Resources For Women

E-Mail Tips for Safety

In today's Internet world women have to be especially careful about their e-mail and who they share information with. There is no private e-mail. Never share anything online you wouldn't share with a stranger. Your messages can be forwarded to anyone with an e-mail account.

Guard your primary e-mail address. It's wise to have several e-mail accounts, one just for close friends and family, one for newsletters, and one for other stuff. There are many companies that offer free email accounts such as Yahoo or Hotmail.

Use a gender-neutral e-mail address. If you are chattygal@something.com, it's obvious you are female.

Don't disclose your e-mail address without knowing how it will be used, and use anti-spam filters available at junkbusters.com. You can also surf the web anonymously at the-cloak.com, anonymizer, idzap.com, or subdimension.

Double-check the "To:" field. Make sure you're sending your message to the right person. It can be very embarrassing to send e-mail to someone you are criticizing.

Only reply if you must. When you can, include a "need not reply" note in your e-mail.

Don't respond to insults. If somebody insults you in e-mail, don't send e-mail back. Sometimes e-mail is misinterpreted.

Use subject headers. Keep the original header if your message is part of a conversation. If the conversation changes subject, change the header!

Put your email in the trash bin once you are finished with it. Don't let e-mail linger. The best way to control e-mail clutter is to treat it like paper: Once read, act on it, file it or throw it away.

Epic.org has a complete list of privacy tools.

WHOA or Working to Halting Online Abuse spreads warnings about Internet harassment and offers advice and support to harassed women.

Kathy Peet is a freelance writer from Michigan where she publishes the premier women's online magazine for enjoying life, WomensFun.com. It is the perfect solution for a laugh, a lesson learned, and just having fun. Her work appears on many sites on the Internet and at her own site WomensFun.com. You will find life enhancing articles, freebies, wit, wisdom, entertainment, simple pleasures, humor, shopping deals, resources for women, knowledge, adventure, and a free monthly ezine. Remember to relax, indulge, and laugh...You deserve to!.