Surfari Internet-Information Gem #9
Gem #9 - Microsoft Mail/News Tips

The following is a *living* compilation of Internet Mail and News Tips that I've dug up from time-to-time. *Living* means this list will be constantly updated as more tips are found/received. If you have a 'tip' you'd like to share, please send it to webmast@surfari.net and ask to have it included in the Information Gem Page.

TIP #1
INTERNET MAIL AND QUOTES
If you respond to a question that was encoded in quoted printable format, you'll probably find that the quotation mark character doesn't show up in the text of the original message. What happens is that Internet Mail has no way to distinguish the beginning of each line in a quoted printable-format message. So, it simply doesn't use the quotation mark for this type of encoding. This is a problem and Microsoft is aware of it. We'll let you know if we hear more on this subject.

TIP #2
MAIL PROGRAM ERROR/DAMAGED MESSAGE
When you attempt to retrieve new mail by clicking Send and Receive, you may get the message

Explorer has caused an Invalid Page Fault in module Mailnews.dll

This can happen when you have a damaged message in your mail server Inbox. To solve this problem, add the Internet Mail service to an Exchange profile, then configure it to connect to your mail server. When you set up Exchange, go to Properties, click the Connection tab, then select the Work off-line and use Remote Mail check box. Now open Exchange and choose Tools|Remote Mail. On the Remote Mail toolbar, choose Connect. Remote Mail will dial your Internet service provider and retrieve the headers of all messages. It will simply retrieve the headers -- it will not download the messages. If you find a System Administrator - Undeliverable message, mark it for retrieval and click Connect again. Now open Internet Mail and see if you can retrieve the remaining messages from the server. If not, you may still have some damaged messages.

TIP #3
SIGNATURE IN MICROSOFT E-MAIL
If you'd like to add some signature text to your Microsoft Mail e-mail, choose Mail|Options, then click the Signature tab. Now select the Text radio button and type in your signature text. You can type in whatever you like, perhaps your full name and address, but don't go wild. Internet Explorer will append whatever you type to each message you send.

When finished adding your message, make sure the check box labeled Add signature to the end of all outgoing messages. Now click OK.

From this point on, your signature message will appear in all your e- mail.

TIP #4
MAKING FACES
If you're new to Newsgroups, you may wonder what all those silly sideways symbols mean. We're going to save you some time by listing all the most common symbols (also called 'emoticons') along with their generally accepted meanings.

:-)          Smiling
:-D          Laughing
:-/          Scowling
:-O          Surprise, Shock
>:-(         Angry
:-(          Unhappy
:-p          Sticking out your tongue
;-)          Winking
TIP #5
USING ACRONYMS IN MESSAGES
Wonder what all those acronyms in Newsgroups postings mean? So do we sometimes. We don't know what they all mean because new ones seem to appear almost daily. Here is a list of the more common acronyms, the ones that have been around a while.

AFAIK As far as I know
BTW By the way
HTH Hope this helps
IMHO In my humble opinion
IMNSHO In my not so humble opinion
IMO In my opinion
IOW In other words
LOL Laughing out loud
ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing
TIA Thanks in Advance
TTYL Talk to you Later
YMMV Your mileage may vary
{g} Grin
{BG} Big grin

TIP #6
USING INTERNET MAIL
If you use Microsoft Internet mail with your Microsoft Internet Explorer installation, you may find it convenient to put the Internet Mail icon on your desktop. Here's how: Right-click Start and choose Open. Double-click the Programs icon, then locate the Internet Mail icon. Use the right mouse button to drag the icon to the desktop. When you release the mouse button a menu will appear. Choose Copy Here. To close the windows you opened, click the Close button in the Programs window, then click the Start Menu window's Close box.

TIP #7
SEND E-MAIL AT ONCE
If you'd prefer to send your e-mail a message at a time as you generate them, choose Mail|Options and click the Send tab. Now select the check box labeled Send messages immediately and click Apply, then OK.

Now when you click Send, Internet Mail will dial your Internet service provider, send the message, then hang up. This setting may be just for you if you don't send a lot of e-mail. If you do, you'd be better off using the default setting.

TIP #8
PRINT YOUR E-MAIL
One handy way to keep a record of important e-mail messages in Internet Mail is to print them out from the Sent folder. Click on the Sent folder to view the messages you've sent. Now, click the message you want to print. Press Ctrl-P to print it.

TIP #9
FINDING NEWSGROUPS
In Internet News, you can search for newsgroups using more than one keyword. Click on Newsgroups and then enter your words, separated by a space. Let's suppose that you'd like to locate newsgroups that concern amateur photography. Enter your search request just like this:

amateur photography

TIP #10
SAVE THAT E-MAIL ADDRESS
To view the complete e-mail address of someone who has sent a News message, double-click on the message to open it. Now go to the author's name in the From field and double-click on it.

To add the name to your Address Book, right-click on the author's name and then choose Add To Address Book. When the dialog box opens, fill it in and click on OK.

TIP #11
RETRIEVE THOSE E-MAIL ADDRESSES
When you click on the New Message button in Microsoft Internet Mail, the window opens with the cursor placed at the To: entry box. To select an address from the Address book, you can choose File|Address Book.

You can also open the Address Book by simply double-clicking on the To: icon.

TIP #12
UN-DELETE THAT E-MAIL
If you think you've lost a message in Microsoft Internet Mail, don't despair. Look through the folders. If the message is in the Deleted Items folder, you can still read it. You can even put the errant message back in your Inbox or another folder by choosing Mail/Move to and selecting from the list of available folders. TIP #13
SEND TEXT FILES VIA E-MAIL
There are two ways to add text files to an Internet Mail message:

You can insert it, or you can attach it. Which should you do? The answer depends on the file. If the file is very short, it may be easier for the recipient to read an inserted text file.

To insert a file, create your message, choose Insert, Text File, and then select the file you want inserted.

If the file is longer, you may find it easier to attach the file to your message. In this case, choose Insert, Attachment and select the file to attach.

TIP #14
QUOTING TEXT IN REPLIES
When replying to e-mail messages and newsgroup articles, you want to get your point across. But that can be difficult unless your recipient knows exactly what you're talking about. One way to guarantee that the recipient understands your references is to quote the original message in your reply.

To do this in e-mail, open Internet Mail and choose Mail, Options. Click on the Send tab and make sure the check box labeled Include Message in Reply is selected. Click on OK to close the dialog box.

To achieve the same result with your newsgroup responses, go to Internet News and choose News, Options. On the Send tab, select Include Original Message in Reply.

TIP #15
MAKING E-MAIL GROUPS
If you commonly need to send a single e-mail message to a number of recipients in Microsoft Internet Mail, you can create a Group. Go to File, Address Book, and in the dialog box that opens, click on New Group. Give the group a name, click on Add, and then select the members from your Address Book list, clicking on Add for each member. After you make your selections, click on OK. Click on OK again to save your changes and close the Address Book.

When you compose a new message that's going to all the recipients in your group, simply double-click on the To icon and select your new group from the list. Click on To, and click on OK to continue with your e-mail composition.

Now that you have a group set up in your Address Book, you may need to add or delete names occasionally. To do this, go to File, Address Book and double-click on the group you need to modify.

To remove a name, select it and click on Remove. To add names, double-click on the group and click on Add. Choose the new members from your Address Book list.

To delete an entire group, go to the Address Book, select the group, and click on the Delete button.

TIP #16
DON'T SPAM THAT NEWSGROUP!
If you'd like to contribute to newsgroups, you can preserve your good name if you avoid posting information that isn't pertinent to the current newsgroup. Also, avoid spamming. People hate spammers.

Spamming is the practice of cross-posting messages to dozens or hundreds of newsgroups. It's a method that's become both wildly popular and widely hated. Cross-posting refers to posting the same message to a large number of groups. Usually, spammers post to groups that appear to have some relationship with the group's topic. However, many spammers seem to post blindly. For example, it isn't uncommon to find ads for erotic Web sites in almost any group.

Why do spammers continue if people hate them so much? We can only conclude that these messages must be successful. A small percentage of people who read through the group must respond to the spam. If no one responded, why would they continue?

Anyway, the point is that you should avoid being labeled a spammer. This means watch the cross-posting--even if all you're doing is sending holiday messages. Spam isn't so much a matter of content as simply a matter of quantity. Too much of anything is spam.


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