5.I will understand that not everyone will have same opinions as I do and that is A.O.K.! I will make a point of only sending e-mail that clearly states my opinions without personalizing issues at hand. Constructive conversation and exchange of ideas is one of great things about being online and not everyone will agree with my POV. Boy, wouldn't that be boring!?

6.There is no place online for profanities, accusations or rudeness. If I run into problems with another onliner in a chat room, message board or by e-mail who does not communicate with clarity and courtesy, I will simply cease communicating with them. If I need to respond, I will take high road and not stoop down to level of personal digs and innuendo. I will report ongoing abusive e-mails or threatening behavior to my ISP for proper handling.

7.I will be very respectful about how I use my employer's technology resources understanding they are paying bill and I am on their time. I will make a point of reviewing my employer's policies then following them to avoid any problems.

8.I will avoid formatting my e-mails with colored text, bolding, italics because I know it may not look same as I intended when received on other side. I understand that many prefer plain text in their communications and that if I communicate with clarity formatting really is not necessary.

9.If I do use my "leave mail on server" feature of my e-mail program, I will be diligent about unchecking it and clearing my e-mail account's inbox so that my e-mail box does not become full and bounce/return e-mails to those making an effort to communicate with me.

10.I will make a point of understanding each online service or Web site I choose to use by reading their Frequently Asked Questions or Help area. I understand that if I do not review these areas, I could misunderstand or do something incorrectly and need to eliminate my actions or lack thereof as a possible cause of a perceived problem before pointing fingers at others. If in fact something does appear amiss, I will e-mail with courtesy asking for their assistance in resolving my difficulties rather than making blunt demands or accusations.

There you have it! Your 10 Little Courtesies to work on for year ahead so that folks don't cringe when they see your name in their inbox. Just imagine if everyone online made these efforts? Joy, joy! ;-)

used to work for me): pressing Shift, selecting suspicious messages and then hitting Del,

* try hard not to select some very good and very important messages together with suspicious ones,

* accept phone calls from extremely upset clients accusing you of infecting their computers with God knows what worm

(personally got in trouble with BugBear),

* working on an extremely low system because an efficient AV is doing its job scanning, updating, warning, locking etc.

* delete all your Outlook contacts in order not to become infectious for friends and clients in case your computer

somehow got infected,

...then you know what it's like. Both Outlook and Outlook Express, while different applications, with no related history,

have security as their weakest link. And that's why some people switch to other email clients that are said to be more

secure.

It is true that most worms are today Outlook dedicated because Outlook has both more users and more security holes. It is

also true that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates set security as a top priority back on 17th January 2002 (it's been almost two

years by now). While I don't mean to ban Outlook or Outlook Express, I'd like to choose best for me, and best doesn't

seem one of fore mentioned, at moment.