Outlook

[pammy]

I am so angry at the mo. Was just sending an e-mail on behalf of Josh - he was watching -and a VERY explicit piece of p*rn mail arrived He was quite upset by it .We've had another phase of getting dozens of these each day - haven't had them for weeks- must go in cycles - but the last thing I want is for Josh to see them. It's why he doesn't have e-mail on his PC.

These always go straight into Motino so we don't see them - but as Outlook got this while I was typing it automatically opened it as I hadn't seen the "you've got new mail - do you want to open it" box and it assumes you do and just opens it

I've had a look through Outlook options to try and stop it but can't find how. Anybody any ideas please?

 

[andy_k]

can't you just turn off the preview pane?

it should be in the "layout" dialog which is in the "views" menu

Andy

 

[pammy]

It's not to do with "preview" that's always turned off

 

[SGCW124]

Hi Pammy

I share your anxieties as I have a young family too. Is it Outlook or outlook express you are using ?

it may even be worth an E mail to Microsoft for support.

I don't suppose by any chance you hit a functional key when typing that "opened up the e mail" ? or have e mails started to open up on arrival all the time?

On my sytem ISP BT Yahoo, I think there is the ability to assign Spam status to emails from certain senders - though that may not help initially as you have to look at at least the first one to find out.

It is one thing self disciplining your self to delet E mail from anyone you don't know and quite another to try and manage e mails that open by themselves.

Good luck and do let us know how you solve this one.


Steve

 

[frog1520]

Hi there,

I don't know the proper solution to this, but you might want to try this in the meantime until you find out!

Stop the thing checking for mail automatically every 5 minutes or whatever its set to. Then, whenever its 'safe' to get new mails in, just select 'Send and Receive - > Receive All' from the tools menu. (Assuming Outlook Express.)

Hope that helps!

Cheers

 

[GregE240]

Pam, is this Ms Outlook or Outlook Express hun? Later versions of Outlook have a "Junk e-mail folder" that you can set up a junk e-mail rule so all the crap gets dumped straight in.

Wouldn't bother with Outlook Express personally, its rubbish.

Let me know and I'll talk you through it.

 

[pammy]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

It's Outlook 2002 I'm using. The junk mail thingy doesn't work as they use different senders everytime or is there a trick wiuth it that I'm missing?

I could turn off the auto receive I guess - it's a workaround although not the most ideal solution - as I need to know when e-mails arrive for work etc. BUT - at least that's better than getting a face full of filth

 

[GregE240]

Hmmm....different senders eh? Well, Outlook does learn and you can add them to the Junk Senders list.

Another alternative is a bit of freeware called "Mail Washer" which allows you to check your mailbox before you download them, meaning you can delete any rubbish before you download it.

 

[pammy]

I think I might have come up with a workaround that still gets the mail in - I've switched off the message box that pups up. I think that's the cause as it gives the option to open the mail - yes or no - but defaults to yes - but then takes any key depression as an acceptance. I've turned that off which means I don't get anything now to tell me mail's in - other than a beep Could do with an ickle envelope symbol in the status bar like I get at work - but can't find that here

I used to use mailwasher - but found it such a chore having to sift through the 200 hundred or so e-mails we get a day I used to lose valid stuff so bought Motino which chucks all dodgy stuff into a sep quarantine folder. It works really well. It's Outlook that causes the prob's - surprise surprise

 

[PJH]

My 2p worth

Here's another 2p worth for you....

Most ISPs have a webmail feature, type webmail domainname into a search engine and it will find it for you.
This will allow you to access your mail using a browser ( a bit like hotmail).
You can then set up filters to block junk/porn so that they never get downloaded to your PC. The filters can search for key words in either the subject and/or the body of the text, although you will have to include several versions of spellings of naughty words, using l,1,i and O,0 etc.

Failing that, set up a new account with your name spelt differently or in full and just mail the select few with your new e-mail address.
Then delete your old e-mail address from Outlook.

Also, right click on the junk mail and look at the properties info. You will see that the originating address is different to the return address.
You should then FORWARD the mail to abuse@domainname and with any luck the powers that be will close down the offending user/account/server.

You can stop sucking eggs now.

Patrick

 

[frog1520]

Linux, kmail and spam assasin

 

[pammy]

Pat - thanks for that - no egg sucking at all my dear very helpful.

Linux n stuff

 

[frog1520]

Hey, Linux is the BENZ of OS's

 

[Ian B Walker]

Pammy, I use Incredimail (available from www.incredimail.com) It has a spam filter and a junk mail folder. Since using it I no longer get rubbish mail

 

[MattEly]

Guys

I use virgin.net, and they have recently introduced some SPAM blocking software at their end. I was pretty cynical at first, but amazingly it works really well. So far, no rubbish is getting through at all.

Cheers

Matt

 

[Sp!ke]

There are any 3rd party applications that claim to filter mail... none of which are 100% effective but most help to some extent.

My latest favourite is office 2003.... Use Outlook 2003 (not express) actually catches about 95% of my spam . The main difference is that it blocks all embeded images contained in the emails until you release them - so if you get sent porn junkmail, you dont have to be subjected to the pictures - ever.

Not a cheap option upgrading but IMO the best change in MS office since office 97 and better than all spam filters I have tried.

As Matt said earlier however, there's no reason why the ISP's cant block junk at source, the fact that most dont just shows how incompetent they are.

 

[pammy]

As Matt said earlier however, there's no reason why the ISP's cant block junk at source, the fact that most dont just shows how incompetent they are.

I agree - I find it disgraceluf that some ISPs do block this junk and others just wash their hands of it

Am still working through the options - although turning off the notification message is some help

 

[PJH]

There are several MS updates available, released last week.
Have you done a Windows update ?

 

[Jono_1001]

As yet another option ...
If you don't mind changing mail tool, there's always the Mozilla.org solutions.
I use Thunderbird (for mail) and Firefox for browsing. Both have some very useful features and especially the ability to have plugins for futher customisation.

Thunderbird "learns" what you classify as junk, and on one of my accounts I no longer receive any junk, when previously I was getting 150 per day. The others are clear as well. It gives you the option to delete junk mail or just file it to verify it's selection, worth doing for the first month before the more drastic deletion.

HTH

 

[Flyer]

I think I might have come up with a workaround that still gets the mail in - I've switched off the message box that pups up. I think that's the cause as it gives the option to open the mail - yes or no - but defaults to yes - but then takes any key depression as an acceptance. I've turned that off which means I don't get anything now to tell me mail's in - other than a beep Could do with an ickle envelope symbol in the status bar like I get at work - but can't find that here

Pammy, try Tools > Options > EMail Options > Advanced EMail Options > "When new email arrives in my inbox". There should be an option to show an envelope icon in the notification area. I'm on Office 2003 so could be different on yours, but I recall there is an option there - it's just hidden under several layers . As Spike says, Spam control is *much* improved in O2k3 - I'm advocating all my clients upgrade for this reason alone.

With regards to your beep, do you know that you can change that to anything you like? I have Homer announcing "The mail! The mail is here! Whoohoo!" [mrburns] Excellent! [/mrburns] (Except when a client is on the phone that you need to be serious with )

Cheers
Andrew