With all due respect to you Dudley, if any is even warranted in this case:

I do not believe for one minute that I am blaming the wrong people at all. I
attempted to solve my problems thru my computer manufacturer and Microsoft
without any success... Their answers: "I don't know"

I searched the internet, found a suggestion to try getting advice on these
newsgroups. Excellent suggestion, Mr. Hagen was able to provide a solution
to one main problem, and I was able to deduce thru reading here, that the
other problems were not due to OE, but rather other problems in the system
'spilling over'

While you may know that there is no reason a real email address should have
to appear (and perhaps you knew this since you were born thru devine
revelation), you'll have to excuse me if my mind reading capabilities were a
bit off the day I set up OE for these newsgroups. Of course I am being
sarcastic to make a point here. I do 'understand' what you have written, so
please take a moment to think thru what I am about to say.

First, as a newer user 9 months ago, I was doing everything I could to
'research and educate' myself, in order to use my system safely. While
setting up to receive these newsgroups thru OE, the setup asked me to enter
my email address. Someone who has never used these newsgroups before would
not know in advance that entering a false email address would still allow
interaction. Indeed, most other sites on the internet would deny you access
until they confirm you email address, and these same sites do not make your
email public, hence the use of usernames.

While setting up and using the 'help' files and instructions, not once did
it indicate that a REAL email address could or should be substituted in
order to thwart this KNOWN PROBLEM!!!! As it is a KNOWN PROBLEM, one should
expect the necessary information to be contained in the help and instruction
files. And by reading the help files and instructions I believe I have, in
your words, "taken the trouble before posting to take the necessary steps to
insure it doesn't appear on a forum." and "to take the time to learn what
has to be
learned before arriving on Usenet."

As these newsgroups came as a function of the OE software, I believe it
should be incumbent on the manufacturer to provide the necessary information
to protect our systems and security, which they did NOT! Had they included
this information about this KNOWN problem while I was "taking the time to
learn what has to be learned", I could have avoided this trouble. The option
to enter a false address was never presented to me. That IS NEGLIGENCE. A
simple warning about this KNOWN issue during setup would be SIMPLE for MS to
provide, unless of course they want this behaviour to continue, so they can
of course sell us additional software to thwart the spammers! Hmmmm!

And, do you believe for one moment that it is absolutely necessary for these
newsgroups to have to show the text of the email address used during setup?
As I am looking at yours as I type, I will use it as an example, "From:
"Dudley Henriques" " Not for one moment do I believe
that is necessary for these groups to function properly. I repeat, this is a
KNOWN ISSUE. A simple update to the software these groups run on could
replace these email addresses with user names for safer computing. It really
should be a simple fix. AND I bet I'm not nearly the only one who has
experienced this. REALLY, what is the use of having a false email address
here?? " goes no where, right?! So what is the
purpose of it even having to be there??? Wouldn't a simple username after
the 'From' be enough here?!!

Knowing this problem exists and NOT fixing it on MS's part IS negligence.
They release patches for nearly every other security problem that is found,
so why ignore this simple solution to thwart the badguys??! Then its not a
problem anymore. I do blame MS here (I don't know of or use any other
company's newsgroups, but I would expect the same of them). If they do not
want to provide a warning in the setup process, instructions or help files,
then there should be NO REASON to even ask for an email address during
setup, since a valid address is obviously not necessary for this application
to function, and therefore the necessity of having to enter an email address
at all (real or false) is misleading to the user, and ONLY serves to assist
the spammers in their quest!

As you felt the need to express your opinion here under this thread, I hope
my response will give you pause to consider the logic of my arguments above.
If I am wrong about the set up instructions in OE, please tell me where I
may find the message that I may input a real or false email address when I
am asked to enter this during set up, and I will gladly apologize for my
ignorance. Otherwise, I will continue to believe that the fact an email
address is even asked for during setup instead of a username only, IS indeed
an unnecessary hole in the security of the software that should be patched,
especially since the address serves ZERO useful function. And I will still
contend that despite my attempt at due diligence, the lack of a warning or
proper instructions or notification to this KNOWN problem IS what has caused
this problem. I guess if I had been gifted with ESP, I may have felt the
need to surf the net for 30 hours until I came across something that warned
that newsgroups ask you on setup to input an unnecessary email address that
may or may not be real. Shame on me for thinking that the software that came
with my computer from a well known company like MS would include any
necessary instructions in its help files to prevent me from operating the
software in an unsecure way, let alone to be mislead into entering an email
address that is not even necessary.

But since it seems that you do possess these psychic abilities, could you
please provide me with the winning numbers for this Wednesdays Ontario Lotto
6/49 Draw?? That way I never have to bother you again as I will just hire
someone to find the solutions I need. Maybe I can find and afford a psychic
for that position!!

But seriously, I do hope my explanation here will give you cause to rethink
your previous position, and consider that most of the people who come here
looking for answers, do so because of inexperience, and are also being
mislead into opening a hole in their own security. And perhaps the MS MVP's
who read this may see the logic as well, and report back to MS that this
really should be fixed to improve security for everyone. I've spent hours a
day for the last 9 months surfing the net at a myriad of sites, signed up to
many of them and provided the 'necessary' or 'requested' sign-up
information, but I can confidently say that every single piece of spam I am
bombarded with daily has originated from my sign up HERE as my 5 other email
addresses have never received a single piece of spam over the same time. I
simply believe this is a big enough problem that people should have the
right to be informed directly by the software maker or network owner, or the
request for and use of an email address (real or false, and both
unnecessary) during setup of the newsgroups be stopped.

As I see that your email address is not real, I must assume that you do not
like spam either.

It also doesn't take very long to just check any number of the posts here
from people just looking for help, to see that they have also made the same
mistake of using their real email address. I'm sure they were tricked into
entering it the same as me, and they will learn the same lessons the hard
way. All because in their search for good help, the "vehicle didn't have a
seatbelt WARNING, so to speak". Go ahead check the posts. Do you think all
these people just should have had this inherent knowledge of how this all
works?! They have been tricked, same as me, and some don't even know it
yet!!

A Christmas Wish for safer networks for all of us,
D.


"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...
I think you might be blaming the wrong people here. I respectfully suggest
that you consider doing some boning up on Usenet before blaming Microsoft
for something that is not their fault.
There is absolutely no reason why your real email address should have to
appear on a newsgroup if you don't want it to appear and more importantly
in this case, have taken the trouble before posting to take the necessary
steps to insure it doesn't appear on a forum.
The use of actual email addresses on Usenet is now and has always been an
option of individual choice. There is absolutely no reason for Microsoft
to suggest to anyone how they should set up their Usenet account. That
option is up to YOU and no one else. It is incumbent on YOU , NOT
Microsoft or anyone else for that matter, to take the time to learn what
has to be learned before arriving on Usenet.
Microsoft is not in the Usenet business. How you set up OE to handle
newsgroups is entirely your choice and your personal responsibility.
Don't blame Microsoft for your own lack of understanding. I respectfully
suggest that you do your homework concerning Usenet. There are ample
sources available from which to obtain this knowledge. If you intend using
Usenet, by all means, learn how to protect yourself.
When it comes to being on line, don't wait to get nailed, then blame
Microsoft for your troubles. Believe me, Microsoft gets blamed for enough
already without you blaming them for things over which they have no
control.
:-))
Not meant to be a flame here....just some "friendly" advice :-)))))))))))
Dudley Henriques

"Dan" wrote in message
...
This is not a request for assistance, but rather a warning for newer
users here, to hopefully prevent you from the same frustrations I have
experienced as a result of using this forum.

Let me say that I have found this forum EXTREMELY helpful for solving
problems. Bruce Hagen, if he is still around, did an excellent job
assisting me. He also alerted me to the fact that my real email address
was available to all on this forum, BECAUSE MICROSOFT FAILS TO WARN &
INSTRUCT USERS WHEN SETTING UP OUTLOOK EXPRESS TO USE THESE NEWSGROUPS,
that you should NOT, I repeat NOT, NOT, NOT enter your real email
address!!!!!!!!!!

When I set this up, it required me to enter an email address in order to
post here. Nothing warned me that my REAL address would be easily
accessible to all here, NOR did instruct me that I could enter a false
address to thwart the spammers when entering the REQUIRED email address
during sign-up!!!!

Had Microsoft offered this very simple instruction in the beginning, I am
absolutely convinced that I would have NEVER, EVER, received ANY SPAM!!!!
This is on their network afterall, and their NEGLIGENCE to provide this
security information has caused me a great deal of headache, that now
seems will NEVER go away, making me wish I had never, ever used this
newsgroup in the first place!!!

Thank you to Bruce Hagen for recognizing and informing me about this
dangerous security breach. It would have been better if Microsoft were
RESPONSIBLE enough to have given this information in the newsgroup setup
instructions and process!!!!!

The RESULT of this NEGLIGENCE on Microsoft's part is that after just a
few postings before Bruce's alert to me, I am now bombarded on this email
account daily for the last 9 MONTHS by spammers, and ONLY on this
account. I have NEVER received spam on ANY OTHER email account I have.
Many of these spams have been VIRUSES & WORMS!!!! And luckily my
Anti-Virus scanners have been able to remove them. Although I immediately
followed Bruce's intructions to change the email address displayed, it
was too late, and I don't think there is anyway for me to remove the
previous postings with the real email address. So Microsoft has left me
with breach in security which it seems I can NEVER fix, unless I CANCEL
this email account. That is really SAD!!! and worse yet, it was TOTALLY
UNNECESSARY!!!

If Microsoft were honestly SERIOUS about network security, they would
alert ALL people to this security breach before allowing them to use
these newsgroups!!

I don't even want to imagine how much worse this would be if Bruce had
not alerted me to this issue at all, but I hope this message will
possibly assist others in avoiding the headaches I have had.

And Thanks A Lot Microsoft... I thought your mission was to provide
solutions to the masses, not to cause extra problems... but what do I
know anyway.

Best of Luck to All,
Sincerely,
D.