Save your email address from your internet service provider for your most valued contacts. Use a "disposable" email service with a service that uses anti-virus protection for online subscriptions, online games, newsletters or social networking communities. A disposable email service is a free email service offered online that can be easily closed when you finally receive way too much spam or you are no longer involved with the online activity associated with the particular email address. Some free email services are Google's Gmail, Microsoft's Hotmail, and Yahoo!'s Yahoo! Yahoo! Mail. You can also use a disposable-address-forwarding service such as SpamMotel http://www.spammotel.com.
Ways to Avoid Infections and Being Defrauded
If you us an email program installed with your operating system (like Windows Mail or Outlook Express) you may want to keep your email addresses in a separate text file instead of the application's address book. When you need to send a mail, type or "cut and paste" the addresses from the text file into the recipient box in the email application. Should your computer get a virus that attempts sends itself to everyone or the first n number of addresses in your address book, there will be no addresses to send itself to and spread the infection.
Don't send your personal information through chatrooms, text messages, or email. Always assume your electronic messages are not private unless you encrypt them.
Don't respond to any email requesting personal information. Banks, internet service providers, online stores, and any other legitimate businesses don't ask for your passwords, account numbers, social security number, credit card numbers, address, phone, or logon information through email. This could result in identity theft, identity impersonation, identity fraud or illegal financial transactions.
Be careful about opening email from a stranger or a forger pretending to be someone you know. Some infections are notorious for sending themselves to addresses in the address book without the sender knowing their computer is infected. Remember to confirm by instant message, a phone call or a separate email with the sender of the email attachment that they actually did send you the attachment before opening (clicking on) the attachment.
Try not to use an email address from the same company where you shop or perform internet searches. Be aware of policies you give your consent or permission for through purchases, inquiries or registrations. This will help protect your privacy.
Signs you may have or be the recipient of someone who has a virus
If you receive the same email from many persons you know, there is a good chance their computers are infected or they are in the address book of an infected computer. If you continuously receive infections from the same person, this may not be deliberate. They may not even know their computer is infected. If you find numerous messages in your "Sent Items" folder that you or anyone with access to your computer did not send or messages that lack a message header or messages without the sender's email name or address, your computer may have an infection.
Email Etiquette
Consider the recipient of your email. Consider the following items when sending an attachment
- Can the recipient open the file? If a file was created by an applicaiton that is proprietary to a specific operation system, some recipients may have trouble opening the file. Consider using a cross-platform applicaiton like Adobe's PDF format or a text file rather than a file only viewable on a single platform.
- Avoid sending a large file or graphic attachment that requires a lot of processing power or download time unless you know the recipient's computer has the resources to support the file. For example, a 50Mb movie file is manageable for most modern computers using a broadband connection. But for older machines that may still be on dial-up, this download could take an unacceptible time to download and may not be viewable if the system doesn't have the resources (memory processing power and the like) to play the movie.
Type a one- to three-word description or topic in the subject line of your email. Keep your message short or add the word "LONG" or "LENGTHY" of the end of the subject line.
Don't use all capital letters. The reader will most likely interpret all capital letters as shouting.
Strive for brevity and clarity. Refrain from clicking the "Reply" button. Instead, summarize the major points of the letter received as you answer them in a separate email. If you do use Reply, consider editing the mail so only the relevant portions are retained. This reduces the amount of data being sent through the email servers and thus reduces unnecessary internet traffic.
Keep your digital or typed signature short.
Check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Most browsers have a feature to check spelling.