E-mail BasicsComputer Technology

What is E-Mail?

• Electronic – Mail

• Most widely used application on the Internet

• Internet delivered more mail messages than USPS in 1995 for the first time

E-mail Address Parts

• ngale@alpine.k12.ut.us

– Username = ngale

– @

– Domain (comes after @)

• Host/Server = alpine

• Top-level Domain = k12.ut.usDomain

E-mail Software Programs

Desktop• GroupWise

• Outlook/Express (MS)

• Live or Live Mail (MS)

• Apple Mac Mail

• Thunderbird 2

Web Mail• Live Hotmail (MS)

• Gmail (Google Mail)

• Ymail (Yahoo Mail)

• AOL

Most Popular E-mail

Advantages of E-mail

• Fast

• Convenient, flexible

• Inexpensive

• Eliminates phone tag

• Breaks down time and distance barriers

• Shortens cycle of written communication

• Creates instant communication file

Disadvantages of E-mail

• Junk e-mail

• Information overload

• Misunderstandings

• Speed of delivery

• Not secure

Netiquette Do’s

• Always use a subject

– informative

• Be concise

• Watch the “tone” of your voice

• Smile! (use smileys or emoticons)

– http://www.netlingo.com/smiley.cfm

• Think before sending

Make E-mail Work for You

• Ask yourself

– “Why am I writing this?” or

– “What do I want to accomplish?”

• State your purpose clearly right at the beginning of your message.

• Use correct grammar and punctuation

• Proofread the e-mail message for typos before you hit “.”

Make E-mail Work for You

• Edit your message.

– Tell readers what they need to know to make a decision or take action

– Eliminated an unnecessary information

• To include supporting information, use easy-to-scan bullet points or short paragraphs.

Subject Line

• Compose a subject line that tells the reader exactly what the message is about and allows the reader to file or find the message easily.

– Faculty Council Minutes

– Urgent (not good)

– Sept 20 Opening Social

– Please reply (not good)

Emotion

• For mild emphasis, enclose the text in asterisks. This is like using italics in a paper document.

• Instead of:

– I said that I was going to go last Thursday.

– Say:

• I *said* that I was going to go last Thursday.

– Or:

• I said that I was going to go last *Thursday*.

Make E-mail Work for You

• Use active, clear, concise language.

– Avoid

• passive language weakens your message

• jargon (technical words) that readers might not understand

• unnecessary words that clutter the e-mail

Definitions

• Flaming – sending an inflammatory or insensitive remark

• Spamming – spreading unwanted messages across the Internet.

– Don’t respond

– Filter it

– Complain to ISP

Definitions continued

Spoofing – Sending e-mail that hides sender’s identity from the recipient. Sender places a false return address on the message. Recipient has no way of responding or stopping the problem.

Netiquette Don’ts

• Don’t type in all CAPITALS

• Don’t spam

• Don’t flame

• Don’t spoof

• Don’t send the same message twice

• Create an alternate e-mail addresses for Internet

• Never respond to spam e-mail, even to unsubscribe

– Many “spammers” take any response from you as encouragement to keep pumping out new messages.

• Review all user agreements

• Set filters to block known spammers’ messages

Cut The “SPAM” From Your Diet

E-mail Acronyms

For personal use only

• BTW = by the way

• FAQ = frequently asked questions

• LOL = laughing out loud

• IMHO = in my humble opinion

• FYI = for your information

• F2F = face to face

• WTG = way to go

Proper Care of E-mail

• Clean out your inbox

• Empty the trash

• Store messages in folders

• Check regularly

• Virus check incoming and outgoing mail

What Else Can I Do with E-mail?

Create a Signature File

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Nancy GaleTimberline Middle School500 West Canyon Crest RoadAlpine, UT 84004801.763.7005 ext. 112

“Chance favors the prepared mind.”- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Include at least:

•Name

•Address

•Phone number

What About E-mail Privacy?

• Company that pays for e-mail

system owns it and has right

to search their company

mailboxes.

• Don’t write in an e-mail what you

wouldn’t be willing to see on the

front page of a newspaper!

• Deleting a message isn’t enough

Password Info

• Don’t use personal information

• Change often

• May be case sensitive

• Easy to remember and hard to guess

Password Strength

What to do Suggestion Example

Start with a sentence or two(about 10 words total).

Think of something meaningfulto you.

Long and complex passwords are safest. I keep mine secret.

(10 words)

Turn your sentences intoa row of letters.

Use the first letterof each word.

lacpasikms (10 characters)

Add complexity.Make only the letters in the

first half of the alphabet uppercase.

lACpAsIKMs (10 characters)

Add length with numbers.Put two numbers that are

meaningful to you between the two sentences.

lACpAs56IKMs (12 characters)

Add length with punctuation.Put a punctuation mark

at the beginning.?lACpAs56IKMs (13 characters)

Add length with symbols. Put a symbol at the end.?lACpAs56IKMs"

14 characters)

Common Password Pitfalls To Avoid

Cyber criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly decipher passwords.

• Avoid creating passwords using:

– Dictionary words in any language.Words in all languages are vulnerable.

– Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.Words in all languages are vulnerable.

– Sequences or repeated characters.Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).

– Personal information.Your name, birthday, driver's license, passport number, or similar information.

Can E-mail be Secure?

• Yes! - Using encryption and adigital signature

– Encryption translates data (your e-mail message) or plaintext into secret code or cipher text.

– To read an encrypted file, you must have access – a secret key or password that enables you to decrypt it.

Bouncing a Mail Message

• When you send a message that cannot be delivered, your mail server will return a message to you. Usually this message comes from your Postmaster or Mail Daemon.

– Mistyped addresses

– Someone’s mail server is broken

Instant Messaging

• Real-time communication between two or more people using typed text or video.

• Text is sent via networked computers.

• Allows instantaneous communication between a number of parties simultaneously

• Is possible to save a conversation for later reference.