I opened up my Outlook Express this morning to find dozens of email addresses in there that I didn't put in the address book. How did they get there? I deleted all the unknowns. Will they be back?

I've run AVG and it shows all clear so I don't have a virus (or at least I hope I don't.)

Is there a way I can lock my address book so if junk mail gets into my inbox it won't add all these unwanted addresses to my address book?

I always send any bulk mail like Christmas Greeting cards BCC so nobody sees each others addresses. I sure wish everyone else would do the same but so many times I receive emails from someone I know and I can see all their friend's email addresses and now they can see mine too.

I have no answer for your problem. But might be time for this again. bb

E-MAIL 101



Great 'Tips' for 2008
Do you really know how to forward e-mails?

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This was received from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails.

Please read the short letter below .

[color="#ff0000"]Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every E-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are two easy steps:

(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second.You MUST click the 'Forward' button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on 'Forward' first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc:columns for adding e-mail address. Always use the BCC:(blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way that people you send to only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say 'Undisclosed Recipients' or 'none' in the 'TO:' field of the people who receive it.

(3) Remove any 'FW:' in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.

(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail your reading. Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent.

Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition.

So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and viruses.

Hi Annie try this and see if it helps (See screen shot below)....


In Outlook Express, go to-->Tools-->Options and uncheck the box, where I have the red arrow pointed to.

Great tip BB, thanks for sharing

Thanks BB. I always use the BCC and do all that is stated in your post but unfortunately most don't so it's people like us down the line who end up with the junk. I've come to the point where I block people who only send me fwds. If they were real friends they would drop me a line once in a while but I don't consider someone a friend who ONLY ever sends fwds.

Lorraine, thank you. I had forgotten about that setting. Have reset it now.

Happy New Year to all.

You're welcome Annie, I hope it works for you.