MANAGING THE MAIL

In the few short years since email spilled beyond the hacker culture, it has become nearly impossible to imagine life without it. The halls of academia, business, and government all operate on email. And the supreme simplicity of sending an email message has led to a proliferation of mail. Thirty years ago, you might have gotten five typewritten memos per day; today you could be getting 50 in email – that’s 250 in a working week – and this is only the messages from people you know. If you add all the spam that is addressed to you from spam dens hidden everywhere on the Earth, you’ll see why many email users are desperately wondering how such a promising technology could lead to such tedium. The biggest questions questions facing today’s email user are: • How do you filter out the email you don’t want? • How do you organize the mail you do want? • How do you secure your email messages? These questions form the backdrop for this month’s Email cover story. We’ll provide you with detailed, practical information on managing your mail. You’ll learn how to create a spam-free and secure email environment in Linux without spending a lot of money on software.