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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
July 1,
2007
Q.
Sometimes, when I request an email receipt,
I do not get it back from the recipient.
What can cause this?
A.
First, a little about what a receipt is with
respect to email program like Outlook
Express. If you send an email and wish to be
notified when the recipient has received it,
you can request a receipt.
To
request a receipt, in the new message
window, on the Tools menu, click Request
Read Receipt.
The receipt is sent when the message
recipient has displayed your message. This
is useful when you are sending time-critical
information, or any time you want
confirmation that your message has been
received.
You can
also set your email up to always request a
receipt for all messages, although this is
probably not a good idea as it tends to
irate most users.
There is
a down side to requesting receipts other
than just irritating the recipient. Spammers
may use receipts to determine if the email
address is a valid and in current use.
Spammers may send out thousands of emails at
a time looking for active email addresses.
The ones that return a positive hit as being
active then go a special list that are
targeted for more spam or possibly sold to
other spammers.
Therefore, most knowledgeable users have
their email set up to either "Never send a
receipt" or "Notify me for each read receipt
requested". With Outlook Express open,
select Tools from the menu and then the
Receipt tab and this dialog will display.
In the top section of this dialog, you can
set to request a receipt for all the email
message you send. For many reasons, other
than it is extremely irritating to the
recipient, I do not recommend that this be
checked.
By default, the "Notify.......request"
option is set when Outlook Express is
installed. Whenever someone sends you an
email with a request, you will get a message
like this:
If you
click Yes, a return email will be
automatically generated. If you select No,
none will be sent.
If you
have the "Always send a read receipt" choice
set, a return message will always be
automatically generated without you being
notified it has been requested.
If you
have the "Never send a read receipt" choice
set, you will not get the message requesting
a receipt, and none will be sent. Unless you
frequently get email from someone to whom
you wish to send a receipt when requested,
for security reasons, the "Never send a
receipt" setting is probably best. |
