Outlook as a security risk

Disable E-mail Client’s Preview Pane For Safer Computing & Less Spam

A recent article on scam spam (e-mail) prompted a reader to send in this good question,

Hi Paul –
You wrote “don’t even open e-mail from unknown sources.. doing so can/will mark your e-mail address as a “live” person, …”.
How do we delete without opening a specific email message?   Even while deleting in bulk the first email in the highlighted selections opens.  I’m using Outlook Express.  Thanks for your help!

What is being referred to is the feature common to e-mail clients called the “Preview Pane”.

Dear Reader–
You’re correct that most webmail settings, and e-mail clients, (by default) have what is called a “preview pane”, which opens the first (topmost/most recent) e-mail in your Inbox, and shows you the first few lines of the e-mail. Yes.. this will trigger whatever the spammers/hackers are using to verify receipt (such as downloading an invisible jpeg). Because of this, I always turn the Preview Pane off.
To do this in OE, click on the View menu and select Layout.
Then in the Preview Pane Properties, uncheck the “Show preview pane” checkbox.

BTW– by exploring Properties/Options/Settings/Preferences (different names for the same thing), you can disable the preview pane in every e-mail viewer.. Hotmail, Thunderbird, etc.

Tip of the day: While many people find the preview window a convenient way to skim their incoming mail, using it automatically opens your machine up to security risks (especially if you are allowing HTML, and/or images, as the OE pictured above does) and tells anyone who’s interested that yes, your.name@isp.com is a valid address.. suitable for spamming.

I advise disabling the feature, and doing without the ’speed enhancement’ of previewing. Doing so will reduce the amount of spam you receive, improve your privacy, and close the door on one of the methods hackers can use to infect your machine.
Trust me folks, you do not want to be on a spammer list.

Today’s free download: (For Mac) Evernote is the ubiquitous notetaking/data capture utility, and I was pleased to find it for Apple machines/devices. From site: “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.“

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Share this post :

How to encrypt your e-mail, the easy way

Great! You have exchanged e-mails with Comodo, and completed the free certificate installation {and so has the person(s) with whom you want to exchange private messages} as I described in the proceeding article. That was easier than you thought, right? You are now mere clicks away from simple-and-easy private exchanges.
All we have to do is associate the new certificate with the (appropriate) e-mail account. Once that is done, the encryption will be virtually transparent.. as in “automatic”.

1) Verify install (Optional): Open an instance of Internet Explorer (if it isn’t already) and click on the “Tools” menu item in the upper-right. Select “Internet Options” from the Context Menu. Now click on the “Content” tab. Look to the middle for the “Certificates” button, as shown below.
 
Now you should see your new Certificate listed…
 
As shown here. If you don’t see this, it means that Windows did not complete the certificate installation. You will need to re-open the Comodo e-mail, and revisit the link, and repeat the Install process.
But, that’s thinking negative, so let’s proceed as if everything (so far) looks right.

2) Associate Cert with e-mail: Close IE and open your e-mail client. In my screenshots I am using Live Mail, but the process steps apply to Mail, Outlook, and OE as well. (Thunderbird and AppleMail are slightly different menu choices, but the principle is the same.) Click on “Tools”, and then select “Accounts”.
This will list your configured e-mail accounts.
 
Select the account you requested the Certificate for by clicking (once) on it, {For demonstration purposes, I am associating the Cert with this site’s e-mail account.} and then click on the “Properties” button. Select the “Security” tab.
 
Start by clicking the “Select” button for the “Signing certificate”..
 
And click on the certificate shown (if you have more than one personal Certificate showing, use the dates issued to choose the correct one) and then “OK”. Repeat this for the “Encrypting preferences” “Select” button.
Your e-mail account is now “Certified”! And you are ready for…

3) Send a “Signed” e-mail to your friend: Address a “New” e-mail to the person(s) you want to exchange encrypted messages with, and click the “Sign” button, then “Send”. By “signing” your e-mail, you are sending them your “Digital ID” and a copy of your “public key”.

4) Have the other party do #3 to you: Having the other party send a “signed” e-mail to you, gives you a copy of their DID and their public key. Now you both have the keys you need to exchange secure, private, encrypted e-mails to each other.

5) Click the “Encrypt” button before you click “Send”: That’s it.. it is now that simple. Your e-mail will appear in their Inbox like this..
 
And when they open it (no special actions needed) they will see this…

.. and visa versa. From now on, it will be so smooth and easy, you might begin to wonder if your mail really is being scrambled/unscrambled. (It is.)

To read the How to on getting the free e-mail Certificate (part 1 of this article), click here.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

Share this post :