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Mon Dec 29, 3:00 AM ET |
Dan Tynan
Don't let anyone tell you different: E-mail is the Internet's killer app. Most of us couldn't live without it. Yet many folks aren't using e-mail to their full advantage, or have become overwhelmed by the deluge of messages. Here are 11 ways to tame your in-box and make your e-mail life easier, more efficient, and more effective.
Filter that spam. Maybe you're one of the lucky few whose in-box isn't
overrun by ads for pills, porn, or personal enhancements. For the rest of us, a
spam filter is essential equipment. Some Web-based e-mail services (like Yahoo
Mail and Hotmail) and tools (like Microsoft Outlook or Qualcomm Eudora 6) come
with spam filters built in. For the rest, you need software that installs itself
inside your e-mail client and separates the gold from the garbage, programs like
Sunbelt Software's IHateSpam,
Network Associates' McAfee
SpamKiller 5.0, or Symantec's Norton
AntiSpam 2004. Keep your in-box clean. Being an e-mail pack rat can be a good
thing--you never know when you'll want a copy of that memo the boss sent three
months ago. But leave too many messages in your in-box, and your e-mail software
will take forever to load; it may even crash. The solution? Winnow out the stuff
you don't need, and save the important messages to folders organized by sender
or topic. (For more on the latter, see the next tip.) And remember to empty the
trash periodically--your mother doesn't work here.
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Use rules. Any e-mail client worth a darn lets you create rules or filters that scan messages as they come in, move them into folders, send automated responses, and so on. Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express go one better and let you apply any rule to messages already in your in-box--so it's a snap to create a rule to look for e-mail from your boss and automatically file it in a folder named Big Cheese.
In Outlook Express, go to Tools, Message Rules, Mail and click on the New Rules tab. The program will hold your hand from there. In Outlook 2002, select Tools, Rules Wizard and click the New tab. With Netscape e-mail, try Tools, Message Filters, New and follow the directions. Other e-mail programs may use other, similar means for filtering e-mail. Search your Help menu for instructions.
Lose the old news. E-mail newsletters can quickly fill your in-box when you get busy. Every few weeks, sort your messages by sender, then scroll down and look for clumps of unread newsletters. If you find more than two weeks' worth, it's time to unsubscribe. If the news is something you may want to read later, create a rule that automatically funnels the messages to a folder, where they can pile up and keep your in-box uncluttered.
Get rid of the pane. Outlook, Outlook Express 6, Eudora 6, and Netscape Mail 7 all open a preview pane by default, giving you a sneak peak at each message. Unfortunately, if you preview the message for more than a few seconds your software may mark it as read (so you may forget to actually read it). Worse, the message could be a piece of spam containing Web bugs, tiny bits of software code that alert the senders' server that you've opened the message and are ready to receive more spam.
You can end your pane in Outlook Express via the View, Layout menu; in Eudora it's under Tools, Options, Viewing Mail; in Netscape 7 it's View, Show/Hide, Message Pane; and Outlook users can toggle this setting with View, Preview Pane.
Back it up. If you don't back up your messages, you may lose them all the next time your hard drive has a hissy fit. Outlook periodically archives e-mail, while Yahoo Mail lets you save folders to a compressed file on your hard drive with a couple of clicks. But backing up other programs isn't quite so easy--you'll have to hunt down the e-mail files on your drive and manually copy them to your backup media. A better idea? Spend a few bucks on a dedicated backup utility that does it automatically. One to consider is WinGuides Software's $30 Email Saver Xe. It backs up your messages, attachments, contacts, message rules, and more.
Create a list. Do you find yourself sending messages over and over to the same six people? Instead of typing e-mail addresses for Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, Monica, and Phoebe each time, put them into a group or list so you can type just one word ("Friends") to reach all six. To start the process in Outlook or Outlook Express, open the address book and select File, New, Group (in Outlook it's called a Distribution List); in Netscape Mail it's Window, Address Book, New List.
Get with the group. I hate to be the one to tell you, but most of your friends and coworkers don't want to read that hysterical joke you just heard, the plea for donations to save abandoned pigeons, or your Aunt Edna's recipe for turnip casserole. If you must share these things with the world, set up a mailing list on Yahoo Groups and invite potentially interested parties to sign up. This way, they can decline without hurting your or Aunt Edna's feelings.
Scan for viruses. Don't open or launch file attachments you aren't expecting to get, even if they're from people you know. Internet worms like SoBig spread by sending themselves to every address inside a victim's e-mail program as an attachment--so familiarity in this case breeds not only contempt but infection. Before you go near that file, call or e-mail your friend and ask what it is and if they really sent it. And be sure to set your antivirus program to scan incoming and outgoing e-mail to ward off infection.
Watch those files. Want to e-mail 20MB of vacation photos to your folks? Better think again: Most ISPs limit attachments to 5MB or 10MB and will strip off anything bigger. Not to worry, you have a few options. You can store files on the Web and tell people where to find them; Yahoo Mail and Hotmail let paying customers stash up to 30MB of files online. Or you can create an account on Znail that lets your store 5MB for free, 20MB for a buck, 50MB for $10, and so on.
Check the Web. On the go? You don't have to be at your PC to check your e-mail. Many ISPs offer Web-mail options you can access from any Net-connected machine; you can also have your e-mail forwarded to a paid Hotmail or Yahoo account. Or skip all that and use Mail2Web, a site that serves up your POP or IMAP e-mail for free--just type in your address, password, and the name of your e-mail server. You can even reply to messages or send new messages with attachments. But if you want a record of your replies (a good idea), remember to select the "Send a copy to myself" option.
PC World contributing editor and award-winning journalist Dan Tynan writes the magazine's monthly Gadget Freak column. He checks his e-mail obsessively, even in his sleep.
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