Workers' Edge

Last August, I described how to delay the messages you send from Microsoft Outlook. In that post, I bemoaned the lack of a similar feature in Gmail. Well, Google engineer Yuzo Fujishima comes to the rescue with a new tool called Undo Send, though unlike Outlook's send-delay feature, in Gmail, you have to act--or unact--fast.

To activate the feature, open Gmail, click Settings in the top-right corner, and choose the Labs tab. If you don't see a Labs tab, click more in the top-left menu, select even more, click the Labs link at the top right, choose Gmail Labs. Scroll to Undo Send, click Enable, and select Save Changes.

This feature isn't a miracle worker; it can pull back a message only in the first 5 seconds after you click Send. Still, many an e-mail "Oops!" comes to mind in that split second after you send it.

The Undo option appears for about 5 seconds in the "Your message has been sent" message at the top of your in-box.

If you click Undo in time, your message is yanked from the outbound queue and you see a message informing you that the send was undone.

Clearly, the Gmail Undo Send feature doesn't give you anywhere near the level of control you get when delaying sent messages in Outlook, but Gmail's version is much simpler to implement.

The Send Later extension for the Mozilla Foundation's Thunderbird e-mail client provides a similar function. Unfortunately, several people report problems using Send Later with the latest version 2.0.0.21 of Thunderbird. The extension appeared to work as advertised on my Vista PC, however.

To activate Send Later, press Ctrl-Shift-Enter when you've finishing composing the message. In the "Send this email later" dialog box that opens, select the time you want the message sent using the drop-down menus at the top of the window, or click one of the three preset delays: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 2 hours.

If only everything we do on a computer had a "do-over" button!

The list of PC security products never ends. For every name that drops off, two more jump on. In fact, determining the best security hardware and software is a full-time job. Sometimes, you just want to throw up your hands and take your chances.

Maybe I'm just a cockeyed optimist, but I think you can stay safe without spending all your spare time doing research, installing updates, and generally becoming a PC-security expert. Here are five relatively easy ways to improve your security.

Use the firewall that's closest at hand
In the computer industry, the reputation of a product, service, or Web site is just about worthless. Yesterday's best firewall, ad blocker, spam buster, virus spotter, or spyware cleaner is today's bust.

Maybe the product got bought and the new owners aren't as conscientious about updates as the previous ones. Or the service's management team decides to go for profits and skimp on support, updates, and enhancements. There are lots of reasons why a good product goes sour, and the computer industry has seen nearly all of them.

So if you can't go by reputation, how do you choose a security product? One way is to go with the tools you've already got. Windows' security is roundly criticized, but the fact is, it's better than it used to be, and third-party security products have their own shortcomings.

Last February, I recommended that you use a third-party firewall rather than the one built into Windows. Six months earlier, I suggested that you pass on the third-party tools and stick with the Windows Firewall despite its shortcomings.

So which side of the fence am I on now? The simple side. The fact is, any third-party security tool complicates your setup. It's not difficult to find weaknesses in the Windows Firewall, but it's safe enough for most PC users, and it's much better than using no software firewall at all.

My previous post included links to information on Microsoft's TechNet site providing technical details of the Windows Firewall, tips for customizing the Windows Firewall, and help troubleshooting the firewall in XP and Vista.

Don't hesitate to try another free antivirus program
Just last week, I switched antivirus programs on my XP test system--for the umpteenth time. Something was slowing the system down, and after defragging the hard drive and doing other standard maintenance tasks, the machine's performance didn't improve as I expected it to.

Rather than go through a bunch of diagnostic tests, I simply uninstalled the system's antivirus tool and downloaded a competing package. The old and new programs were both free, and the switch didn't take much time to complete. The topper? The XP machine's performance perked up immediately.

Two antivirus programs that are free for home use and that are currently highly rated are Avast Home Edition and Avira AntiVir. You'll find a list of dozens of antivirus programs for Windows on this Download.com page.

Change your password...again
I hate those "your password will expire in x days" warnings as much as you do, but one of the simplest ways to protect yourself is by keeping your passwords fresh. Last year, I described the Ten Password Commandments, one of which was to devise a password-creation strategy that's all your own.

Just two months ago, I complained about the shortcomings of passwords as our primary security option, though I concluded that there's nothing better, for now. Lots of people swear by password managers such as RoboForm, but then you have yet another third-party app complicating matters.

For me, it's simpler just to devise a new password based on my unique, inimitable password-creation system, which I share with no one. No need to write it down, enter it in an online form, or encrypt it in a master-password file. Temporary amnesia, well, that's another matter.

For secure e-mail, use encryption
You would think that encrypting e-mail would be a breeze, but doing so is anything but. You and the recipient have to deal with digital certificates, public and private keys, and any number of other time-eating preparations and precautions.

The simplest way I know of to encrypt your e-mail is by using the Mozilla Foundation's Thunderbird with the Enigmail extension. Jason Thomas provides step-by-step instructions in this tutorial on the Lifehacker site.

Gmail users can secure their e-mail communications by enabling the service's built-in encryption. To do so, click the Settings button at the top-right of the main Gmail screen, scroll to the bottom of the General tab, select "Always use https," and click Save Changes.

Keep your browser up-to-date
Most people will tell you that the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser is the safest way to surf, but a recent report from Google Switzerland and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology found that "(u)sing the most recent version of a browser will lower the risk associated with drive-by-downloads and other Web-based attacks, which start by targeting the browser."

The report cites Google Chrome's silent updates as the best way to ensure that your browser is protected. The researchers also laud Chrome's lack of a way for users to disable its silent-update feature. Some people will object to software being downloaded to and installed on their system without their knowledge, but the fact is, these behind-the-scenes updates are the best way to keep you safe from the Internet bad guys.

Personally, I'm starting to rethink my choice of default browser. But as I mentioned earlier, you can't put any faith in a computer security product's reputation. And you can't be afraid to switch.

Last week, somebody contacted me about a problem they were having with Outlook:

"I work for a general contractor and have multiple projects going on. When I get e-mails pertaining to particular jobs, I place them in Personal Folders that I name with the job name. When the project is completed, I would like to move the folder onto my hard drive without losing the date.

"I have over 242 e-mails for one job alone. When I move them, they all come up with the date that I transferred them and the subject matter is gone. There has got to be a better way of saving old e-mails without losing important data. It would be impossible to go back to find a particular e-mail after transferring them. The sender info is gone as well."

The steps for moving specific messages into a folder on your hard drive or other storage device are the same for Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003. Click File > New > Outlook Data File. Choose either Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) or Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst) and click OK.

Next, choose the location for your new folder, give it a name (the default is "Personal Folders(1)," but you can probably come up with a more descriptive name), and click OK. Enter the name in the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, add a password if you wish, and click OK again.

Now drag the messages you want to store locally out of their current Outlook Personal Folder subfolder and into the folder you just created. The messages will remain intact, with all dates, attachments, and other content unchanged.

The third of my three updates to the 10-Step Security story I wrote back in 2005 covers steps seven through 10, which deal with e-mail safety. (Last week, I refreshed steps one, two, and three, which address Windows security, and steps four, five, and six that cover safe browsing.)

Three years ago, e-mail was the source of most PC virus infections, but that's no longer the case. Now you're more likely to catch a piece of malware from a Web site, whether by downloading a file or simply by opening a booby-trapped page.

Does this mean you may now open e-mail messages and attachments without a second thought? Uh-uh.

The first of the four e-mail security tips in the original story warns against clicking links embedded in messages. That prohibition still applies. It's easy to spoof a link so that it looks like it leads somewhere other than its real destination. As the tip recommended, it's much safer to enter the URL in your browser's address bar manually, or to find your way to the page using the site's own navigation or search function.

Likewise, the advice in the eighth security step to scan attachments for viruses before opening them is as valid today as it was three years ago. Nearly every antivirus program and security suite scans all incoming e-mail and file attachments by default.

Some people will tell you that your e-mail client's preview pane--the topic of security tip number nine--poses no risk because it's much more difficult for malware to attack your PC simply by viewing a message. Even if this were the case, I would still close the preview pane in my e-mail program for privacy's sake.

The original article describes how to close the preview pane in Outlook Express, Outlook 2003, and Mozilla Thunderbird. The steps for doing so in Outlook 2007 are the same as in Outlook 2003.

I'm a big fan of viewing e-mail in plain text, the subject of the last of the 10 security steps. Using plain text is not just a way to block viruses transported via HTML mail. Plain-text messages may not always look so spiffy, but the files open fast.

I described how to set Outlook 2003 and 2007 to send and receive e-mail as plain text in a post from last month. To set Thunderbird to view incoming mail as plain text, click View > Message Body As > Plain Text.

To send mail as plain text in Thunderbird, click Tools > Account Settings, choose Composition & Addressing in the left pane, uncheck "Compose messages in HTML format," and click OK.

A final note on security software and wireless encryption
Two sidebars to the original 10-Step Security list the top security programs in various categories and recommend use of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to protect wireless networks.

Rather than using different programs for virus protection, spyware blocking, and other malware defenses, I prefer the suite approach. Using a combo security program reduces the chance of software conflicts, and if something goes wrong, you have only one vendor to deal with, for better or worse.

WPA provides sufficient protection for most home and small-office wireless networks, though you'll be safer if you upgrade to WPA2, if your network's router and other equipment support the later security standard. Using the older WEP security protocol is no longer sufficient because WEP is relatively easy to crack.

One last security-update note: the Mozilla Foundation recently acknowledged security breaches in the Firefox browser, Thunderbird e-mail client, and SeaMonkey Web suite. A security bulletin released last week instructs users to disable JavaScript until you're able to update to these versions:

• Firefox 3.0.5
• Firefox 2.0.0.19
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.19
• SeaMonkey 1.1.14

As of the evening of December 21, 2008, I could update to Firefox 3.0.5 and SeaMonkey 1.1.14, but not to Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 (2.0.0.18 is available). To update Firefox and Thunderbird, click Help > Check for Updates. Visit the SeaMonkey Downloads & Releases page to update that program.

My previous post described how to create a quick-and-simple HTML e-mail newsletter. I mentioned that you should view the plain-text version of the newsletter so you could see how it looks to recipients who have HTML mail disabled.

But what if you're on the receiving end? How can you ensure that you see the full-color, fancy-format HTML messages sent to you by people or organizations you trust, but are protected from potentially malicious HTML mail from bad guys? In Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007, it's easy.

Customize Outlook's message view
Start by setting Outlook to view messages as plain text by default. In Outlook 2007, click Tools > Trust Center > E-mail Security. In Outlook 2003, click Tools > Options > Preferences > E-mail Options. In both versions, check "Read all standard mail as plain text" and click OK.

Next, allow HTML mail from sources you trust to appear by default. In both Outlook 2007 and 2003, click Tools > Options > Junk E-mail (under the Preferences tab). Choose the Safe Senders tab and make sure "Also trust e-mail from my contacts" is checked. You can also check "Automatically add people I e-mail to the Safe Senders List." Other options in this dialog let you add addresses manually and import or export your safe addresses as a .txt file. When you're done, click OK twice.

You can also add e-mail addresses to your safe list by right-clicking the address and selecting Junk E-mail > Add Sender to Safe Senders List.

I wasn't able to find a way to set Mozilla Thunderbird to view HTML mail from sources you trust and plain-text messages from everyone else. You can make the view change globally in Thunderbird by clicking View > Message Body As > Plain Text.

The other two options on this submenu let you view messages as either "Original HTML" or "Simple HTML." What's the difference? According to MozillaZine, simple HTML blocks Javascript and remote-image display and interprets only "basic" HTML commands.

The other day, a friend asked if I how he could spiff up the weekly e-mail he sends to the members of his bowling team. I told him the simplest way was to download an HTML newsletter template he could customize and then send from Outlook or any other e-mail program.

Start by locating and downloading a newsletter template. You'll find a bunch of free ones at Templates Box. After you download the template you like, open it in an HTML editor. My favorite is the Composer component of the Mozilla Foundation's free SeaMonkey Web suite.

You could simply open the blank template file in Microsoft Word, add your text and images in that program, and then save the file with the .html extension, but I recommend that you instead use a WYSIWYG HTML editor such as Composer. Word and HTML don't always get along so well.

Previous versions of Word added all sorts of extraneous code to HTML pages, which created a cottage industry of utilities that cleaned up Word documents for publishing on the Web. Word 2007 is said to generate much cleaner HTML, but I've used Composer since the 1990s, and the program is great for customizing HTML templates.

Even though you may think all your recipients want to hear from you, follow a few rules to avoid looking like a spammer. First, send the newsletter only to people who are expecting it. Unless your bowling team is used to hearing from you weekly, give all your would-be readers a chance to opt in.

Second, always include a contact link so people can unsubscribe. Third, use a descriptive subject, but avoid all caps, excessive exclamation marks, and other spam-like terms. (If you're planning a newsletter for a Viagra support group, you're out of luck.)

Once you're happy with the look and content of your newsletter, save the file with the .html extension. Copy the newsletter by opening it in your HTML editor and pressing Ctrl-A and then Ctrl-C. Next, open a new blank message in your e-mail program, click in the body of the message, and press Ctrl-V to paste in the newsletter.

Now all that's left to do is to put your own e-mail address in the To: field, your recipients' addresses in the Bcc: field, and a descriptive-but-not-spammy phrase in the Subject field. If you plan to send the newsletter to the same group on a regular basis, create a subgroup in your Contacts list or address book with just those e-mail addresses. Then you can simply select that group in the Bcc: field each time you send out a newsletter.

With all the elements in place, click Send. If you're given the option, send the message as both HTML and plain text. That way, people who have HTML deactivated in their e-mail program by default will still see the text of your newsletter.

In fact, it's a good idea to view your newsletter as plain text before you send it so you know what it will look like to non-HTML recipients.

There's something about Microsoft Outlook that reminds me of the old Soviet Union: the program wants to centralize everything and store it in one big PST file that only it can access. There may be advantages to this approach to managing your e-mail, contacts, tasks, and calendar, but you know what can happen when you put all your eggs in one basket.

That's why it makes sense to move copies of your important Outlook files to folders that live outside the Office system. Saving messages and other data to local storage is relatively easy, whether you move them one at a time or in bunches. Note that this is different than backing up (or archiving) the messages, which I'll also describe.

To save a single message to a local folder, open it, and in Outlook 2003, click File > Save As, or in Outlook 2007 click the Office button and choose Save As twice. In both versions, navigate to the folder you want to use, choose a file type in the Save as type drop-down menu, and click Save. Note that in Outlook 2003, the message subject becomes the file name, but in Outlook 2007 you have to give the file a name.

The two most common formats for e-mail are HTML (.htm or .html) and Text Only (.txt): the former opens the message in a browser and preserves the look of the original, but the latter ensures that the message will open in just about any program.

You can also save multiple messages simultaneously by Ctrl-clicking to select them, or Ctrl-A to save them all, and then choosing File > Save As in Outlook 2003, or the Office button and Save As twice in Outlook 2007. They'll all be saved as a single text file, and you'll have to give the file a name. Each message in the file begins with the word "From".

To move an entire folder to your hard drive or other local storage, click File > Import and Export, choose Export to a file, click Next, select Comma Separated Values (Windows), click Next again, choose the folder you want to export, click Next yet again, browse to the location you want to store the folder (unless you want to go with the folder and file name Outlook chose), give the file a name, click Next once more, and then Finish.

You could also choose to export the folder as a single Excel or Access file, but using either Comma Separated Values (Windows) or Tab Separated Values (Windows) makes the file much easier to read in Word.

Back up the Outlook way via archiving. You may also want to protect your mail, contacts, tasks, and calendar entries within Outlook by archiving your data. The primary advantage of archiving is that everything is backed up with a single action. The disadvantage is that everything lives in a single file, and the data is accessible only in Outlook.

To archive in Outlook 2003, click File > Archive > Personal Folders (or select individual folders, if you wish), enter the date, choose a location for your archive file, give it a name (or go with Outlook's default in both cases), and click OK. You can ensure that your archive includes everything by checking Include items with "Do Not AutoArchive" checked.

You may also want to note the folder Outlook uses to store this and other files by default, because Microsoft does a good job of making the location impossible to guess. In XP, the path is C:\Documents and Settings\your login name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. In Vista, it's C:\Users\your login name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.

Let Outlook do the archiving for you. I get nervous when programs start doing things behind the scenes, but you might prefer to have Outlook archive a folder automatically. To do so, right-click the folder and choose Properties > AutoArchive. If you select Archive items in this folder using the default settings, click Default Archive Settings, and choose your preferred options. Another way to set up auto-archiving is to click Archive this folder using these settings, and make your choices. As far as I can tell, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Retrieve your archived data. An archive won't do you much good if you can't access it, and Outlook doesn't make the process particularly easy: Click File > Import and Export > Import from another program or file > Next > Personal Folder File (.pst) > Next. Now browse to and select your archive file, click Do not import duplicates, and choose Next > Finish.

Tomorrow: Ubuntu time-saving tips.

A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board allows companies to restrict the use of their e-mail systems for union activities by their employees. The case dates back to 2000, at which time a union official for the Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Oregon, sent three union-related messages. The NLRB found that since the newspaper had a policy in place that restricted use of e-mail for "non-job-related solicitations" for outside organizations, it was within its rights to ban such messages.

What a surprise!

If your work entails use of your employer's e-mail system--whether or not the company has published an official policy on use of the system by its workers--you better assume that your bosses have the right to monitor your incoming and outgoing messages, and restrict use of the systems for purposes not directly related to your job.

I've been poking around the Internet trying to find a definitive answer to the question of e-mail privacy in the workplace, and it appears that there is none. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse includes e-mail along with telephone conversations and computer use as workplace technologies that can be monitored by employers.

If you want to stay on the right side of your organization's e-mail policy, the first thing you have to do is find out what it is. If your employer hasn't published such a policy and made it available to you, ask them to formalize the matter. Next, no matter what the stated policy, assume you have no right to use your work e-mail for non-work purposes. Even signing up for an account at Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or some other Web mail system won't protect you because the PC and Internet link you'll use to access the mail will likely be owned by your employer.

So when your brother-in-law sends the latest list of Darwin Award winners or dumb-blonde jokes to your work e-mail address, reply by asking him to send future vital correspondences to your personal e-mail account, and get your giggle on in the privacy of your own home. Your home is still private, right?

Monday: Diagnose and repair the most common Windows glitches.

Last Friday I described how to receive messages sent to your ISP mail account in your Gmail inbox. Lots of people prefer the sorting, contact lists, and other features of their client mail program, so today I'm going to turn things around and tell you how to forward mail sent to your Gmail address in the Outlook or Thunderbird inbox for your ISP mail account.

Start by logging into Gmail, clicking the Settings link in the top-left corner, and selecting Forwarding and POP/IMAP. If your ISP uses POP3, choose Enable POP for all mail if you want to see all your current Gmail messages in your desktop mail app, or Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on if you want to keep your existing Gmail stuff where it is and get only new messages forwarded to your mail program. In the drop-down menu to the left of "When messages are accessed with POP," you can choose to keep the messages in your Gmail inbox, archive them automatically, or delete them. If your ISP mail account uses IMAP, simply click Enable IMAP. When you're done, click Save Changes.

Once you've got Gmail set to forward, you're ready to add the account to your desktop mail program. If you use Outlook 2003, click Tools*E-mail Accounts, choose Add a new e-mail account, and click Next. On the Server Type screen, select POP3 or IMAP, whichever you set Gmail to, and click Next again. Enter your name, Gmail address, logon name and password, and the incoming and outgoing server addresses: pop.gmail.com and smtp.gmail.com, respectively, if you use POP, or imap.gmail.com and smtp.gmail.com, respectively, if you use IMAP. Finally, click Next and Finish.

Access Outlook 2007's Add New E-mail Account wizard by clicking Tools*Account Settings*New. Choose Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP, and click Next. Fill in your name, e-mail address, and password (twice), and then click Next again. The program will attempt an encrypted connection, and will opt for an unencrypted one if the first try fails.

Connect Gmail With Thunderbird

To add your Gmail account to Mozilla Thunderbird, click Tools*Account Settings*Add Account, choose Email account, and click Next. Enter your name and Gmail address, and click Next again. Choose POP or IMAP, whichever is appropriate, enter the Gmail server address (either pop.gmail.com or imap.gmail.com), leave User Global Inbox (store mail in Local Folders) checked if you want the mail kept in Thunderbird as well as in Gmail, and click Next once again.

Enter your "Incoming user name" (if Thunderbird doesn't add it to the field automatically), click Next, type in your Gmail address (Thunderbird should do this for you as well), and click Next one more time. Check over the account settings, click Finish, and then OK.

Tomorrow: Reset Microsoft Word's faulty defaults.