Bullet Points
Those Missing Emails

If there are any topics you would like to see discussed in the future or if you have any comments, please contact me at JoeT@HighCaliber.com

• Cut/Pasting From Web Pages

  To paste only text from a Web page into MS Word:

  1. Use your mouse to highlight the text on the web page
  2. Press Ctrl and C simultaneously to copy this text to the clipboard
  3. Click Edit
  4. Choose Paste Special
  5. Select Unformatted Text
  6. Select OK.

   

• Speed Instead of Sizzle

  You can get Windows 98/2000/ME to run faster by following these steps:

  1. Right click on a blank portion of your desktop
  2. Select Properties
  3. Select the Effects tab
  4. Uncheck items in the visual effects box at the bottom of the dialog box. The more you check, the faster the response but the drabber your computing experience.

   

• How Spammers Track You

  If a spammer sends you HTML mail with a graphic in it, they can track who opens the email. These tiny, often invisible graphics are called "web bugs." (They are actually tiny 1 pixel by 1 pixel transparent image files embedded in the spam.) They can have a unique name (e.g. WebBug.gif?e=jtartaglia@highcaliber.com) which can be used to identify who it went to. And now the spammer knows something that no web-based cookie could ever find out automatically. They they know that you have an HTML-enabled email program [like Eudora or Outlook], and they know that you open spam messages.

  So by opening a spam email you can generate more spam. The only solutions for dealing with Web Bugs right now is either to not open any spams at all (which is easier said than done) or to disable HTML in your email program (which isn't a particularly attractive alternative.)

   

• System Restore Uses Up Disk Space

  Some of you have called to tell us that disk space was "disappearing" after running Windows XP for a while. The disk space isn't really disappearing, it is most likely being used by the System Restore feature.

  System Restore allows you to revert back to a time where your Windows XP configuration worked right for you, but it does take up a lot of disk space to keep track of these configurations.

  Here's how you can control how much disk space System Restore uses on each drive:

  1. Click Start
  2. Point to All Programs
  3. Point to Accessories
  4. Point to System Tools
  5. Click on System Restore
  6. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click on the System Restore Settings link
  7. If you only have one drive, you'll see a slider bar on the System Restore tab on the System Properties dialog box. Drag the slider bar to the left to reduce the amount of space used by System Restore.
  8. If you have multiple drives, click on the drive that you want to change, and click the Settings button. That will take you to the slider bar.
  9. Click Apply
  10. Click OK after making the change

  The less space you allow System Restore to use, the fewer restore points you can save.

   

• Web Pages Not Updating?

  You may experienced this: You are browsing the web and do not get the latest page. This will happen on some web sites, especially news sites. No matter how much you refresh the page it doesn't work.

  This normally happens when your browser isn't seeking a new page from the site, but--- even when you click "refresh"--- is simply displaying the page stored in your local cache (a special folder on your hard drive that stores web pages as you view them).

  To fix this problem:

  1. Flush your browser cache and ensure the cache is a reasonable size
  2. Set the browser to check for a newer version of the page at every visit

  The steps vary from browser to browser, but the concepts are the same everywhere:

  In Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and up:

  1. Click Tools/Internet Options
  2. On the General tab, click on Delete Files in the "Temporary Internet Files" section.
  3. Click on Settings
  4. Under Check for newer versions of stored pages select Every Visit To The Page.
  5. Below that, in the Amount of disk space to use... set the slider to 10MB or less if you have cable, DSL, or any other kind of fast connection; and 25MB or less for a slow connection.
  6. Before exiting the dialog boxes, flush the cache again (to ensure the new size takes effect)

  Other browsers use different nomenclatures, but the idea's the same. For example, in Netscape 4 and up: Click Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Cache, then click both Clear Cache buttons. You can set the cache sizes from the same menus.

   

• Removing Entries From XP IE Drop Down Lists

  Internet Explorer can "remember" entries you've made into forms. For example, if you use Web based Hotmail, you know that you have to enter your user name and password. If you double click in the user name text box, you'll see a list of all the user names that have been entered into that box. There are even sites where you enter credit card information and if you double click on the right text box on the right form, you'll see credit card numbers!

  If you want to prevent specific entries from showing up in the list, try this:

  1. Double click on the text box and view the entries on the list.
  2. Highlight an entry by letting the mouse pointer hover over the entry you want to delete.
  3. When the entry is highlighted, press the DELETE key on the keyboard.
  4. Double click the empty text box again.

  The entry you deleted is gone.

   

• Make Windows Explorer Open to Show Drives, NOT My Documents

  Here's how you get Windows Explorer to automatically open to the C: drive:

  1. Click Start
  2. Point to All Programs
  3. Point to Accessories and right click on Windows Explorer
  4. Click on the Properties command
  5. In the Windows Explorer Properties dialog box, change the entry in the Target text box to read the following:
     %SystemRoot%\explorer /n, /e, /select, C:
  6. Click Apply
  7. Click OK

Top

All of us, at one time or another, have had to confront the "missing email" problem. This occurs when you know that someone sent you an email (at least they swear that they did) and you know that you never received it.

How Email Works

To track down the source of the problem, you have to understand how email works. The program installed on your computer that you use to send and read mail (such as Outlook Express, Outlook or Eudora) is called an email client. When a message is sent, it goes from the sender's email client running on their PC to an email server on the sender's network or at the sender's ISP.

In most cases, an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server handles outgoing mail. It sends the message (broken into units called packets which consist of binary data) to the recipient's mail server. In the case of most users, this will be a server at the recipient's ISP.

In most cases, you connect to your ISP's POP3 mail server and download your mail to your local C: drive using an email client program like Outlook. (Some of you connect to an IMAP server like Microsoft Exchange, in which case the mail remains on the server and you can read it from any computer running an IMAP client program. Major mail clients such as Outlook can be either POP3 or IMAP clients).

As you can see, the message passes through a number of machines on its way to you. It also passes through routers (devices that forward mail from one network to another) as it makes its way through the Internet. Packets can get lost at any point along the way, but there are mechanisms in place to see that individual lost packets get re-sent.

Firewalls and Spam Filtering

The most likely culprit when an entire message fails to reach you is a firewall or spam filtering software. Firewalls are set up at the perimeter of a network to protect it from attack, by keeping certain types of packets out.

Firewalls can keep out packets that originate from a particular IP address or domain name. Spam filtering programs can be installed on the mail server or on your desktop machine. They are set to recognize mail that fits certain criteria (such as containing keywords or originating from particular domains) and discard it. Some spam filters use "black lists" that are lists of domains from which spam has originated in the past.

Some ISPs install spam filtering software on the mail servers. Unfortunately, all anti-spam software is subject to some "false positives" - mail the software recognizes and treats as spam when it's actually mail that you want. This can be because a spam email was sent from someone in that domain in the past (not necessarily the same sender), or because the mail contains a key word that's associated with spam, or even because someone dislikes the sender and falsely reports him/her as a spammer to those who maintain the black lists.

Spam filtering is the most common source of "lost" newsletters and other email that was sent to you but didn't get to your mailbox.

What can you do about it?

Some ISPs provide a way for you to view the mail that was "caught" by the spam filter so you can check for mail you wanted to receive, and retrieve it. Some ISPs will also put requested domains on their "white lists" so that mail from that domain gets through even if it meets other spam criteria. (The solution that High Caliber offers whitelists and the ability to view/retrieve "caught"emails.)

Your first step, when you suspect you're not getting all the mail that's being sent to you, should be to call your ISP and ask about their filtering policy and system. Spam filters serve a very necessary purpose, but it's frustrating when they keep out the mail that you do want.

  Top