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linda_99 - 22 Apr 2004 04:23 GMT

Hello. I use Outlook Express 4.01 with OS 8.6 and just recently signed
up for hi-speed internet. I've been receiving a TON of spam and
sometimes I forward the messages to my ISP's abuse department. When I
do that, (unfortunately) Outlook opens the messages in order to
forward them. When that happens, can the spammer tell that I have
opened their messages? Does it send them a Return Receipt or something
like that? If there is a Return Receipt, can I block it so that they
won't have proof that my email account works and put me on their list
for future spamming? Thank you.....

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Richard Grieve Mac MVP - 22 Apr 2004 07:40 GMT

> Hello. I use Outlook Express 4.01 with OS 8.6 and just recently signed
> up for hi-speed internet. I've been receiving a TON of spam and
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> won't have proof that my email account works and put me on their list
> for future spamming? Thank you.....

Firstly, I would upgrade to OE 5.0.6 and use the Junk Mail Filter and Rules
options to push most/all of your spam towards the Deleted Items folder...

<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx#OE>

To answer your question though, when you open a spam message, this may
signal to the spammer that you are "alive" if the message contains certain
HTML content and links to images that have to be downloaded from the
spammer's Webserver. The best option is not to open the spam and probably
not even to forward it to the abuse department. I work for a very large ISP
in the UK and our current philosophy is to apply server-side anti-spam
measures to stop these kinds of issues from occurring.

If you find that none of your own personal measures is working, then you
might need to think about changing your e-mail address and/or ISP.

Ricky

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Mac Forum / Applications / Outlook Express / April 2004

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