This week we’re examining some of the challenges that you may encounter in your email, namely, dealing with “junk mail,” spam, hoaxes, etc.
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Junk Mail, a.k.a. Spam
We’re going to put junk mail into three categories: Unwanted advertising email from companies or people unknown to you, unwanted newsy email from you contacts, and email lists that you have subscribed yourself to.

Advertising Emails
Sometimes, your email address is obtained by people or companies without your consent. You get on their “list” and then get showered with emails you don’t want. You can mark these emails as spam and your spam filter will begin sending them directly to your spam folder. You can also “block” the sender but this will only work for that particular address or domain. If you are being showered with a large number of emails, however, you may need to use a spam-filtering service. You can also create and use disposable email addresses.

Newsy Friends
Many of us have people in our lives who love to “bless” us with lots of email forwards that have touching stories, funny pictures, or maybe the latest political news or sensational “win a free iPad” alert. When you are the recipient of these emails, you may find yourself constantly deleting them, even without reading them. An alternative to having these hit your inbox all the time is to set up a filter for them to bypass your inbox. You can then go in another day and sort through them. Of course, you can also email your friend and ask them nicely to stop forwarding such messages to you.

Email Lists
Perhaps you’ve subscribed yourself to emails. They may be updates from your favorite store, web site, or pop star. If you like these emails, but you’re tired of sorting through them every day, you can create a filter to sort them automatically. If you no longer wish to receive them, simply unsubscribe. To avoid these in the first place, be careful to read what you agree to whenever you provide your email address. When making an online purchase at example.com you’ll often find a check box that opts you in to receiving emails from that company; there may also be one for emails from third parties. It’s usually best to un-check these options as they will save you from excessive emails. Don’t worry, this won’t prevent shipping alerts or account messages from being delivered.
 
Scams, Hoaxes, Dangerous Links & Attachments
If you’ve had email for any length of time, you’ve probably run across a message that contains some preposterous information--kind of like a tabloid. “Mrs. Bigfoot had a baby,” or “Target is giving away iPads.” First, just because it’s in print does not mean it’s true. If you forward the email without confirming the story, you could be helping to spread a rumor.
Second, if it’s “too good to be true” it usually is. While the stories you read may or may not be true, you should be especially cautious with anything that encourages you to click on a link or to download or open an attachment. Almost anytime it involves a “gift card” or expensive item “for free,” it’s a scam to get information from you.
Always be wary of an attachment. Unless you’re expecting an attachment, don’t open it. Do yourself a favor and just delete the email. Do your friends a favor and don’t forward it. Last week many people in our area received unexpected emails from their contacts that contained a malicious Google Docs file. The recent WannaCry ransomware attack is another example of a malicious attachment that was partly spread via phishing emails with PDF an DOC attachments with malicious links and macros. Remember, do not open or save files that you are not explicitly expecting!

Phishing Emails
A phishing email is one in which someone is “phishing” for information, usually login credentials. A popular phishing method is an email saying there is an issue with one your accounts, like your bank. There will be a link that takes you to a site that looks very similar to the service in question. You will then be asked to either log in to your account or to verify your credentials. These emails are very dangerous because they not only expose those account credentials, but since many people use the same email address and password for other accounts, many more services can now be accessed.
If you have a suspicious email, give us a call and we can help you discern whether or not it is a legitimate message.

Almost everyone these days has email, but not everyone knows how to effectively use their email without it getting the best of them. This week we’ll outline some basic tips to help you get the most out of your email.

Whether you use the email that came with your Internet service or one of the numerous free or paid options online, you can use these tips to get the most out of it!

Email Services
While your Internet Service Provider (ISP) usually includes a free email address there are numerous email services that you can sign up for (many of them for free) and use their email instead of the standard option from your ISP. ISP email is often very basic and using a more email-centric service can offer many advantages such as custom domains, enhanced security and more online storage. We will outline the pros and cons in a later post; for now, let’s take a look at some tips to make your email serve you better.

Create a signature
Using a signature saves you time and gives your messages a professional look. The information your signature contains is up to you but will usually contain your name and contact information. You may want to include your website (if you have one), and a phone number at which you can be reached. If you’re using this email account for work, keep your signature easy to read and professional looking. If this is a personal account, feel free to dress it up with pretty colors or interesting fonts but remember that it needs to remain legible, and please don’t download free fonts from a random web search!

Use Folders
Folders are a great way to keep your email organized. Instead of letting your inbox fill up with old messages, put them into folders. Just like keeping your papers organized in the real world, using folders helps you keep important information accessible. Folders are usually organized by topic or function. Here are some examples: Receipts -  Family - Personal - Important – Bills. While sorting messages into folders will keep your inbox neater, you may want to take time once a year to delete old messages from these folders as well.

Use Filters
Now that you have folders it’s time to put them to use and fill them! While you can manually sort through new and existing messages and drag them to a folder, wouldn’t it be nice if they just went there on their own? Imagine the time you could save! It sounds like magic but you can do it by creating a filter. A filter is an instruction set for your email that tells it how to sort messages. Filters need at least two pieces of information; what to look for in a message and what to do with a message that matches the search criteria. You can set up filters to automatically sort messages from specific people, with certain words in the subject or body or other parameters. The filters can then be applied to your current inbox and can also automatically sort future messages as they arrive. Just remember to check your folders for new messages, you wouldn’t want to miss an important email just because it was sorted!

Use Proper English
Just because you’re writing an email doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use proper English. Use capitalization and punctuation correctly. Spell your words correctly and use the correct word. An old trick I use is to read your message out loud before sending it; you’d be surprised what mistakes your tongue will uncover that your brain “auto-corrected” for you. While this is especially important in business communication, it is also a good habit for personal messages as well. This habit will not only keep you in practice, but your friends will appreciate it as well.

To, Cc, and Bcc
While these fields may seem redundant, they each serve a function. The To field is obvious; this is the person or persons to whom you are sending the message. The Cc field is used to send a “carbon copy” of the message to additional people. That way you don’t have to send your message multiple times. The downside to Cc is that everyone in the list will see everyone else’s’ email address. Not only is this unsightly (especially when there are many recipients) but it’s also poor email etiquette as most people don’t want their email address being sent far and wide. This brings us to Bcc. The advantage here is that you can send a message to multiple recipients while simultaneously hiding all those email addresses. The downside is that no one will know that other people are getting the same message so you may want to mention that fact in the message itself. A note about sending emails to large groups of people; most ISPs place a limit on the number of messages being sent at one time from a single email address. This is one method that is used to prevent spam. While this usually isn’t a problem for most residential customers, it can be very frustrating to a business that is using either free email services (such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook.com) or the free accounts from their ISP. For businesses we recommend using paid email services (which we can provide) and/or a mailing list service such as MailChimp or Constant Contact.

This article is the first in a multi-part series about email. 
 
 
 

​How Many Good Battery Habits Do You Really Have?
 
Batteries are rarely talked about, at least until they’re drained, and then we’ll tell everyone as we beg desperately for a charger, hoping to get enough juice to last the day. The truth is, they’re a miracle of engineering that gets taken for granted when full and cursed when flat. If it feels like your battery is running out faster, you might be right. But it’s not because of ‘battery memory’ and needing to be cycled (that’s an issue for an older battery type called NiMh or Nickel-Metal Hydride), it’s because the modern Li-ion (or Lithium-ion) batteries in phones and laptops just simply wear out over time. Fortunately, extending your battery life is easier than you think! Which of the following GOOD battery habits do you have?
1. Charge whenever you can: Lithium-ion batteries don’t like being charged all the way up and then drained all the way down. No wonder, it even sounds exhausting. Give them a little charge here and there, and they’ll be happy.
2. Leave your laptop plugged in all the time: You can’t over-charge the battery, it will just sit there waiting to be used. The laptop also helps by cutting the flow of power when the battery registers as fully charged. Cell phones also
3. Watch for overheating: High temperatures degrade battery performance and in extreme cases can cause significant damage. Since many of today’s laptops do not have a removable battery, a laptop cooling pad is a good idea for desk-bound laptops. You might also consider removing the battery if you’re using your laptop plugged in all the time. Sure, you might lose data if there’s a power outage, but overheating is a far more common occurrence and it’s been proven to degrade battery life considerably. Check your vents are clear with good airflow, and if necessary, help it out with a cooling laptop stand.
4. Leave your phone plugged in all night: Just like your laptop, your charger knows to stop when the battery is full. Those chargers do generate heat though, so make sure you have enough airflow around both charger and phone, and never sleep with it under your pillow.
5. Charge batteries before storing: If you’re blessed with backup batteries, make sure to give them a half charge before placing them in storage. They’ll naturally discharge and age over time, so this gives them a fighting chance to still be viable when you need them.
6. Keep your cool: We know to avoid water with our phones, but we’re less careful about exposing it to heat. This includes leaving it in your car all day, placing it on top of your PC, or even in a sunny spot by the window. Wireless and rapid chargers can also be an issue, as the amount of heat they generate will affect your battery. That being said, very cold temperatures also negatively affect lithium-ion batteries. They should not be charged in temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit as this can cause electroplating on the negative electrode. For this reason, most devices will prevent charging at these temperatures to prevent damage to the battery.
How did you do? Is keeping your lithium-ion battery happy easier than you thought? Your battery will wear out over time, but you can push that day a few years into the future if you remember to keep it charged and keep it cool.
 
Having battery issues? We can help! Call us at 715-255-0325