Doc's Email Rant
It happened to me once again - someone sent me an email berating me for not responding to an email they had sent previously. Was I being lazy or deliberately ignoring them? NO! I deleted their mail without reading it because I thought it was spam.
I thought it was spam because the "From" line of their message displayed something like: "ppg102@aol.com" instead of something like: "John Doe".
DoubleClick recently announced the results of their annual Consumer Email Study which said that the 60% of their respondents said the "From" line most often determined whether they would open an email. (And DoubleClick should know, they are responsible for a large percentage of the 3rd party Cookies that get dropped on your computer.)
I have the impression that a couple of years ago someone in our club suggested that an anonymous email return address was a good thing because it provided you some degree of safety and security. I don't see any reason to believe that this method is helpful at all in that area.
I just viewed the "From" line in several hundred emails that were sent to me, and I don't find a single net-savvy individual who uses this method to obscure their identity. Let's face it, there's not since in me sending emails unless they're going to be read.
To help you correct this situation, I've created a page to help you configure Outlook Express or Outlook. If someone wants to send me the screen shots necessary to configure other email software (AOL, Juno, etc.) I will post them also.
Most of you will want to view the Outlook Express page. Outlook Express is the free email client that comes with Windows or Internet Explorer, and only does email.
My Outlook page shows how to configure Microsoft Outlook which comes bundled with Microsoft Office and handles not only your email, but your calendar, task list, etc.