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Basic E-mail Usage Tips To Be Safe

At some point in your online experiences you are going to want to send e-mail to someone you may have met online or to a web site or similar. In order to protect your privacy and, in particular, your personal information, it is recommended that you get an anonymous e-mail account with a group such as Yahoo, Hushmail or Hotmail. These are free e-mail accounts that you can then use for e-mail

Now, it makes very little difference which one you use, although it has been found that one seems to get less spam e-mail with yahoo. That may have been luck, of course. However, in using both of them there are a couple of pointers that apply to both.

A couple of general safety tips before we start though - you should be running antivirus software and you should make sure the virus signatures are updated daily if possible. We also recommend you run a firewall - two good free firewalls are Zone Alarm and Sygate. Reviews on firewalls can be found at http://www.tucows.com/firewall95.html

The above are bi-directional firewalls that protect you not just from people attacking you but also from your computer trying to go out. You will be prompted the first time an application tries to talk on the Internet and you will have the choice of saying yes forever, yes this time or no. Even if you only dial in for 30 minutes a day you should still run a personal firewall.

Also, keep in mind that you should never open attachments from anyone without scanning them first with antivirus software that is up-to-date.

General E-mail Account Tips

1. Choosing your nickname or e-mail address

Okay, lets say your name is Jessica and you are (obviously) female and are aged 14. You live in Detroit, MI. What should you choose for your e-mail address?

Well, the main tip is nothing that gives away your age, gender or location. So do not choose Jessica or any other female name. You should also avoid names like hippychick or cool14yrs and so on. Find a word you like in the dictionary that appeals to you :)

2. Completing profiles

In both cases you cannot get the e-mail address without providing a great deal of personal information. They want your first and last names, birthday, zip or post code, gender and information about your job. If you are not careful this information can become public and pedophiles can use it to search and find you.

So - what do you do?

Unfortunately it is necessary to put incorrect information into the profile to protect yourself. Lets say you chose froggie as an e-mail address. Put froggie as your first name and froggie as your last name. Set gender to male and choose an age between 25 and 40. Never put your real occupation and don't complete any section on interests. Never provide a photo!!!

If they ask for country, state, and/or zip/postal code then pick one out of your address book (not the one you live in usually).

3. Directories

Both Hotmail and Yahoo give you the option to be listed in their online directory and to have them contact you with offers of interest. Hotmail also offers to list you in the Internet white pages - don't list your e-mail anywhere unless you want to receive huge amounts of pretty nasty spam mail.

4. Passwords

Choose smart but difficult to guess passwords. For example the name of your dog or your birthday are bad choices, as is your address. But a combination of numbers and letters that you can remember easily is always a good choice. Do not choose something so hard you have to write it down.

One last general point is that you never want to allow your computer to remember your account and password. You should always set up your account so you have to type the password in every time. That way, if someone else gets to your computer, they cannot get to your e-mail

Okay, now some final comments on looking after your account:

Most people who get their e-mail accounts "hacked" unwittingly do something to enable it - easy password, not signing out completely, etc. There are a few which are Trojans, but genuine "hacking" of an account doesn't appear to be all that common.

If you do have a Trojan Horse program on your machine, it will show up in a variety of ways and can usually be found and removed relatively easily with the proper software. That's why you need good anti-virus and personal firewall software on your machine. You should run regular scans of your machines and keep the software updated, which can be done for free over the web. Reviews of Trojan scanners can be found at http://www.tucows.com/system/trojanscan95.html

Below you will find some things that you can do to prevent loss of your password or to regain control of a lost account.

Nobody from Yahoo!, Hotmail, WiredPatrol or Law Enforcement will ever send you a message requesting or requiring that you reveal your password. This is a common tactic of hackers. The request looks and sounds very official. It may talk about billing or security problems with your account. It may even threaten to cancel your account or take action against you if you don't comply.

They are all bogus. Never send your password to anyone. If you receive a message like this, you should forward it to abuse@hotmail.com or abuse@yahoo.com or whoever your e-mail account is with.

To report harassment, threats, and impersonation

If you believe your account has been compromised in any way, yet you can still open it, change your password and secret question immediately.

To report impersonation

Forward the message that impersonates you, with full header information to abuse@hotmail.com or abuse@yahoo.com , along with a statement denying any involvement with the message.

If you don't have a copy of an e-mail message impersonating you, send a detailed explanation of why you think you're being impersonated.