In today’s world, we all have to be careful of any link we click on in email that we receive. If you don’t know the sender, don’t click. The risk of infecting your computer is high when clicking on unknown links.

Sometimes knowing the sender is not enough. As many of you have seen, the thieves who write these emails are smart enough to “spoof” your own email address. Unfortunately, one of the phishing attacks arriving in many mail boxes the last couple of weeks, looks (as many do) to be legitimate. It tricks many users because it uses your email address and domain name. A couple of addresses it may come from are noreply@youremaildomainname.com or operator@youremaildomain.com, or something similar.

The email “Subject” may be “For the owner of the yourusername@youremaildomain.com e-mail account” or “A new settings file for the yourusername@youremaildomain.com” or something similar. The body of the email will read something like this:

Dear user of the youremaildomainname.com mailing service!
We are informing you that because of the security upgrade of the mailing service your mailbox (yourusername@youremaildomain.com) settings were changed. In order to apply the new set of settings click on the following link:
http://youremaildomainname.com/owa/service_directory/settings.php?email=xxxxxxxx…

Best regards, yourdomainnamecom Technical Support.

If you receive an email like this, and you mouseover the link and read carefully, you will see that it leads to a different server other than youremaildomain.com. If you click on it you will be redirected to a site that will likely infect your computer. Just delete the email. Do not click on the link!

If you are a WebWise Design & Marketing customer, please know that we would never send an email asking you to apply new settings by clicking on a link. No other responsible email provider would ask that of you either.

Protect your computer with good antivirus and malware software that includes anti-phishing protection.

Most importantly do not click on links without looking to see where they will lead you!

Practice safe clicking.

Can you count on your email getting delivered or read? Don’t bet your job on it.

What should you do if you send an important email, and you have not received a reply within a reasonable amount of time? First, check your “Sent” or “Out Box” folder to make sure your email actually got sent. If it did, send a follow up. If you still get no reply, pick up the phone and call your intended recipient. Don’t apply pressure, just ask if they received your email. If they answer affirmatively, just say, thanks and that you wanted to be sure they received it.

There are many reasons an email may not get delivered or opened. Did you send to the correct email address? (You would be surprised at the number of emails sent to the wrong person.) Previously, we talked about spam filters and anti-spam programs. Another reason could also be the size of the attachment you sent. Many users have mail boxes that are relatively small. Five and ten MB mailboxes are not uncommon, so very large attachments (or multiple attachments) can render your email undeliverable. Even larger mailboxes fill up quickly, especially for someone who doesn’t check mail frequently (or leaves their mail on the server for a long time). Think before you hit the send button.

Emails do get lost in the etherland. In general, there is no guaranteed delivery. For those of you who really need a guarantee, there are some paid services that guarantee delivery. The most talked about is Goodmail Systems.

In short:

• Don’t assume someone read your email.
• Check your out box to see if your email was sent.
• Check your recipient address for accuracy.
• Check the file size of your attachment if you have one.
• Think before you hit the send button.
• Follow up with another email or call.

As I said, don’t bet your job that someone read your email.

The first thing people see when you send an email is “From:” and then your “Subject” (see “How to avoid email Subject Mistakes). You control “From” in your email client settings. For those of you using Outlook or Outlook Express, it is the “Name” field in your Mail Acount “Properties” box. For those of you using Eudora, it is called “Real Name.” You get the idea. The same types of conventions generally hold true for most web-based mail interfaces.

The “From” in your e-mail address can, and often does, make the difference between someone opening or deleting an email. That is if the intended recipient actually sees it.

As we have talked about before (What your email address says about you.), spam filters are everywhere including at the mail server level, the recipient’s ISP, often at the company level, possibly on the desktop as a standalone program, and finally, as a feature in the recipient’s e-mail program. Consequently, your “From” gets looked at several times before your email is (or isn’t) delivered. A “From” that includes a spammy-looking nick name, may make the difference as to whether your email is delivered and/or opened.

Your “From” should include your name (as the recipient knows it) and possibly your company name, your title or department. Couple a good “From” with a well-written “Subject” and your email will get delivered and opened before the others in those ever-expanding in-boxes of your recipients.

Paying attention to both the “From” and your email “Subject” will, indeed, pay you dividends for your time.