Explain to me - slowly

[snodvan]

Friends

I use Mailwasher to examine my Outlook mail while it is still on NTL server. Works fine but.....I normally delete everything except mail from known sources and then indicate to

> Mark everything else for deletion
> Unmark everything for bouncing.

I do the latter because otherwise the firewall (MacAfee) will query every single "bounce". There are normally 200+ spam emails every day so that would be a lot of "bounces".

All that is fine except

1. Often I get a message from NTL Postmaster saying that a particular Email could not be delivered because the users account was over quota.

Err - excuse me, I should not be sending any emails unless there is some nasty little program on my machine sending out messages, The MacAfee firewall/ Virus checker and Spyware blaster/ Spybot have not indicated any such program.

2. Also, I often receive Emails where Mail washer shows "from" as

someone (myaddy@ntlworld.com)

where the "someone" name is unknown to me but the "myaddy@ntlworld,com" is my true ntl email address. Judging from the message subject line usually these mail messages are to sell the usual medications. I never open them of course.

Is this an example of someone having hijacked my email address

Am I being "got at" by the net ie targetted, or are these emails just random and I am over-reacting and should just carry on with the Mailwasher routine I have been using?

Take it slowly with any replies 'cos I am a bit past too much techy stuff.

Thanks.

[Scrubbs]

The first thing I would do is search this forum for "Mailwasher" and "ntl postmaster"

You will probably find that your not the only one and it's nothing to worry about

(But I could be rong)

[snodvan]

Thank you! Yes, looks like this is far from unusual and nothing to worry about so long as I keep up with the current Mailwasher routine of delete/ unmark for bouncing. The various threads had some good info about how addys get passed around etc. Nothing much I can do about that I suppose because mine is disclosed on my website - because I want people (normal, decent people) to respond to that.

Cheers

[Matth]

These days, the only way to place your email address on a website, is with serious obfuscation, either as a picture, character encoded, or script encrypted.

NB. Character encoding is suspected to now be broken by some email harvesters.
I've also experimented with a series of "float:right" SPANS, as they stack at the right, in the reverse order - so you'd float - domainname.com , @ , username - and they'd stack up in the right order - and you'd make each piece a link to the obfuscated script.

More simply, if you insist on script being enabled, you can write it into the document, but it should still be obfuscated, even if you use an external script.

At no point, should a readable email address appear within the code, and just breaking it up with pointless tags is no guarantee, as any harvester may simply drop all tags.

[nffc]

Originally Posted by snodvan

2. Also, I often receive Emails where Mail washer shows "from" as

someone (myaddy@ntlworld.com)

where the "someone" name is unknown to me but the "myaddy@ntlworld,com" is my true ntl email address. Judging from the message subject line usually these mail messages are to sell the usual medications. I never open them of course.

Is this an example of someone having hijacked my email address?

Probably not- as anyone can just make up an email addy and use it to send mail to people- I've done it as a mindless joke in the past- I sent myself an email from some random celeb as a laugh- don't ask- (totally harmless of course!), you just can't POP3 that account. So some spoofer's just done that or something. But seeing as you'd never email yourself, you could just block it...