38 Things You Need To Know About E-mail: Part 3

Can you remember a time before e-mail? It certainly seems a long time ago, with e-mail being the primary means for organisations and businesses to communicate with each other. Even with the prevalence of social networks, many people still use e-mail as their primary means of electronic communication for official business.

Given this, as well as the e-mail hosting services provided by Diamond Discovery, here are 38 things I think all business people need to know about e-mail.

This is the final part of a three part article. Part 1 can be read here while Part 2 can be read here.

26.       How often do e-mail providers back up my e-mail?

This varies from provider to provider depending on the service level agreements they offer their clients.

Free e-mail providers such as Gmail will have multiple servers to ensure continuity of service.  However, if you were to accidentally delete your free e-mail account, those service providers would probably not be willing or even able to restore your deleted data.

There are also options for backing up your e-mail data on your own computer or server; a professional e-mail provider such as Diamond Discovery will be able to advise how best to do this.

 

27.       I am changing webhost, who also manage my e-mail; how will my new webhost migrate the e-mail archive securely?

This varies from webhost to webhost, but make sure that you understand the procedure that a new webhost is going to follow and that you are happy with it.

 

28.       I want to change webhosts, who also manage my e-mail; how do I go about notifying them that I am changing providers? What information does my new webhost need from my business?

Your new web hosts will need access to your existing accounts, so they will need your administrator login details.

 

29.       Can my new webhost stop spam e-mail?

The best way to stop spam measure is to be mindful about the way you use your email account. You will never stop spam but the following behaviours and actions will limit the spam you receive.

•          Avoid opening spam emails and clicking on links in those messages; this could lead to even more spam.
•          Don’t buy anything that is advertised in a spam e-mail. By doing so, you comprise your e-mail’s security and you may also infected your computer with malware; malicious computer viruses.  By buying from spam e-mail, you are also rewarding and encouraging those who sent it..
•          Don’t be tempted to reply.
•          Don’t threaten the sender of the spam e-mail. Your threats may be read and those sending spam e-mails have legal rights too. Threatening messages you send could lead to criminal prosecution.
•          Avoid ‘unsubscribe’ options. Such an option in a spam e-mail is actually a con in itself; instead of removing you from the spammer’s e-mailing list, clicking on the unsubscribe option will confirm that your address is active to the spammer, leading to even more spam.
•          Use a disposable, free email address for mailing lists and other non-essential communication. If get a lot of spam at this address, you can simply delete it and set up another; you are therefore not compromising your main business e-mail addresses and it removes clutter from your professional inbox.
•          Be wary about supplying your main business e-mail address. If in doubt about the enquirer’s credentials, it is better to give out an alternative e-mail address you have access to (see above).
•          Don’t publish your email address on your website. Putting your email address on a website means it can be detected by a ‘spambot’ which collates e-mail addresses for spammers. A professional alternative is to use a web contact form instead.
•          Set up spam filters with your e-mail provider. Your e-mail provider can set up spam filtering software that will limit the amount of spam you receive, while also providing you an option to review the spam folder in the event any genuine e-mail gets wrongly labelled as spam.

 

30.       What do I do if I have received a threatening e-mail, an e-mail that contains a virus or an e-mail with illegal content?

This very much depends on the nature of the e-mail, if the sender is known to you and if the e-mail was automated or not.

You should consider using anti-virus software of your machines to prevent any technological damage or problems as this mitigates againts viruses and malware.

Threatening e-mails or e-mails with illegal content should be flagged up with the Police.

 

31.       How can I tell if an e-mail is spam or has a virus or not?

Normally, a spam e-mail will have a peculiar e-mail address from the sender, and this e-mail address will not be accurately addressed to the recipient. In other words, if the sender’s e-mail address does not look professional and if the e-mail does not address the recipient by their name, it is highly likely the e-mail in question is spam.

Spam e-mails often feature spelling mistakes and often have attachments that the main e-mail is asking you to open. Spam is often from organisations or people you do not deal with, and if it is from them, it gives itself away by having random, strange content.

If in doubt, find out the company’s genuine website by using a search engine and calling the appropriate telephone number (DO NOT use any of the contact details provided in the suspect e-mail)

 

32.       How can I block someone from sending me an e-mail?

Different e-mail systems have different means of doing this, but all e-mail providers and e-mail clients offer ways of activating a block against a specific e-mail address.

Contact your e-mail provider to find out the best way of doing this given the e-mail systems that you are using.

 

33.       An employee is leaving my company/ has been fired from my company; how can I stop their e-mail address and stop them having access to their work e-mails?

You can ask your e-mail provider to forward email to the departing employee’s address to your own work address. As the company owner, you have legal access to all your employee emails.

To prevent the former employee having access to their e-mail account, you change the login details (such as the password) so they are locked out of the e-mail account at the point they leave your organisation.

 

34.       I have a new member of staff joining my company; how quickly can my webhost set up a new e-mail address? What information do they need to do so?

This is a process that normally just takes a couple of minutes for most web host companies, but this is dependent on the service level agreement they operate by. In any event, give your webhost as much advance warning as possible to ensure that the new employee’s e-mail is set up your system by the the time they start.

The only information a web host will need is the name you wish to have on the e-mail address.

 

35.       I want a new webhost to host my work e-mails; how can I move my e-mails across to a new provider?

Contact the new webhost directly and they will provide the instructions you need to follow.

Make sure that your new webhost ensures that you have backed-up your e-mails securely before the final transfer of services.

You will also need to notify your old provider and terminate any renewal of service that is scheduled with them. 

 

36.       How do I set up a signature for my e-mails?

This can be done directly via the e-mail service provider’s control panel in a web browser or via an e-mail client.

Please note that if you are using an e-mail client, the signature will only be used on e-mail sent via that e-mail client and the device on which that e-mail client is installed. You will need to replicate the signature on the e-mail client’s on your other computers and devices.

 

37.       How do I set up an ‘out of office’/ autoreply?

This can be done via your e-mail service provider’s control panel, which can be accessed via a web browser.

The settings and functionality will vary from e-mail provider to e-mail provider.

 

38.       How do I change the name of an existing e-mail address / account? i.e. Jo in Marketing is now married, and no longer want to use her maiden name.

You would have to create a new email address, but with the old email address remaining in place; all the emails sent to the old address will then be forwarded to the new address.

You should also set-up an auto-response on the old address, which would notify senders that a new email is now in use for that person and inform them what that new e-mail address is.