Email Help Page

What to use.
How to protect yourself.
1. Spam.
2. Viruses.
3. Scams.
How to improve performance.
Tips for sending email.

What to use.

Don't use Outlook Express

It is our professional opinion that Outlook Express is notoriously temperamental, buggy, and unsecure. It's inability to deal with large messages and large numbers of messages is one of our most common support questions. There is a laundry list of other problems, but it all boils down to this: You want to get rid of it.

Use Webmail

Webmail is the easiest way to get your email. It is accessed through your web browser and requires no other software installed on your computer. It also requires no configuration to get started, and any configuration changes that you make are saved on the server, not on your computer. This means that you can check your mail exactly the same way on any Internet computer. You can log into Webmail at www.cnz.com/mail.

Use Thunderbird

Webmail is great, but some users have specific needs that require software installed on your computer. For instance, Webmail can save attachments, but it cannot access your hard drive to physically file email there (if that is what you need). There are a number of good email programs out there, but the one we recommend is Mozilla Thunderbird. It is loaded with features, it is well-designed, and it is free. It's companion program, Mozilla Firefox, is also highly recommended as a replacement for Internet Explorer.

How to protect yourself.

Spam.

Spam is junk mail. Your Citadel Network email account includes a full arsenal of tools to filter and block spam. Within Webmail there is a configuration page that allows you to control your personal spam filter settings. For details, see our Spam Help Page.

Viruses.

Before any message is placed in your inbox, our mail server passes it through multiple virus scanners which are all updated daily. Despite the extreme measures we take, no one can guarantee that all viruses will be successfully detected and blocked, so it is still important to exercise caution in opening email attachments. Never open an attachment when you are unsure of the source.

Scams.

There is a special type of spam known as phishing. Phishing email poses, sometimes very convincingly, as a bank, credit card company, etc., and asks you to provide them with some kind of information. There is no danger in opening one of these messages as long as you don't believe it and act on it. The purpose is to trick you into giving you a credit card number for fraudulent purchases, or other information to be used for identity theft.

There are also "hoax viruses", which are not viruses in the technical sense because they don't infect your computer. They just try to trick you into either doing something harmful to your computer ("Delete file XXXXX from your hard drive immediately because it is a virus."), or just forwarding it to everyone you know. Never believe a message that says "Forward this to everyone in your address book."

How to improve performance.

Keep your inbox clean.

Inboxes are not intended as permanent storage. After messages are read, they should eventually be either deleted or filed in another folder. A large number of messages can be in your inbox before you notice any performance degradation, but once you allow that many to accumulate, it is a big job to go through and file them all.

Empty your trash.

When you delete a message, most email software moves it to a Trash folder instead of actually deleting it. Trash can be emptied automatically or manually, as you prefer. How this is done depends on the email software. In Webmail, there is a Purge button next to the Trash folder.

Compact your folders.

When a message is deleted, it leaves a "hole" in the folder. To get rid of these holes, folders should be compacted periodically. This happens automatically in Webmail. In Thunderbird, right-click on the folder and then left-click "Compact this folder".

Use IMAP instead of POP3.

This does not apply to Webmail, which always uses IMAP. Most other email software gives you the option to select either POP3 or IMAP. The main difference is that POP3 downloads all messages before it lets you read the first one, while IMAP allows you to view a list of messages on the server before you download them. You can then pick and choose what you want to download. (Note: IMAP is an option that is not available on all email accounts.)

Tips for sending email.

Always use a subject.

Remember that the subject line is the first, and sometimes only, thing the reader sees. The reader uses the subject to decide when and if to read the email. Using clear and concise subjects is a good way to be considerate of the person you are emailing.

Scale your images.

The image files produced by digital cameras can be immense. There is usually no reason to email a file straight out of the camera. Cameras come with image editing software that will allow to to scale, or re-sample, images to make the files much smaller. Be considerate of the person you are emailing and scale your images to a reasonable file size before mailing. You can tell the file size by right-clicking on the file and the left-clicking on Properties.

Forward with restraint.

Resist the urge to forward every joke you receive to everyone in your address book. Think about whether each individual recipient will want to receive the email. Many people only want to receive real email, and get frustrated at their inbox being clogged with things that have been forwarded indiscriminantly.