Spam Messages "Phoning Home" -- How can I stop?

[Wayne]

Is there a way to block spammers from "phoning home" once
a message has been received (and previewed) in Outlook
2002?

I have created a very lengthy Junk Senders list in
Outlook, and most of the time spam gets automatically
diverted to my Deleted Items folder. However, I usually
check the Deleted Items folder to ensure that no
legitimate messages are moved there. Sometimes when I
check the Deleted Items folder however, spam messages are
what are displayed, and with a live internet connection,
they send their message back that I've now read the email
and my address is valid -- opening up the door for more
spam. Usually, these messages contain small gif images
associated with web addresses that receive the information
once the spam message is previewed.

I have searched everywhere for settings that allow me to
either disable the ability to preview messages -only from
the Deleted Items folder-, or to prohibit Outlook from
retrieving the gif image in the first place, and "phoning
home" once it does so.

Is there a way to do either of these? I am sure that
there is, but I can't find it.

 

[MktTrader]

-----Original Message-----
Is there a way to block spammers from "phoning home" once
a message has been received (and previewed) in Outlook
2002?

I have created a very lengthy Junk Senders list in
Outlook, and most of the time spam gets automatically
diverted to my Deleted Items folder. However, I usually
check the Deleted Items folder to ensure that no
legitimate messages are moved there. Sometimes when I
check the Deleted Items folder however, spam messages are
what are displayed, and with a live internet connection,
they send their message back that I've now read the email
and my address is valid -- opening up the door for more
spam. Usually, these messages contain small gif images
associated with web addresses that receive the information
once the spam message is previewed.

I have searched everywhere for settings that allow me to
either disable the ability to preview messages -only from
the Deleted Items folder-, or to prohibit Outlook from
retrieving the gif image in the first place, and "phoning
home" once it does so.

Is there a way to do either of these? I am sure that
there is, but I can't find it.
.

While in Deleted Items, go to menu View | Current View and
check only Messages. This will remove the preview pane.

If you really want to open a suspect email (not a good
idea), get ZoneAlarm (free) and turn on the internet lock
before opening it. It will NOT stop a virus, worm or
other nasty things from getting planted in your hard
drive. That's why it's not a good idea.

I've told all my friends that I don't open anything
suspect so to make sure the subject is personalized to
me. If I question one I'll call them to confirm they sent
it before I open it.

 

[Vanguard]

Is there a way to block spammers from "phoning home" once
a message has been received (and previewed) in Outlook
2002?

I have created a very lengthy Junk Senders list in
Outlook, and most of the time spam gets automatically
diverted to my Deleted Items folder. However, I usually
check the Deleted Items folder to ensure that no
legitimate messages are moved there. Sometimes when I
check the Deleted Items folder however, spam messages are
what are displayed, and with a live internet connection,
they send their message back that I've now read the email
and my address is valid -- opening up the door for more
spam. Usually, these messages contain small gif images
associated with web addresses that receive the information
once the spam message is previewed.

I have searched everywhere for settings that allow me to
either disable the ability to preview messages -only from
the Deleted Items folder-, or to prohibit Outlook from
retrieving the gif image in the first place, and "phoning
home" once it does so.

Is there a way to do either of these? I am sure that
there is, but I can't find it.

You could get SpamPal (which will help identify which e-mails are
suspect of being spam) and the HTML-Modify plug-in, both of which are
free (http://www.spampal.org/). The HTML-Modify plug-in will filter
out the nasty HTML and scripting from e-mails along with lots of other
tricks.