This excellent message ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails.

Read the text below...

Note: AOL users see note at end of this write up.

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% do NOT.  Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail?
Here's why:  Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names, and the person that sent it to them, etc.  As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer.  Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit.  That's right, all of that inconvenience so someone can get a nickel!  How do you stop it?  Well, there are two easy steps:
1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message.  You MUST click the "Forward" button first, then you will have full editing capabilities for everything, the body and headers of the message.  Highlight all those addresses and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do.  It only takes a second.

Note that if you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding e-mail address.  

Always use the BCC:  (blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses.  The recipient of your e-mail only sees his/her address and doesn't know who else you sent it to.


If you don't see your BCC: option,  click on where it says "To:", and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: it should be down there somewhere at the bottom.  It's easy.  When you send to BCC:  your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.

So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses!

Finally, here's an idea!!!  Let's send this to everyone we know. ( but strip my address off first). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded.

Note AOL Users: Since depressing the "Forward Button" gives you a new blank message use the following process:

1. While viewing the original message, select all of the original message with a ctrl-a (depress the control key and the "a" at the same time).
2. Open a new message.
3. Depress ctrl-v to paste the original message into the new message.
4. Edit out the email addresses in this new message.
5. Enter the new BCC email addresses of the people you want to send this new message.
6. Enter the SUBJECT text.
7. Send your new "Cleaned up message".
   

Hope you find the above info useful and helpful