IT Tips - July 2012

It Tips – July 2012

                                                                             

I hope everyone had a fun, explosive and safe 4^th of July. This tip is a birthday present to America… and you.     

What’s Inside:

Tech Section

·         Mailinator

Mailinator

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s a jungle out there. (Honest; I said it on May 6^th in the ‘Practice Safe Computing’ Tip. Give it another read if you’re feeling feisty)

Email, in particular, can be a dangerous medium in that internet jungle. Spam runs rampant, and according to maawg.org, comprises about 80% of all email! Spam is not only annoying; it can transmit viruses and even be used to trick you into giving out account information.

Those who create spam (I like to call them, ‘spammers’) are always looking for some fresh blood. They want your email address, and it’s up to you to keep it from them. Think twice before providing your email address to a website. Many sites will distribute your address to the seedy depths of the internet. Others will simply annoy you with solicitations.

Do not fret; the good people at ManyBrain, Inc. have designed a website to help keep your email address safe. Their product is called, ‘mailinator’.

Mailinator is a free service that allows you to create a temporary email box for sites that require an email address. It gives you the ability to provide an email address without risking your own email account. Mailinator even allows you to check the email sent to your temporary address, should the website require confirmation.

Keep this tip in mind. If you don’t fully trust the website, or you don’t want to hear from them in the future, use mailinator and eliminate the risk of junk mail.

Great, how do I use it?

Using mailinator is very simple. The first, and biggest step, is to remember Mailinator exists. When you’re presented with a website that requires an email address simply enter something@mailinator.com.

I, of course, want to check out the happenings at ‘theforcebook.com’. My example use of mailinator starts by visiting theforcebook.com and clicking on ‘Join now’. I just need to get in on the Star Wars fun.

 
The site wants my email address; I don’t trust just any scoundrel in the galaxy, so I’m going to use mailinator.

A Scoundrel

Think of a mailinator address (remember: something@mailinator.com) and enter it in. I’ve chosen, ‘ScruffyNerfHerder@mailinator.com’ as my mailinator address.

For some websites this is enough; they just want an email address to allow you in. However, most sites will require you to open a ‘confirmation email’ that they send to the email address you provide. In the event of the latter, mailinator can still handle it. Once an email is sent to the mailinator address you’ve provided, the mailbox is created on the mailinator website.

Theforcebook.com requires confirmation. As you can see, they’ve dispatched an email to my mailinator address: ‘ScruffyNerfHerder@mailinator.com’.

Now let’s head over to mailinator.com to check the registration confirmation email. Enter the mailinator email address you used and click ‘Go!’

You can view any email sent to the address from here. You can even confirm the registration and you’ll never have to worry about spam sent to your ‘real’ mailbox.

Things to note:

1. Obviously, this is just an (AWESOME STAR WARS) example. The intent of this tip is to use this service to check on publications and websites pertinent to your work. Some of you are bombarded with all kinds of sites that require registration and it’s good to avoid using your real email address whenever possible.
2.  NEVER use this service on websites that can send private or confidential data to the email address. Mailinator is a free, public service, and anyone can check any mailbox if they know (or guess) the name. 
3. Remember that your Iredale email account is for business use only. Using it on various websites increases your risk for junk email and can put our mail systems at risk.

Have a great month, everyone!

-Keith 

Please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if you have a something that you think will make a good tip. You’ll get credit on the blog for your contribution and I might give you a high-five!