E-mail Etiquette - Cc Or Not Cc

E-mail Etiquette - Cc Or Not Cc

Learning the true meaning of and the proper e-mail etiquette for using "CC" and "BCC" or "Cc" and "Bcc" can save you a lot of time, effort and embarrassment.

Some people use "CC" and "BCC."

MicroSoft Outlook and AOL both list "Cc" and "Bcc" in their e-mail format.

In both systems, the e-mail- sender needs to find and then invoke the "Bcc" setting to use it.

Most people think "Cc" stands for "Carbon Copy" and "Bcc" means "Blind Carbon Copy."

In the days when the majority of business offices' waste baskets were filled with carbon paper and "secretaries" walked around with blue hands, that's what "Cc" meant.

Today, "Cc" stands for "Courtesy copy."

"Courtesy copy" implies both a change in meaning and a change in attitude.

Anytime you send someone an e-mail, you should be doing so as a courtesy to that person. Doing so implies the person receiving the e-mail wants, needs, expects or asks for the information.

Anything else falls under the category of "SPAM"

According to Darren Miller, "SPAM" stands for "Stupid People Annoying Me."

To me, SPAM means "Sending Pesky Announcements Maliciously"

SO WHAT ARE THE USES?

Using "Cc" can be a useful business tool in the following instances:

1. When members of a team, group or department need current information about a particular project, policy, procedure, or event.

2. When others outside the team, group or department want, or need or ask to know current information about a particular project, policy, procedure, or event

3. When interested parties such as managers, executives or directors ask to be kept informed of information that affects the company's goals, objectives or forecasts

4. When the sender expects and asks for responses, comments or corrections from the "Cc" recipients 5. When the senders want to find out if the recipients care about or read their messages

Okay, so Number Five isn't high on the list. But...

Using "Bcc" can be a useful business tool in the following instances:

1. When the sender does not want to crowd the "To" or "Cc" area of the e-mail with a long list of names or e-mail addresses

2. When the sender wants to maintain the privacy of the recipients who are not listed in the "To" area. More on that later.

3. When the sender is sending a newsletter or e-mail blast to a designated group where all the recipients know and understand that they are not the only ones receiving the e-mail

SO WHAT ARE THE ABUSES?

1. The first abuse occurs when senders use the "Cc" to mean "Cowards Copy" or "Cover your Carcass."

In these instances, the sender wants as many people as possible, including his or her bosses, that he or she has performed a task implied to be requested by the person or group identified in the "To" area.

Some senders fire off "Ccs" to their bosses to prove they are actually working.

Sometimes, use of the "Cc" indicates that paranoia runs rampant in the organization.

It means, "I don't trust you." "I don't trust me."

"I don't trust you to remember we changed the meeting times."

"I don't trust me to remember I told you to change the times."

2. The second instance employs the "Monkey Removal" technique.

In this instance, the sender is sending the recipients in the "To" area notice that he or she is signing off the project and that the primary recipients must now complete their missions or fulfill their parts of the bargain.

The message is, "I've done my part. Now the rest is up to you." To ensure they are covered, they e-mail anyone who might in any way be involved or are aware of the situation..

3. The abuse that most people complain about is having the sender reveal their names and e-mail addresses in the "Cc" area. Unscrupulous e-mail address harvesters can simply right click a name in the "Cc" area and the software will reveal that person's e-mail address. This is an invasion of privacy that offends most people.

My friend, Dan Poynter, calls this practice, "offensive, bordering on extortion."

Another friend calls the overuse of the "Cc" a "scourge that should be stopped... (It is) a bludgeon that screams, 'I don't trust you! So I am putting you on notice that all these people are my witnesses that I asked you to do this for me.'"

4. Some people listed in the "To" area become offended when their business information is shared with people listed in the "Cc" area. This causes them to wonder who these people are and why they are included in the communication.

5. Similar to the issue listed in Number Four, some people use the "Cc" area thinking they are using it correctly but then include sensitive, confidential or personal information that should be for the person or group listed in the "To" area.

Besides the obvious abuse of the "Cc" format, senders and receivers can become the victim of the "Reply to All" catastrophe.

In this scenario, someone who receives an e-mail as a "Cc" recipient wishes to respond to the sender. Perhaps that recipient wants to send a personal, confidential or critical reply to the sender. The reply would include information intended for the sender's eyes only.

The catastrophe occurs when the recipient hits the "Reply to All" button rather than the "Reply" button.

Now, everyone in the "Cc" area receives a copy of the reply.

ABUSES WITH "BCC"

1. Sending messages using the "Bcc" technique can become a huge time waster that could negatively impact your reputation or your organization's image.

Many people use "Bcc" in an effort to protect the privacy of people who legitimately should receive the information without listing their names or e-mail addresses in the "To" or "Cc" areas.

While this is a noble gesture, it can backfire on the senders.

Recipients of the "Bcc" message do not know who else received that particular message. These recipients then forward or call other people whom they think should know about the information.

If those people were included in the original message, they now become bombarded with the same message from multiple people in multiple forms. This wastes the time of the people forwarding the message and frustrates the people who received the original message and now have multiple copies of it jamming their e-mail box.

2. Using the "Bcc" can easily destroy personal and business trust.

Consider this scenario.

John sends Joe an e-mail. He also "BCCs" a dozen other people on Joe's message.

Joe does not know that John "BCCed" the other people.

A week later, someone who received John's message as a "Bcc" talks to Joe.

In the conversation, the "Bcc" recipient refers to John's e-mail.

Joe didn't know that John copied all the others in a message Joe thought was specifically to him.

Will Joe ever trust John again. I don't think so.

3. Many people use the "Bcc" capability to easily send SPAM.

State and Federal laws are now cracking down on this practice.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CC

Before you use either of the devices, think, use common sense, and be careful.

Because of the pressure cooker business world we live in, using those three guiding principles sometimes becomes a challenge.

Because of a hectic personal or family life, we sometimes need to slow down and consider our actions and their impact on others.

Executives, managers and supervisors should take the lead in the correct use of "Cc." Rather than letting useless e-mails clutter up their in-boxes, real leaders set standards and communicate to their employees if and when they want to be copied.

Employees should use "Cc" to move business forward rather than as a personal protection program.

When used for the right reason at the right time, "Cc" can save time, build teamwork and enhance productivity. When used incorrectly, it can bring about the opposite results.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON BCC

I use the "Bcc" as a tool to test the quality of my e-mails.

When I am unsure of how my e-mails will look on someone's screen or whether or not I was successful sending a requested attachment, I will "Bcc" myself to see what my message looks like to the receivers.

FINAL THOUGHT

E-mail is a powerful business tool. However, as with any tool, proper care, handling, and safety should guide your use to achieve your project goals.

Al Borowski, MEd, CSP, PP, is a business writing expert who writes and speaks on business writing and effective e-mail issues.

Al has been a popular seminar leader for The American Management Association, Dun & Bradstreet, and several top universities. He speaks at conventions, conferences, and meetings.

By : Al Borowski
Keyword : email Etiquette

Vista Registry Fix - Get the Maximum Efficiency out of Your System

Vista Registry Fix - Get the Maximum Efficiency out of Your System

Vista registry fix enables you to overcome various Windows Registry-related problems that are encountered while using your Windows Vista operating system.

There are various symptoms of registry related problems, some of which may be identified as overall slow performance of your system, untimely error messages while working with your Windows Vista, or sudden crash of your system. In other words, registry problems make your system behave in such a way, which it should not or you do not want it to behave. The remedy for this problem is to go for Vista registry fix.

Now, for fixing the registry, the utmost important thing for your concern is to get a Vista registry cleaner. However, beforehand, you need to understand what exactly is the Windows Registry or simply Vista registry. The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database of settings that is used by Vista to store the information relevant to its configuration, application, hardware and software files. Whenever an application is opened in your system, the registry adds information to it and this process follows for every application that is opened in your system. With the prolonged use of Windows applications, the registry can get cluttered with information, which many a time may no longer be required or becomes irrelevant. Therefore, in such situations you need to perform an instant Vista registry fix, and for this you need to use a Vista registry cleaner.

The registry cleaner enables you to remove the various inconsistencies in the Windows Registry and thereby helps in enhancing the performance of your system. The primary function of the registry cleaner is to scan your Windows Vista efficiently and effectively, and delete the various unnecessary entries in the Windows Registry. A good registry cleaner always offers registry backups before deleting the unused registry entries so that whenever you need any particular registry entry in the near future, you can restore immediately. It also deletes the registry entries made by spyware and adware programs to provide network security to some extent. So, using the Vista registry cleaner, you can perform Vista registry fix to keep your Windows Registry up-to-date and also schedule, backup and restore the registry according to your convenience.

By : Arvind Singh
Keyword : Vista Registry Fix

Find All The GPS Systems Information You Need

Find All The GPS Systems Information You Need

Are you looking for some GPS systems information? Then come to see us. We have been providing technical courses and advanced GPS training on GPS systems information since a long time ago. We offer more than 20 courses on professional GPS and all you want to know about GPS systems information.

But, first than anything, what is exactly a Global Positioning System (GPS)?

It is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. At first, GPS was going to be used by military applications, but later in the 1980s, the government allowed it to be available for civilian use. It doesn�t matter the weather conditions, GPS keeps working anywhere in the world and the whole day. It is not necessary any subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS.

The second question would be: How it works?

GPS satellites circle the earth twice a day in a very precise orbit and transmit signal information to earth. GPS receivers can calculate exactly where the user is by taking this information and using triangulation. In other words, the GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. And by repeating this procedure with a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user's position and show it on the unit's electronic map.

A GPS receiver can calculate the latitude and longitude and track movement if it is locked on to the signal of at least three satellites. And it can determine the user�s latitude, longitude and altitude using four or more satellites. But it doesn�t end with this, because once we have the user's position, the GPS unit can calculate other information, such as speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, and much more. So not just you can know where exactly somebody is, but also you can know a lot of things about that person, and it doesn�t matter where in the world that person may be.

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By : J Herrera
Keyword : more gps, gps systems, ppa gps

What A Rootkit Is And Why You Should Care

What A Rootkit Is And Why You Should Care

Unless you've been out to sea lately Sony has been caught for the second time stealthily installing rootkits on their devices at the expense of unsuspecting consumers. In 2005 the company was caught when it was found out that it was installing the rootkit on their music CDs. This time around the rootkit was found on their MicroVault USM-F line of USB drives. The reason for Sony's actions come from wanting to control and protect copyrighted content. But rootkits can present a very real threat to a consumer's computer and their personal information.

What is a rootkit? It's a program that is specifically designed to hide itself from anti-virus, spyware and malware programs. Some rootkits are benign but most of them, especially the ones you hear about from Sony are not. Rootkits these days are often very malicious. A rootkit enables someone to remotely control and attack your computer. They can change, delete or add files to your system and use your system as a back door for installing all sorts of nasty things like viruses. Once a it's installed anyone who knows to look for the rootkit software can snoop around on your system, track what you do online or gain access to administrative privileges on your computer. Rootkits often bury themselves so deeply in your system, such as the registry for instance, that usually the only way to get rid of them is wiping the hard drive clean and re-installing the OS. Sometimes programs like Rootkit Revealer are successful at finding certain kinds of rootkits it can't reveal all of them.

There are different kinds of rootkits. Some, called Kernel level rootkits add or change code in the kernel to hide back doors in the system. This makes it easy for Trojan Horses to slip in. Some rootkits act as drivers and install themselves as such on to the system. Virtual rootkits can change the computer's boot sequence and then load themselves through the machine's memory. From there it can intercept any communication made by the operating system. Application level rootkits can replace normal application binaries with fakes and they can also change the behavior of the current applications on the system.

Either way it's a good idea to not use your computer blindly. A tremendous amount of damage can be done to a person's system once it's infested with a malicious rootkit. The time and skill needed to extract one from the system is not worth it. It's best to prevent these programs from installing on your system by keeping your OS up to date, not downloading from suspect sites and don't allow software from peripherals, DVDs or CDs to install without thoroughly reading the terms of agreement. If the agreement doesn't sound right don't allow it to install! It isn't always necessary to install ready made software on the device to use the device on your computer. Look for an open source alternative. A trusted site to find open source software is SourceForge.net. Pay attention to technology news and keep an eye on companies that try to get away with installing these kinds of things on their products. If you suspect or know that one is running on your system, remove all of your important data to a back-up disc or hard drive, wipe your system clean and re-in stall your OS. Remember, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure!

By : Victoria Jeffrey
Keyword : What A Rootkit Is And Why You Should Care