Comments on: Microsoft . . . tell me I’m missing something . . . . please.

By: This was the Week that Was, Vol. 17 | Sephy's Platzish

This was the Week that Was, Vol. 17 | Sephy's Platzish — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:32:31 +0000

[...] Nicholas from Club Troppo has the perfect ad for why you don’t want to use Hotmail: Microsoft . . . tell me I’m missing something . . . please. [...]

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:23:00 +0000

Nicholas,

Ta, thanks. That was easy wasn’t it?

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:14:51 +0000

Brendan,

I’m very sorry. Those people who send spam. They really are very very bad aren’t they. My goodness I think they are. Microsoft is not as bad as them.

By: zoot

zoot — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:04:51 +0000

Meanwhile, I have to deal with the horror that is Readers Digest. The people who never never never let you drop off their radar.

I found returning the mail with “Deceased” scrawled across the envelope slowed them down a bit.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:03:31 +0000

Why blame the carrier rather than the creators and enablers?

By: Guise

Guise — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:52:47 +0000

Spam filters on my Government workstation seem to function – although the occasional (non-obscene) item gets through. The filters on Explorer also work. Rather too well. But none of the settings can be changed by the regular user. Perhaps fair enough, on the browser – but when spam does come in to my mailbox I have no way of blocking that sender. Nor can I actually access the ‘junk mail’ folder – which means I can’t even check to make sure real mail isn’t getting shunted aside. Since I get a lot of official stuff from overseas, this can be a real problem.

I suppose all this can be attributed to a paranoid government, rather than the manifold failings of Microsloth.

Out in the real world, though, the spam continues. Despite having been on the ‘Do not mail’ and ‘Do not contact’ registers from almost the day they were set up, the occasional inconsiderate bastard still crops up (although they do seem to be avoiding the dinner hour, now. You have to wonder how profitable it can be for telemarketers to ring many many empty houses in the middle of the day.). Yesterday I came home to the dreaded prize letter from Readers Digest. It included my full name and title, which they could only have obtained by getting my details, by fair means or foul, from one of the other services or subscriptions I have paid for with my credit card – and for which I have, without exception, indicated that I do not want my details passed on to third parties.

The Government can (reluctantly) set up as many registers (or internet filters) as it likes, but they’re never going to find away around people willing to pass on confidential info for money.

Meanwhile, I have to deal with the horror that is Readers Digest. The people who never never never let you drop off their radar.

By: Slim

Slim — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:33:00 +0000

Outlook is the standard email platform for whole of government in Victoria. For a while I played with the Junk email features. Conclusion? A total waste of time and worse than useless. Misses all the obvious ones and routinely snares emails you’ve been waiting on. Much simpler and quicker to just delete them as they are. Gmail does the best job – close to 100% effective.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:06:48 +0000

“wilmer waldron”, a benign enough sounding name if ever there was one, the contents of his? her? mind, possibly not so.

By: Andrew Reynolds

Andrew Reynolds — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:44:44 +0000

JC, just make sure your email address appears online, and preferably with a mailto: link just to make it obvious. They will find you.

By: Jc

Jc — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:42:05 +0000

How come I never get spam with all those porn sites. Damn! How does one get a spam list?

By: The Worst of Perth

The Worst of Perth — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:14:42 +0000

Shalom Nicholas, Shalom.