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07.12.10 E-mail Best Practices

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Quote of the Month:
“The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.”
—Ted Nelson, American IT pioneer (1937 - )

Dennis Hutchinson is vice president of the Lexington, Ky., division of
ISOCNET (pronounced eye sock net). He talked about general guidelines for handling e-mail, which is necessary for business but has a whole host of issues associated with it.

Reducing exposure to viruses.
Always use an antivirus program. Some of the more popular ones are Avast, AVG, McAfee, and Norton. Many programs offer versions at no cost. Make sure to keep your antivirus program updated. Some programs are updated automatically; others you have to choose “update” yourself.

Be judicious in selecting attachments to open. You should be expecting a particular attachment from a trusted sender. “There’s always the chance that someone you know could inadvertently send you an attachment with a virus,” said Dennis, but if you have a good antivirus program in place it should minimize any danger. If your program requires manual scanning, do it for any questionable attachment.

Look at the message source or header, usually by right-clicking the “from” address (it could say ‘inspect element’). You know the cyber bad guys can re-create company logos and make any e-mail look legitimate, so double-check the message source. It’s also a good idea to get in the habit of going to a browser on your own instead of clicking a URL within an e-mail, particularly from your bank or similar company. Precaution is a good thing.

And then there’s spam. “Although spam is sometimes the carrier of viruses, it is more often than not just a major annoyance,” said Dennis. Once upon a time known as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), spam clogs up servers and networks around the world. According to a Commtouch report, in the first quarter of 2010 there were 183 billion (how many zeros is that, anyway?) spam messages sent every day.

Reducing spam.
Never forward chain messages. Be careful where you post your e-mail address. Avoid signing up for offers on random websites.

Many people have cut down on spam by setting up a separate e-mail account at Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail (or similar) for Internet uses—when you order anything online or register for something. Then use your ‘real’ e-mail address for professional and personal purposes.

On your own website, use the word “at” instead of the symbol in your e-mail address on the Contact Us page, especially if you use your name instead of “info.” Scrapers go through sites to search for the symbol. Yes, a visitor will have to know how to replace “at” with the symbol. Or you can use an online form submission.

Avoiding phishing attacks.
A phishing scam is designed to obtain your personal information. The cyber bad guys will use a fake message—but it looks real—to trick you into entering private information, such as your credit card number, social security number, or account login information. “If a company asks you to randomly submit or verify your username and password, or other information they should already have, call them first,” said Dennis. “Legitimate companies will not ask you to verify these online.”

Never submit sensitive information online if you have the slightest question about the inquiring company. Be sure to look at the URL within the e-mail (and the ‘from’ address) to make sure every single character in the address is legitimate (could be quicker to go to your browser and look up the company from scratch). When you do enter personal information online, make sure “https” and a lock are the first things you see in the address bar.

Managing your inbox.
Dennis had several tips for making cyber life a bit easier. “Create specific folders for companies or people that you correspond with regularly,” he said. In Outlook, for example, you can use the rules wizard to process and organize messages automatically.

You can also use Outlook’s archive feature (left-hand side of the screen, underneath all of your folders). Archive is good for saving old messages you don’t want to delete but you don’t access them on a regular basis, either. Treat it like a folder.

Sorting e-mail (except in Gmail) by sender, date, subject, or priority can make it easier to find important messages. Delete messages you no longer need.

Some people get a handle on their e-mail by checking it only two or three times a day. Or by setting aside X number of minutes at a time. Or by keeping the inbox to no more than 25 (pick a number) messages. There’s no such thing as “catching up and getting it done once and for all.” Sort of like laundry that way. Or sleep. The inbox simply must be dealt with on a daily basis.

Writing appropriate subject lines.
Always include a subject line. Blank ones are a spam trigger. “Most people will just skim over long or wordy subject lines,” said Dennis, “and often they won’t completely show up in your e-mail program.”

Avoid words that might be considered spam, such as “hi.” Yahoo and Hotmail probably won’t tag messages with “hey” in the subject line, but businesses can consider them spam.

Make your subject line relevant to the message. Never use ALL CAPS because it’s the equivalent of screaming at the recipient.

Responding to and forwarding messages.
Basic business etiquette rules to follow include responding to professional e-mails within a business day, even if it’s just to say you’ve received the message and will follow up.

When you reply to a message that contains responses from multiple recipients, be sure to read the entire thread so you don’t repeat a question or response.

Use the “high priority” button as rarely as possible. It should be high priority for the recipient, not for the sender.

Before forwarding a message, review the content and recipient list first. Confirm that all recipients need to receive it. Also, review content before forwarding proprietary or confidential information to non-company or unauthorized recipients.

Sending attachments.
“We all know that attachments are the easiest way to send files,” said Dennis, “however, you need to pay close attention to the size and number of files that you’re sending.” Most companies have limits on the size of an e-mail that can be sent or received, because attachments can take up a lot storage space on servers. Huge files can take up bandwidth and slow down an Internet connection. And e-mail attachments are the most common way viruses are disseminated.

“Any file over 2MB shouldn’t be sent via e-mail,” said Dennis. If you have large files, you can compress them with a program like WinZip, or use the file compression option in Windows by right-clicking the file, selecting “Send to,” then selecting “Compressed zipped folder.” There are also websites to use for sending huge files.

Don’t attach more than 5 files to any one message. If you have more, send them in multiple e-mails. When you receive an attachment, save it to your hard drive and delete the e-mail. Most companies and e-mail programs have size limitations; storing e-mails with large attachments can fill up your inbox pretty quickly.

Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know or when you’re not expecting an attachment. “If you feel it may be a legitimate e-mail, reply and ask them to verify who they are and what the attachment is,” said Dennis. Always scan attachments with an antivirus program before opening them.

When you’re the one sending an attachment, explain it in the body of the e-mail. Sometimes you don’t know what the recipient’s business policies are, so it wouldn’t hurt to send a plain e-mail first, without the attachment, saying you’re going to be sending something. This way the recipient can watch for it.

We thank Dennis for his presentation. Feel free to contact him with any questions.

Dennis Hutchinson
http://www.isoc.net

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