![[Bytes Link logo]](../../../cgif/bytelnk2.gif)
Reader's Ideas on Unwanted Email
by Mr PC Chat, MrPCChat@aol.com - October 04, 2001 at 00:27:22:
When I began using email in 1978, it was a fascinating new concept; faster than US Mail, and cheaper than long-distance phone calls. The excitement of receiving an occasional email in those days was something akin to finding a surprise package on your doorstep each morning.Nowadays, however, many PC users approach their in-boxes with trepidation, wondering how many pieces of junk mail they'll have waiting and if some of them have a virus-laden file attached. I mentioned recently that Outlook Express and Hotmail have "block sender" options, but not all e-mail services do. AOL and CompuServe users can use their main screen name to go to Mail, Mail Controls to list senders whose mail they don't want.
John Raymond Jr. wrote to say he was not satisfied with the answer Hotmail gave him when he asked about canceling his account altogether. The Hotmail people told John he could cancel his account only by not accessing it for a certain period of time. John went on to say that he has about 160 messages backed up there, but opening only one would keep the account active, which he does not want to do.
Well, since web-based mail services like Hotmail are free, my solution would be to simply open another account under a different user name, and advise all my correspondents of the new name. Even the email services one pays for, like AOL, allow multiple screen names. Carroll J. Jones, Sr. wrote to say his solution to receiving unwanted email was to change ISPs altogether.
Speaking of changing ISPs, a lot of folks have asked how they can quit AOL but still retain their "Favorites" along with the information in their address books, as well as mail saved in their Filing Cabinets. Sherry Halseysent me a link to a Web site that claims to show how this can be done. I checked out the site, www.aoleave.com, but found its instructions to be rather complicated, with no guarantee that they will work.
Here's my solution; I've left AOL in the past (well, the truth is: they kicked me off - and you can read about that at www.pcdon.com) but I still have access to all the above-mentioned information, some of it dating back more than three years. I simply kept the old version of AOL on my hard drive, even though my account was closed. Using the retained AOL program, I couldn't get online, but all my data was accessible just as it had been when the account was active. It still is.
If you are, or intend to be, an AOL user, here are some things you need to understand. Most ISPs mainly give you access to the Internet and then let you use the browser and email client of your choice. If you've chosen, say, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, any saved mail or "Favorites" will still be still be accessible if you switch to another ISP. You simply continue to use IE and OE with the new service.
AOL, however, has its own hybrid browser and e-mail system, as well as a "Filing Cabinet" for retaining old mail. All the data that one saves in these areas goes into a folder named Organize, where it is kept in cryptic files that have no easy way of being accessed. However, if you keep AOL on your hard drive after canceling your service, you can still access all the data just as you had done before. (All this also applies to AOL's clone, CompuServe.)
How does one cancel an AOL account? Click on "Keyword" and type in "Cancel" or call 888-265-8008. As for canceling CompuServe, the service has been so flaky lately I really have no idea, other than to stop paying for it.
I want to thank Mas Kamaya and the Tri-City Computer Club for having me as aguest speaker earlier this week. It was a lot of fun and, as usual, I learned several things from the attendees. Jim Berger told me about an inexpensive anti-virus program that's available with a free trial at www.antivirus.com/pc-cillin/. Jim says he's very pleased with the way it works for him. I tried it and agree wholeheartedly with Jim.
All of this year's and last year's PC Chats can be found at www.pcdon.com. The site is currently being rebuilt, however, so please forgive any missing parts. However, I have added a number of new selections to the Free Downloadable Music Page. Take a look. Phone calls are welcome after 6 PM at (949) 646-8615 or (949) 646-4167.
![[------STRIPE-----]](../../../cgif/str1.gif){kind=small}
Site Disclaimer Suggestions? E-Mail to webmaster@noccc.org