Sorry; every company who writes anything that has anything to do with groups
should be educating their client base about this and the problem goes a lot
further than just MS as you pointed out. Education is key and until it
comes about, this situation won't change.

What the OP may need now is to learn how to handle spam.

Pop`


Dudley Henriques wrote:
Sorry, but nothing in your "War and Peace" post here changes the fact
that it's not Microsoft's responsibility to advise you how to set up
your newsgroup account. Everything in what you have written suggests
that it is your opinion that Microsoft should supply this and that is
fine. It's an opinion. If that's the way you see it, you are
certainly entitled to that opinion and I will be the last person to
try and change it. I learned a long time ago that people who write
"opinions" as long as yours seldom really want those opinions
challenged or changed. The very best to you, and I sincerely hope you
don't get all that
much Spam from the robots. If it's any consolation, the filters are
much better now than they used to be. You should be ok I think.
Take care,
Dudley Henriques


"Dan" wrote in message
...

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.