e-mail

Think you're seeing less junk mail in your inbox these days? If so, it's not just your imagination.

The rate of spam across the world has hit close to a three-year low and now encompasses just 70 percent of all e-mails, according to Symantec's November Intelligence Report (PDF).

That number is a healthy drop from 2009 when spam accounted for 90 percent of all global e-mails. And it's close to the 68 percent level seen in late 2008 after the spam hosting ISP McColo was shut down.

In particular, pharmaceutical spam is at its lowest level … Read more

The new Opera might be a minor-point update, but along with the interface changes, better HTML5 support, and faster handling of secure sites, Opera humorously has noted that it's a good thing that tween pop star Justin Bieber prefers Google Chrome. Debuting today, Opera 11.60 for Windows (download), Mac (download), and Linux (download) brings Opera a step closer to version 12 and its planned hardware acceleration update.

Hardware acceleration is currently one of the major features missing from Opera that its competitors offer. It allows the browser to leverage a computer's graphics processor to cut down on … Read more

You probably know that keyloggers are programs that capture a computer user's keystrokes, most often surreptitiously. As the name suggests, IwantSoft's Free Keylogger is a freeware keylogging app. It can track and record keystrokes, clipboard activity, and Net surfing on individual PCs or networks (with administrative access) without users being able to see it or disable it. Of course, you need access to a user's PC to install Free Keylogger, and there are ethical and potential legal issues involved when you monitor someone else's computer use. But for parents who need to know what their kids … Read more

Ever made plans or laid out action steps while on a business call, and wish you had taken notes? Maybe you were on your Bluetooth headset while driving, or you couldn't find a pen. Or maybe you just plain hate scrawling anything on paper at all.

Enter Tote Notes, a brilliantly conceived app that pops up after voice calls so you can dictate notes before you forget any important details. It not only records voice notes, it e-mails them to you, and even transcribes them to text so you can easily search for them later.

Here's how it … Read more

Google's latest update to its Gmail iOS app fixes a glitch in the first version, but many users are still giving the app a collective thumbs-down over its limited functionality.

Released yesterday, the new 1.0.2 version of Gmail for iOS squashes the original bug that broke notifications and displayed an error message upon launch. The update also sizes images from HTML messages so that they properly fit the screen.

Users still running the original version are advised to uninstall or at least log out of it before installing the new version.

The app now launches smoothly without … Read more

There's one thing you can do to avoid being the victim of identity theft: follow this 10-step PC security plan.

Encrypt your network connection Most popular sites offer HTTPS connections at least some of the time. In Gmail, click the gear icon in the top-right corner and select "Always use https" under the General tab.

To select Facebook's HTTPS setting, click the down arrow in the top-right corner and choose Account settings. Select Security in the left pane and Edit in the Secure Browsing section of the main window. Check "Browse Facebook on a secure … Read more

These days, love comes, love goes, love doesn't necessarily even stay the night.

Do you need more proof of this sad and very modern truth? Oh, you do. Then please let me help you. A survey conducted by market researchers Lab 42 declares that 33 percent of human beings have broken up with their beloveds by text, e-mail, or Facebook.

Yes, Facebook.

You might imagine that I am talking about 13-year-olds. Because you definitely, surely have to be 13 to be on Facebook. Yet, no. This survey purports to offer the truths of 550 people older than 18--and, clearly, … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week people wrote in with questions on preserving an intact preferences file for restoring if the working one becomes corrupt, using an alternative e-mail account with iCloud, an unrecoverable filesystem error showing in Disk Utility, and why not download PKG installer files directly. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

NOTE: The "contact us" box for e-mailing us will hopefully … Read more

Thunderbird 8 arrived today, a new version of Mozilla's e-mail software that now is linked with the Firefox rapid-release program.

Thunderbird 8 is built using the same Gecko 8 browser engine that's used in Firefox 8, also released today. Notably, the new version is accompanied by Lightning 1.0, an add-on under development for years that gives Thunderbird a calendar module, too.

Thunderbird 8 also includes "improvements to attachment handling and accessibility, updated Search and Find shortcuts, and several security, and stability fixes," according to a blog post by Mozilla's Rafael Ebron.

The Lightning add-on … Read more