Versatile Technology Group, LLC - News Blog

5 Simple Ways To Tame The Outlook E-mail Monster

1. Put Junk Mail In Its Place With The Junk E-Mail Filter
From Outlook’s main screen, click on Actions / Junk E-mail / Junk E-mail Options…  From this window you can enable/disable the junk filter, set its sensitivity and designate specific email addresses as safe or blocked (aka white & black listing).  E-mail identified as Junk Mail is automatically delivered to the Junk E-mail box keeping your inbox clear of clutter.

2. Create Rules
Rules automatically process e-mail as it is received.  There are more than 20 things you can do with a message including auto-forward, delete, reply and move mail to a different mailbox based on the sender, subject and more.  Create a rule by clicking on Tools / Rules and Alerts…

3. Quickly Create E-mails Sent To A List Of Addresses
If you frequently send emails to the same list of addresses, create a shortcut on your desktop that opens a blank email automatically addressed to your list.  Right click on an open area of your Windows Desktop, point to New then click Shortcut.  In the “location of the item” box type the word mailto: followed by each email address separated by a comma leaving no spaces.  Click the Next> button to name your shortcut then click Finish.  Test by double clicking on the shortcut.  A new blank e-mail message should open with the list of addresses in the To: field.

4. Clean Up Your Mailbox
Click on Tools / Mailbox Cleanup… From this window you can check the size of your Outlook file, find items to move or delete, empty the deleted items folder and archive old items to the Outlook archive file.  Outlook slows down dramatically when its data file is 1GB or larger.

5. Read Email Without Having To Open It
Click on View / Reading Pane and choose to automatically view emails to the right or bottom of the mail box summary list.

Read On For An Easy Way To Remember Your Passwords And Maintain High Security…One of the hardest habits we struggle to get our clients to break is writing down their passwords on sticky notes by their PC. Obviously this is a security risk. Another bad habit is choosing really easy-to-remember passwords such as “password”.

But admittedly, it CAN be hard remembering all of those darn passwords that are always changing. To solve this little dilemma, we’re suggesting to our clients to stop using passwords and use “pass-phrases”.

What is a “pass-phrase” you ask? They are letters and numbers put together in an easy-to- remember phrase such as “GoEagles09!” These are MUCH easier to remember than a random cluster of letters and numbers, which means you won’t have to write them down on a post-it note anymore!

Pass-phrases can be built from anything, such as favorite quotes, lines from movies, sports team names, a favorite athlete’s name and jersey number, kids’ names and birthdates, pets, and so on.

All you need to do is be a little creative to get numbers, letters and punctuation into the phrase. Since introducing this to our clients, we’ve found (believe it or not) they actually have fun doing this! Just don’t get so proud of your pass-phrase that you share it with others!