Outlook

Broken – Outlook – Needs Emergency Fix

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

I have multiple email accounts. I use one, Outlook, for shopping. Why, because I can use the safe sender list to block most emails from getting to my inbox. Currently, in my Outlook Junk Mailbox, I had over 3200 emails in the Junk folder. Approximately, every 98 out of 100 emails in this box are from spammers.

This morning I woke up to numerous notifications on my phone. I did not see these notifications over night because I have “Do Not Disturb” active on my phone. But once the Do Not Disturb expired the beeping started. My Junk Mail was being routed to my Inbox.

This is a Microsoft Outlook problem. An update broke the Junk Mail routing. I don’t know what they were trying to fix, but now everyone who uses Outlook should be on guard, because Spammers and Hackers are rejoicing this morning. Their email is no longer being routed to Junk Mail and they are reaching more potential victims.

Now it is time to take precautions:

First, if you are sick of the notifications – Turn them off. On most devices you can find Notification under Settings.

Second, don’t open any email that are not from a friend, colleague, or a business where you signed up to receive emails. My security system blocked an URL this morning, because I opened an email that attempted cause havoc. Here are a few examples of Spam emails:

  • If it has Affiliate in the title.
  • If it has Associate in the title
  • If it has Gift Card in the title
  • Renewable by Anderson
  • Back Pain
  • AARP
  • ADT
  • You Won

Third, if you really want the special offer in an Email. Do not click on any links in the email (ever), go directly to company’s site and get the offer directly from their site. If the offer is not on their site, it is probably not a legit offer. Community Coffee is really good about sending emails about their offers. When I go to their site, the same exact offer is published on the top of their page.

Fourth, report the offending emails as phishing. I really hope the technology companies or working on stopping Spammers. I tracked a spammer down to a mailbox in Las Vegas. If I can do that, why can’t the tech companies?

Junk Mail Beware

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

I use Microsoft Outlook for some of my email.  However, I have it set up to send almost everything (with a few exceptions) automatically to Junk Mail.  At last count, I have 680 items sitting in Junk Mail and that with Outlook deleting junk mail over 30 days old.

Daily I get at least one of these from Outlook:

Screenshot_2015-09-08-18-48-53

Around 90% of the time, I click the button to tell Outlook whether or not it is Junk Mail.  If I have every done business with the person or company sending it, it is Not Junk.  Because of my settings, it will stay in the Junk Mail folder.  If it is not someone I remember, I flag it as junk.  If it is a really offensive or dangerous, I block the email sender or report it to Outlook as phishing.  This is my little way of getting even with all the Spammer out there.

It was not until today, I never read the response screen from Outlook.

Screenshot_2015-09-08-15-51-43

I agree that spam is one of the great evils of this world. If you sent me some unsolicited, I will either block you or worst report you for phishing.