You shouldn't have to be an expert to be safe on a computer.

Home

Guides

Seminars

Tips and Tricks

Log in

How to Use “CC” Properly

Saturday, October 17th, 2009 (No comments yet)

Don't violate the privacy of people in your contact list by sharing their e-mail addresses with everyone. What do I mean? Well, have you ever seen one of these:

Wow! Look at all those names!
Wow! Look at all those names!

The problem here is that everyone who receives this e-mail will also see everyone else's e-mail address and name. Why violate the privacy of your contacts this way? All that does is present a risk to you and them if anyone on the list is a spammer or scammer (or someone forwards this e-mail to one).

Put your own e-mail address in the "To:" field and take that giant list of people and put it in the blind carbon copy (BCC) field. Now when you send it, everyone will still get the e-mail, but the only address they will see is yours. And since they already know who you are, you're not giving away any private information to anyone.

You can still use CC if you wish, but only if you specifically intend for each person who receives the e-mail to know the other people who got the e-mail (for example, you send an e-mail to the tech support people and CC their supervisor so they know they will be called to task for their response).

Here's a great list I found online of all the major e-mail services and how to enable the BCC field if it isn't already.

Support the Geek

If you hate ads as much as I do, please consider supporting us by donating or browsing our recommended products


Recommended Products and Services
Quick Tips:

Preventing Spam

Spam is annoying and worthless, but you still see it every single day. Here are some tips for preventing and reducing spam.

[Click for full description]

E-mail Viruses

Make sure that viruses don't sneak onto your computer through your e-mails. Read some simple tips to prevent that from happening.

[Click for full description]

Phishing

By far the most dangerous thing you'll find in e-mails is a lie. Sending a bogus e-mail to someone is generally called phishing, but can also be referred to as a Nigerian scam (depending on the goal of the e-mail). Learn to recognize and deal with phishing before it's too late.

[Click for full description]

Nigerian Scam

Many people have lost thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the classic Nigerian Scam. Don't fall for it!

[Click for full description]

How to Use "CC" Properly

Don't violate people's privacy and invite spam into their accounts by CC'ing all your contacts. Learn the proper way to send mass e-mails first.

[Click for full description]

Reply-All

It's easy to embarass yourself or harm your career when you don't know how to use Reply-All appropriately.

[Click for full description]

How to Forward E-mails Properly

Don't forward e-mails carelessly or you risk looking foolish as best and violating the privacy of all your contacts at worst.

[Click for full description]

Personalize E-mail

Follow this simple rule of e-mail etiquette to help prevent your friends and family from falling for phishing scams.

[Click for full description]

Using E-Mail Aliases Properly

It can be hard to find a good name to use in an e-mail account that hasn't been used and doesn't give away too much information about you.

[Click for full description]

Protecting E-mail Passwords

Your e-mail account is the most important online account you have. Remember to treat it as such!.

[Click for full description]

Using a Decoy E-Mail Account

Why it's very important to use a buffer e-mail account to shield your main account from people and companies that you don't trust.

[Click for full description]

The ISP E-mail Trap

Don't fall for the trap of using the free e-mail account provided to you by your Internet service!

[Click for full description]