… I'm at the supermarket and remember that I need to call a client on Monday… easy… I create and send a email from my phone… and I can get back to chasing my 4 year old down the candy aisle.

Did you find this tip useful? Do you have your own creative ways of applying this tip. Leave a comment on the blog.

Other blog for this week:
Make sure the Subject of your email is right for the recipient

Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the Wrong People

In my earlier post Why and how you may want to turn off Auto-Complete I wrote about how someone accidentally leaked confidential details to a New York Times reporter. If you deal with a lot of confidential information, here's another way you can make Outlook warn you when you send out emails.

SendGuard for Outlook will prompt you when you send out an email to anyone (or to selected recipients).

Assuming that you actually look at the message, instead of blindly clicking Yes, this simple prompt could save you a lot of embarrassment.

Do I use this feature myself? No.. The majority of the emails I send don't really have confidential information… I still use SendGuard for Reply and Reply/All warnings, missing attachment warnings, Subject Warnings and Clean-Up etc.

Your situation may be different if you send out a lot of confidential emails… still having the message come up for all emails may be a bit annoying.

In that case, you can also configure SendGuard to only prompt you on emails sent to particular people (for example your boss or your most important clients... or news reporters).

Go to your Inbox.
On the main menu, click Tools-Standss-SendGuard-Settings.

Select the Send Confirm tab.
Click Display message for only these email addresses.
Click Add and use the screen that comes up to add an email address. Repeat for as many addresses as you need to add .

Your criteria for choosing people to add to the list should be:

1. People whose emails must be worded correctly (e.g. important clients)
2. People to whom you don't want to accidentally send the wrong emails

Do you find this feature of SendGuard useful? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment.

Related Posts:
Why and how you may want to turn off Auto-Complete?

Why and how you may want to turn off Auto-Complete?

I like the Auto-Complete feature in Outlook. I like typing a few characters of an email address and then having Outlook give me a quick list to pick from based on the characters that I typed in. It saves me a lot of time… but it can also create problems too.

For example… a few days ago I needed to send an email to Anand Kumar… I was in a rush and accidentally picked and sent the email to Anand Singh instead… luckily for me the email did not contain any confidential information.

On the other hand, this lady wasn't so lucky...

The emailer higlighted in Lilly’s $1 Billion E-Mailstrom accidentally sent a confidential memo to a New York Times reporter (whose name was very similar to that of the intended recipient)… and they published a story on it.

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/05/Eli-Lilly-E-Mail-to-New-York-Times

I have to admit… this lady had the absolute WORST luck… it's bad enough to send an email to the wrong person but what are the chances that the one email you mis-send has highly confidential information… and it ends up in the Inbox of a New York Times news reporter.

How to avoid this mistake… IF it is important enough to you.

I like Auto-Complete and I don't think the contents of most of my emails need me to take any drastic steps. However if you deal with a lot of confidential information then you may want to turn off Auto-Complete in Outlook.

On the Outlook menu, click Tools-Options.
Click the Email Options button.
Click the Advanced Email Options button.
Clear the tick next to Suggest names while completing To, CC, and BCC fields.
If you're really paranoid you may also want to clear the tick next to Automatic Name Checking.
Click OK. Click OK. Click OK.

Like I said earlier… my emails don't contain any highly confidential information and I'm happy to leave these settings on. Your situation may be different…

If you want an additional level of protection, you may also want to check out Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the wrong people.

Do you have your own horror stories of mis-sent emails that you can share. Leave a comment on the blog.

Related Posts:
Outlook Auto-Complete Tips
Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the Wrong People

QuickFile for Outlook Hidden Feature: Favourites

This tip is for you if you are one of the thousands of users of the latest version of our email filing tool (QuickFile for Outlook). QuickFile has a hidden feature called Favourites that users love… once they discover it.

What are QuickFile Favourites?

Whenever you need to file an email, QuickFile displays a list of recommended folders related to the sender/recipient of that particular email.

QuickFile can also display FAVOURITE folders on the same screen. Favourite folders are displayed for all emails irrespective of the sender or recipient of the email. I use Favourites for folders that I have created for Receipts, Jokes, Read later etc.

To add folders to Favourites in QuickFile.

1. Select any email in your Inbox and click the QuickFile button.
2. Right-Click over empty white space on the list as shown below and then click Add Shortcut.

3. Tick the folders you wish to add as favourites.

4. Select Favourites under “Who are the shortcuts for” as shown in the screen above and click OK.

Feedback from users regarding the Favourites feature has been very positive. Tell us what you think by leaving a comment on the blog.

Related Articles
Hidden Features in QuickFile
http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2009/04/hidden-features-in-quickfile.html

QuickFile: How to file your emails without interrupting your work
http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2009/04/quickfile-how-to-file-your-emails.html

Windows Key Shortcuts you need to know about

Virtually all users have keyboard with the Windows Key on it… yet (from what I have seen), most users do not use it. Here are a few keyboard shortcuts using the Windows Key that will greatly speed up your work.

What is the Windows Key?

The windows key is a key on your keyboard that looks like:

How do I use the Windows Key?

The Windows Key can be used as a FASTER way to do many of the common tasks that you would normally use a mouse for. Here are my Favourites.

[Windows Key]: Display Start menu (same as clicking on Start button)

[Windows Key] + E: Opens up Windows Explorer. This is my favourite.

[Windows Key] + L: Locks you computer (very handy when you need to leave your computer for a few minutes)

[Windows Key] + F: Brings up the Windows Find/Search screen

[Windows Key] + D: Minimizes all windows and show the desktop

[Windows Key] + D: Restores all windows back to where they were

[Windows Key] + M: Minimizes all windows

[Windows Key] + [Shift] + M: Restores all windows

[Windows Key] + [Tab]: Cycles through your open programs (using the Vista Aero interface if you have it enabled)

[Windows Key] + R: Displays the Windows Run dialog

Do you have your own favourite Windows Shortcuts that other readers would be interested in. Please share by leaving a comment on the blog.

Related Articles
Essential(?) Keyboard Shortcuts for Outlook
http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2008/10/essential-keyboard-shortcuts-for.html

More Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts
http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-outlook-keyboard-shortcuts.html