Information Technology How To

How to Create an Autoresponder for Outlook Express

if you are going on vacation or just want to send a friendly note acknowledging you have received an email, you can create an autoresponder with Outlook Express. You can set up several different autoresponders to use under different circumstances by following these steps.

1. Create your message in Notepad. Write the message that you want to send as an autoresponder. Use a general salutation like “Hello” or “Thanks for the email.” Then proceed to write the rest of your message. Save the .txt file you have created in Notepad onto your hard drive. Save it under an appropriate file name such as “outofoffice.txt.” Remember where you have saved it.
2. Open Outlook Express and begin setting up your auto responder. On the menu, click on “Tools.” Select “Message Rules,” and then “Mail.”
3. Create the mail rule. A pop-up window will open entitled “New Mail Rule.” In the first part titled “Select Conditions for your rule,” scroll down and check “For all messages.” In part 2 titled “Select Action for your rule,” check “Reply with message.”
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How to Create a New Database From the Command Line

There are many uses for the structured query language (SQL). In order to begin harnessing the power of an SQL or MySQL database, you need to create it. This guide will walk you through the steps to create a new database from the command line.

1. Open up a telnet or SSH session with your server. If you are located at a MySQL server, you can open up a BASH (Linux/Unix) or Command (Windows) prompt.
2. Navigated to the MySQL binaries directory. In Linux, the default location is usr\local\mysql\bin\mysql. In Windows, it’s C:\mysql\bin\mysql.

3. Initialize the MySQL command tools by typing “mysql –uroot –p”.
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How to Receive Notification When E-mail Arrives

Are you busy working on the computer and want to know if you receive e-mail without having to check all the time? You can set your e-mail options to notify you when you receive e-mail. These are instructions for Outlook Express. E-mail programs vary, but most have an Options, Settings or Preferences menu or menu command to set your preferences in.

1. Open Outlook Express.
2. Go to the Tools menu.
3. Click on Options.
4. Make sure the General tab is selected.
5. Check the “Play sound for new messages” box to hear when you have a new message.
6. Check the “Send and receive messages at startup” box to automatically check for new messages each time you start your e-mail program.
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How to Set Up E-mail Filters

E-mail filters can block spam, or junk e-mail, and other unwanted e-mail messages by automatically deleting them. Filters can also be used to sort incoming messages into particular folders.

1. Open your e-mail program.
2. Locate the Filters section, usually found under Edit, Options or Tools on the menu bar.
3. Click New and type the name of the new filter. Make sure it’s easy to remember, such as “Junk E-mail.”
4. Enter the filter conditions, or “rules.” Conditions are requirements the e-mail must meet (for example, the sender is Joe Smith or the subject includes the words “Make Money Fast!”) in order for the action (such as deleting the message) to take place.
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Spam and How to Stop Spam

The best technology that is currently available to stop spam is spam filtering software. The simplest filters use keywords such as “sex,”, “xxx,” “viagra,” etc., in the subject line to attempt to identify and delete spam. These simple filters are easy to sidestep by spelling “sex” as “s-e-x.” There are, of course, thousands of ways to spell “sex” if you are willing to add extra characters like that, and it is difficult for the simple filters to keep up. Also, simple filters are most likely to block “real” e-mail that you do want to receive. For example, if your friend sends you her favorite recipe for baked chicken breasts, the filter blocks the e-mail because of the word “breasts.”

More advanced filters, known as heuristic filters and Bayesian filters, try to take this simple approach quite a bit further to statistically identify spam based on word patterns or word frequency. But there are still ways to get around them (mainly by using short messages).

Large ISPs tried blocking multiple e-mails with the same subject line or message body. This had the unwanted side-effect of blocking e-mail newsletters, so ISPs made “white lists” to identify legitimate newsletter senders. Then spammers sidestepped the issue by inserting different random characters into each subject line and message body. That’s why you get e-mail messages with subject lines like:

Women Wanted puklq

The word “puklq” is random, and it is different on every e-mail the spammer sends.
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