Inbox

By DON McALLISTER

Welcome to InBox, where we attempt to answer your internet questions.

Q. Karen is in a panic. An inbound email apparently scanned her PC's disk drive and found porn, cracks and other nasties. She's perplexed because her surfing habits don't include visiting porn sites. When she clicked on the "Remove" button she got a page titled Evidence Eliminator. "Should I buy this product?" she asks.

A. It's "spam", Karen, ignore it. That "scan" was a moving picture "gif" file. It wasn't scanning your computer at all, it was trying to scam you.

Anti-spam software can substantially reduce spam like this. In the past 21 days I've received 750 spam and spam-scam e-mails that were all blocked by IhateSpam. Another is the free Kiwi program "Mailwasher".

Q. "Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded" is the message Craig received when trying to download MailWasher.

A. Rather than muck with your security settings, Craig, bypass them for that page. Right-click the "Download" button and select "Save target as". Choose a folder to download to, then open and install the program when the download is finished.

Q. MSN Messenger starts up with the computer and Philip doesn't want it.

A. You can usually remove it from within Control Panel/Add Remove Programs, Philip. There may be more than one entry for MSN. Select and click "Add Remove" for each.

Q. Some emails contain pictures yet become little red crosses if opened later. John is confused as there doesn't seem to be a pattern to the problem. He can see the pictures intermittently, but it's a frustrating game of hide and seek.

A. The emails probably include web-based content, John - meaning the pictures are stored at an internet address, not on your hard drive. If you reconnect and re-open the email, the pictures will be there.

Q. "Why are replies to my mail coming back to an address I don't use?" asks Diana.

A. Your reply address is set to your dial-up account address, Diana. In outlook express/tools/accounts/mail/properties/general, you'll find a field "reply address". place your preferred return address there.


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