Auto-responding to messages

In Windows Vista You can create a message rule that automatically responds to certain incoming messages (or all incoming messages). But before you go to the trouble, think about this: If the idea is to send an auto-response while you’re away on vacation, the auto-responder will only work if you leave your computer on and online the whole time you’re away, and you configure Windows Mail to automatically check your messages occasionally. If that’s not realistic, you’d have to set up your auto-responder at the e-mail server, not in Windows Mail. Whether you can do that, and how, depends entirely on your ISP or mail service provider. You’ll need to search their Web site, or contact them, to find out if auto-responders are even an option, and how to set one up. But, getting back to Windows Mail, you can certainly auto-respond to certain messages every time you check your mail. The first step is to define your canned response. Here’s how:

1. Open Windows Mail and click the Create Mail button.

2. Leave the To: and CC: lines empty. Fill in the Subject line and type your canned response in the body of the message.

3. Choose File  ->  Save As from the menu bar above the message you just typed.

4. Navigate to the document folder in which you want to store the message (your Documents folder will do just fine), type in a filename of your own choosing, and click Save.

5. Close the window in which you wrote the message. Now you have a canned response stored as an .eml file. To verify that, open the document folder in which you placed the message. Its icon will look like an envelope. The file named Auto-Responder.eml. I’ll use it as the example in the steps to follow. Next, you need to set up a message rule that defines which messages get an auto-response. In Windows Mail, choose Tools  ->  Message Rules  ->  Mail to create a new mail message rule. In box 1, specify conditions that define messages that will get an auto-response. You could use All messages, but that might be overkill, especially because many messages you get are someone else’s auto response. So you could define the rule more specifically, such as where the body of the message does not contain the words Do not reply to this message. In box 2, choose Reply with message. Then click the message link in Line 3, navigate to the folder that contains your auto-response message, and double-click its icon. Unfortunately, you can’t test the auto-responder by sending an e-mail message from your own account. If you try, you’ll see a message indicating that no reply was sent because the incoming message was from your own account. But if you have access to some other account with a different e-mail address, you can test it from there.

Searching for Messages

In Windows Vista Most likely you’ll want to search your Inbox and its subfolders. In that case leave Inbox and Include Subfolders selected. If you want to search some other folder, click Browse and choose the folder you want to search. For example, to search all your mail folders, choose Local Folder from the Browse options. Now just fill in the blanks to describe what you’re searching for. You can fill in any number of boxes. For example, to search for messages that have a specific word or phrase in the subject line, type that word or phrase in the Subject box. To look for messages that have a certain word or phrase in the body of the message, type that word or phrase in the Message box. You can also limit the search to messages sent before or after some date, to flagged messages, or to messages that have attachments. When you’ve finished filling in the blanks, click the Find Now button. Headers for messages that match your search criteria (if any) appear at the bottom of the Find Message window. If necessary, use the scroll bar to the right of the message headers to scroll through them. Optionally, you can enlarge the window to see more message headers. If no messages match your search criteria, maybe you spelled a word wrong. Or maybe you used too many criteria. Click the New Search button and try again. To open a found message, double-click its header in the lower pane. Optionally, you can right-click any message header to perform some task on that message. Or use commands from the menu bar at the top of the Find Message dialog box to do things with the message. As in the main Windows Mail program, you can select multiple found messages to perform some task on all of them in one fell swoop. When you’ve finished with the Find Message dialog box, click its Close (X) button. Or choose File  ->  Exit from its menu bar.

You don’t really need to open Windows Mail to search for messages. You can launch your search right from the Start menu or the Search window. Searching from the Start menu One of the beauties of Windows Mail is that all your messages are included in Vista’s search index. This means you can search for any word or phrase in the body of any mail message right from the Start menu. For example, you can Tap the Windows key, type a word, and see all files (including e-mail messages) that contain that word. When typing in the Search box, you can also use To: or From: to limit the search to messages that are to or from a specific person or domain. For example, a search for from:susan finds only messages that have Susan in the “From” address. A search for to:susan finds only messages you sent to Susan. Use the keyword about: to search contents. For example, a search for about:deadline finds all messages that contain

the word “deadline.” To limit the search to the message subject line, use the subject: keyword. For example, a search for subject:vista finds only messages that have “vista” in the Subject line. You can use AND and OR (uppercase letters) to specify multiple criteria. For example, a search for from:alan AND about:excel displays only messages from Alan that have the word “Excel” in the message body. A search for to:susan OR from:susan finds all messages that you sent to, or received from, Susan.

Personalizing Windows Mail

There are many options for personalizing Windows Mail. Most are in its Options dialog box. You can open that dialog box at any time, and change any settings you like, by choosing Tools  ->  Options from the Windows Mail menu bar. The sections to follow look at settings on each tab of the Options dialog box. Some are more relevant to newsgroups than e-mail.

- Notify me if there are any new newsgroups: If you use Windows Mail to participate in newsgroups, choosing this option will ensure that you’ll be notified when new newsgroups become available.

- Automatically display folders with unread messages: If you use message rules to automatically route messages to folders, you should choose this option. Otherwise, if a message gets routed to a subfolder that’s currently hidden in the Folders list, you might not be aware of the new message.

- Use newsgroups Communities support feature: Choose this option to participate in newsgroups that offer technical support for Windows and other products. Under the Send/Receive heading, you’ll find the following optional settings:

- Play sound when new messages arrive: Choose this option to get a small sound alert when new e-mail messages are downloaded to your Inbox.

- Send and receive messages at startup: Choose this option if you want Windows Mail to automatically send and receive messages as soon as you open Windows Mail. If you don’t choose this option, you must manually send and receive messages. Choose Tools  ->  Send/Receive from the menu bar, or click the Send/Receive button in the toolbar to manually send and/or receive messages.

- Check for new messages every x minutes: Choose this option if you want Windows Mail to automatically check for new e-mail messages. If you choose this option, you can also set the number of minutes between checks.

- If my computer is not connected at this time: If you’ve opted to let Windows Mail automatically check for new messages, use the drop-down button to choose whether or not you also want Windows Mail to connect automatically if it’s offline. You can also specify whether or not this option overrides the Work Offline option described in the following sidebar. Under the Default Messaging Programs, you’ll find options for making Windows Mail your default message handler. If you use multiple e-mail clients and messaging programs, only one can be the default. The default program is the one that appears at the top of the start menu. It’s also the one that appears when you perform a messaging-related task from outside your messaging program. If either Make Default button is dimmed, that just means that Windows Mail is already the default messaging program. So you don’t need to do anything else there. But if some other program becomes the default messaging program, and you want to switch back to Windows Mail, the Make Default button(s) will be enabled so you can go back to using Windows Mail as your default program.

Working Offline

In Windows Vista Working offline is a means of using Windows Mail to manage messages without being online. This allows you to read and reply to e-mail messages without being online. You might want to use this feature to minimize your connection time if you use your regular voice telephone line to connect to the Internet, or if your ISP charges by the hour. To work offline, choose File  ->  Work Offline from the Windows Mail menu bar. You’ll see a Working Offline indicator in the status bar. You can read and reply to e-mail messages, but your replies will be stored in your Outbox. To get back online and send your replies, choose File  ->  Work Offline to clear the checkmark from that option and go back online. Then click Send/Receive to send out your pending messages.

Read options

The Read tab in the Options dialog box, offers options for personalizing how Windows Mail displays and handles messages you receive. Most options are fairly simple and don’t have any big effect on how you handle messages. The sections to follow relate to options on that tab.

Mark message read after displaying for x seconds

When you first get a new batch of messages, their message headers are boldfaced to distinguish them from older messages. The boldface signifies an unread message. When you click on an unread message header to read the message, the header stays boldfaced for a few seconds. Exactly how many seconds depends on the number you specify for this setting. So if you feel your messages are being switched from Unread to Read too quickly, you could change the default of 5 seconds to 10 or 15 seconds. Then again, you could clear the checkmark from this setting to disable it. If you do, unread messages will never be changed to read messages automatically. Every message will remain boldfaced until you right-click the message head and choose “Mark as unread.”

Automatically expand grouped messages If you use the Group Messages by Conversation feature, choosing this option will cause messages to appear in the expanded view, rather than in the collapsed view. In newsgroups, it means that you’ll see every message header rather than just the initial post for a thread. You can still expand or collapse any conversation by clicking the + /– sign in the message header.

Automatically download message when viewing in the Preview Pane The option that sports this section’s title is a newsgroup thing. Some newsgroup messages are quite large, and you don’t necessarily want to download and install copies of them on your own computer. Normally it’s not even necessary to download newsgroup messages because you can always view them on the newsgroup server. But if want to access the newsgroup messages offline, you can choose the “Automatically download...” option so that each newsgroup message is downloaded as soon as you display it in your Preview pane.

Read all messages in plain text Choosing this option will remove fancy HTML and graphics from e-mail messages you receive. So every message contains plain text. There’s no technical advantage to this. Some people just prefer plain text to fancy formatting.

Show ToolTips in the message list for clipped items Here’s another simple option for message headers. If selected, this option lets you see information that’s clipped off in a column. For example, let’s say the Subject line for a message is too wide for the Subject column in the contents pane. When this feature is selected, you just have to touch the tip of the mouse pointer to that subject line. The entire line will appear in a tooltip near the mouse pointer.

Highlight watched messages This setting relates to the optional Watch/Ignore column in the contents pane. When you click in that pane to watch a conversation, the text of that header usually turns red. Use this option to make the message turn to some color other than red.

News settings Options under the News heading control how many message headers get downloaded each time you connect to the group, and whether or not they’re marked as Read. These settings only apply to newsgroups. I’ll talk about these options in the next article where they’re more relevant.

Fonts settings The Fonts settings on the Read tab set default fonts and encodings for reading (not writing) e-mail messages. The default encoding should be Western European for English and similar languages. Use other encodings for Chinese, Arabic, and other languages that require special characters. But the fonts you choose and their size is entirely up to you.

Receipt options The Receipts tab of the Options dialog box lets you configure both sending and receiving read receipts. A read receipt is a message that pops up as soon as you read a message that has a read receipt. If you click Yes, the sender gets an e-mail message verifying that you read the message. Options on the Receipts tab are mostly self-explanatory:

If you choose the Request a read receipt for all sent messages option, every e-mail message you send will automatically request a read receipt. If you don’t choose this option, you can still request a read receipt for any message you write. Just choose Tools  ->  Request Read Receipt before you click the Send button in the New Message window. The options under Returning Read Receipts apply to how you respond when someone sends you a read receipt. Those are self-explanatory:

- Never send a read receipt.

- Notify me for each read receipt request (this is the default setting that displays the receipt box

- Always send a read receipt.

For security reasons, choosing “Always send a read receipt” is a bad idea. Spammers and identity thieves can use read receipts to verify e-mail messages.

Compose options The Compose tab in the Windows Mail Options dialog box, lets you define default settings for the e-mail messages you write.

Compose font Use the Font Settings button next to the Mail heading to choose a default font for the e-mail messages you type. You can choose a different default font for newsgroup messages.

Stationery A stationery is a background color, picture, or pattern for electronic messages. If you want to use a stationery on all (or most) of the e-mail messages you send, select (check) the Mail checkbox. Then click Select and pick whichever stationery you like best. You can do the same for newsgroups. But you might not want to because newsgroup folk tend to prefer to keep things plain and simple. If you define a default stationery, it will appear as the background every time you click Create Mail to create a new e-mail message. If, for whatever reason, you don’t want to use the stationery in the message you’re about to write, choose Format  ->  Apply Stationery  ->  No Stationery to remove the stationery from that one message.

Click the Download More button to explore additional stationeries online. Click Create New to create your own custom stationery.

Business cards In the online world, the goal is generally to never expose personally identifiable information such as your home address and phone number, unless you’re setting up an account through a secure Web site with a business you know and trust. People who expose personally identifiable information online expose themselves to identity theft and other bad things. However, if you have a Web site, an eBay store, or your own business, chances are you do want to promote it online. One way to do that is by creating a signature that shows relevant information at the bottom of e-mail messages you send. Another way is to attach a virtual business card to your e-mail messages. A virtual business card is like a real business card, except that there’s no paper involved. A virtual business card makes it easy for people to add your business or site to their Windows Contacts. The first step to creating a virtual business card is to create a Windows Contact. Include only the information you would put on a real business card. Not your home address or phone number, but rather the business URL, e-mail address, or whatever else seems appropriate. If you’re in the Windows Mail Options dialog box, you’ll need to click OK to close it. Then choose Tools  ->  Contacts to open your Contacts folder. Then use the New Contact button to create a contact for your business. Include only the information needed to promote your business. Click OK and close the Contacts folder.

To add the business card to your e-mail messages, get back to the Compose tab of the Windows Mail Options dialog box and select (check) Mail under “Include my business card when creating new messages.” Click the button to the right of Mail, then choose your business card contact from the drop-down list. Optionally, click the Edit button to review or edit the contact information. After you’ve activated the card and clicked OK to leave the Options dialog box, every message you send will include your business card. When a recipient receives your message, the card appears as an icon in the Preview pane header. The recipient can click the card icon to open and view the card, and then click Add to Contacts to add the card to their Windows Contacts.

Signature options The Signature tab of the Options dialog box allows you to create one or more signatures for your e-mail messages. The signature appears at the bottom of every e-mail message you compose. For more information on signatures, see “Automatic e-mail signing” earlier in this article.

Spelling options The Spelling tab in the Options dialog box lets you configure spell-checking in e-mail messages. I’ll assume most options are self-explanatory. The main option to consider is the one named Always check spelling before sending. Selecting (checking) that option will cause the spell checker to check your spelling as soon as you click Send after writing a message. If you don’t select the “Always check spelling before sending” option, spell-checking will never kick in automatically. You’ll have to click the Spelling button, or press F7, or choose Tools  ->  Spelling from the New Message menu bar to start the spell-checker manually.

E-mail security options The Security tab in Windows Mail’s Options dialog box  provides some options for protecting yourself from e-mail security threats. These are no substitute for the full set of security tools discussed in Part II of this article. Rather, they’re extra touches provided by Windows Mail for making e-mail safer. The options on the tab are divided into three categories, as described next.

Virus Protection In the Virus Protection section, your first option is to choose between Internet Zone and Protected Zone. The Internet Zone uses settings defined in Internet Explorer. This setting allows certain scripts and add-ons to work in Windows Mail. However, this setting is best used only by professionals who need scripts and add-ons and are able to distinguish between those that are safe and those that aren’t. For everyone else, Protected Zone is the preferred choice. Although slightly more restrictive, it’s also a lot safer. Most likely, the things the Protected Zone prevents you from using are things you don’t want on your computer in the first place.

Most viruses spread through e-mail attachments. Once your computer is infected, the virus sends copies of itself to people in your Contacts. You won’t be aware this is happening unless you choose Warn me when other applications try to send mail as me. With that option selected, you’ll see a warning message when the virus attempts to spread itself to one of your e-mail contacts. At that point you’ll know you picked up a virus and your first task should be to get rid of that virus. The Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus option blocks e-mail attachments that could be a virus. It does not detect actual viruses. Unfortunately, there are many file types that could contain a virus. So choosing this option will prevent you from opening or saving many attachments that are virus-free and perfectly safe. If you have virus protection through your ISP or on your system that’s blocking infected attachments, then it’s okay to clear this option. You don’t need to worry about files that could contain a virus if your antivirus software is already preventing such attachments from reaching your Inbox.

Downloaded images The Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail option is designed to protect you from certain types of spyware attacks associated with pictures and other external content in e-mail messages. Choosing this option also has the fringe benefit of speeding up your message downloads, especially if you’re using a slow dial-up connection.

Blocked images in e-mail messages appear as a box with a red X and some alternate text in place of the picture. Above such messages you’ll see a bar telling you that pictures have been blocked along with an instruction to click that bar to download the images. What you do from here depends on whom the e-mail message is from: - If the message is from someone you know and trust, and you want to see the images, just click the bar as instructed. The images will be downloaded and placed right where they belong. - If the message is not from someone you know and trust, your safest bet would be to not download the images. Just move onto the next message. Or take a look at the text of the message without the images in place, then decide whether or not you really want to see the missing pictures.

Secure Mail The Secure Mail options all concern the use of digital IDs. These options are relevant only if you already have a digital ID, or if you acquire one by clicking Get Digital ID. Digital IDs are a fairly large topic that I address later in this article under “Securing E-mail with Digital IDs.”

Connection options The Connection tab of the Windows Mail Options dialog box lets you configure Windows Mail for a dial-up Internet connection. The first option, “Ask before switching dial-up connections” just displays a prompt if Windows Mail has to switch to a separate dial-up account to access e-mail. The second option, “Hang up after sending and receiving” is self-explanatory. It’s designed to minimize connection time. By default, Windows Mail will use the same dial-up connection Internet Explorer uses to access the Web. If you need to use a different account for Web mail, click the Change button and specify the account you want to use for e-mail.

Advanced options The Advanced tab in the Windows Mail Options dialog box, offers a mish-mash of options, mostly of interest to more advanced users. Options in the Settings list are described in the following sections.

Contact Attachment Conversion The Contact Attachment Conversion options let you convert Windows Vista Contacts to the vCard format used in Windows XP, Outlook Express, and many other earlier programs. Each option dictates what happens when you save contact information that’s attached to a received e-mail message:

- Always convert Contacts attachments to vCard: If you choose this option, every Contact you save from that point forward will automatically be saved as a vCard.

- Ask me each time: If you want to have control over which Contacts get converted to vCards, choose this option. Each time you save a Contact, a dialog box will appear asking which format you want to use.

- Leave contact attachments in Contacts format: This is the default behavior where contract information is always stored in Windows Vista Contacts format. None of these settings affect Contacts you already have. To make vCards of all your existing Contacts, you export them. First, create a new folder in which to store the vCards. Then from the menu bar in Windows Mail, choose File  ->  Export  ->  Contacts  ->  vCards (folder of .vcf files). Click Export, navigate to the folder in which you want to put the vCards, and click OK. Then click Close.

IMAP IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is often used in larger business settings that have their own mail server. Most ISPs use POP3 (Post Office Protocol, Version 3) for e-mail. But if you happen to be configuring an IMAP account, know that when you delete a message from an IMAP folder, Windows Mail marks the message as deleted. But it leaves the message in your message list until that message has been deleted from the IMAP server. If you want to remove messages from the IMAP message list when you delete them in Windows Mail, choose the Move deleted IMAP e-mail to Deleted Items folder checkbox. That way, when you delete an IMAP message in Windows Mail, you also delete it from the message list.

Message Threads A message thread is an e-mail or newsgroup conversation. In Windows Mail, you can mark conversations as “Watch” or “Ignore” by clicking in the Watch/Ignore column. Message headers in watched conversations are colored to draw attention. If you choose (check) the Mark message threads I start as “Watched” option, any new conversation you start will automatically be marked as watched.

Reply/Forward The Reply/Forward options on the Advanced tab control where things appear in messages you reply to and forward. Normally, any text you type in a reply or forward appears above the original message. Similarly, if you use a custom signature, that signature appears above the original message (below the text you type in your message). The options under Reply/Forward change that positioning as follows:

- Insert signature on the bottom of a reply: Choosing this option causes customer signatures to appear at the very bottom of a message to which you reply.

- Reply on the bottom of a message: Choosing this option causes any text you type in a reply to appear below, rather than above, the original message to which you’re replying. Outside the Settings list are a couple of buttons, described next.

Restore Defaults Clicking the Restore Defaults button changes the options listed under Settings back to their original default settings.