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America Online

Gloria Hansen

Have an Identity Crisis

Do you use your AOL account for business and pleasure? If so, you can create a whole series of separate screen names (you can have up to five) for your working self, your after-hours persona, your spouse, your kids, and so on. Give the work address (screen name@aol.com) to business associates, and the personal address to friends and family. Log in as your business self, and you'll see only work-related mail. Log in after work using your personal screen name to stay in touch with the in-laws.

To create a new screen name in AOL 3.0, first log on. Select Go To, Keyword. Enter names, and a list of options will appear. Double-click Create a Screen Name; enter the name you want to use, the password, and the level of parental control; and click OK. To use the new screen name, log off and then back on using the new screen name (select it from the list in the Welcome window). To get rid of a screen name you no longer want, repeat the steps starting with Go To above, but this time double-click Delete a Screen Name instead of Create a Screen Name.

Automate AOL

Would you like your personal e-mail to be waiting for you when you get home? AOL can automatically log on to collect e-mail for one or more of your screen names. Select Mail, Set Up FlashSession. Click Select Names to select the screen name or names you want to automate, click OK, and click the Schedule FlashSession button. Check Enable Scheduler, select the start time and the frequency, and click OK. Remember to leave your computer on!

Use Internet-Style Quoting

Is that a real Internet account, or a Sears Internet account? If you want to match the coolness of other hip mail recipients on your mailing list or message thread, arrange for AOL to work the Internet way--by prefacing quoted lines with a greater-than symbol (see FIGURE 1). Select Members, Preferences, click the Mail button, uncheck "Use AOL style quoting in mail," and click OK. To quote a particular portion of someone's message, you just open the e-mail, select the text that you want to quote, and click Reply. The selected text will appear in quotation marks within the body of your reply e-mail.

Don't Print the Headers

Internet mail header information shows the return path, the host mailer, and other needless data. Here's how to save or print messages minus this useless stuff. Click anywhere inside the message field, and press Ctrl­A to select the entire text. Then click Reply, select whatever header information you don't want, and press Delete. To save more space, select the remaining text and click the Reduce font size button. Now print or save the message, and press Ctrl­ F4 to close the reply window. When AOL asks if you want to send it, click No.

Add a Hyperlink

Impress your friends by inserting a live hypertext Internet link into the midst of an otherwise standard e-mail message. By clicking on the link, the recipients of your mail (including people at non-AOL addresses) can go directly to the specified site. Select Mail, Compose Mail. While in the body of your letter, select Go To, Favorite Places. Choose the link you want to add to your message, and drag and drop it directly into your message window. You can also drag and drop a link from the Favorite Places folder located in your Personal Filing Cabinet.

Block Unwanted Mail

Tired of being flamed, spammed, and junked to death? Block nuisance e-mail from specific addresses. Log on to AOL, select Go To, Keyword, enter Mail Controls in the keyword field, and click Go. Click the Setup Mail Controls button, check the screen name you want to shield from junk mail, and click the Edit button. Click the "Block mail from the addresses listed" radio button, enter all e-mail addresses you want to ignore in the "Type mail address her"e box, click Add, and click OK. To block mail from an entire Internet domain (such as sickmail.com), simply enter the domain name.

Alternatively, you can first block all incoming mail, and then selectively unblock the path only for messages from individuals whose e-mail addresses you specify. In the Mail Controls window, click the "Block all mail radio" button, and click OK. To receive mail from particular individuals, click "Allow mail from the addresses listed only," and enter the addresses you want to accept in the "Type mail address here" box.

Don't Download Junk Mail

Here's how to delete junk mail without downloading it first. Select Mail, Set Up FlashSessions, click Select Names, select the screen name or names you want to work with, enter the passwords, and click OK. Check "Retrieve unread mail," and close the dialog box. Sign off, log on to AOL, and then click the You Have Mail button to display your new mail. Scan the e-mail sender and topic lines, select messages that exude the unmistakable odor of spam, and click Ignore. Next, select Mail, Activate FlashSession Now. Click the "Signoff when finished" button, and click Begin. AOL will collect your remaining mail and log off.

Back Up Your Address Book

Move to a new PC and your AOL address book may get left behind. The solution: Back up the files for easy copying. Open Windows' Explorer, create a new folder in the location of your choice (such as a floppy), and name it AOL Backups. Next, copy the files AddrBk.ind and AddrBk.lst from the \Aol30\idb folder to the AOL backups folder. To restore your address book, drag both files from your backup folder to the \Aol30\idb folder. And back up the contents of your Personal Filing Cabinet by copying the \Aol30\organize folder to your backup folder.

Quick, Take Back That E-Mail

Dispatching a flaming note can be cause for regret when your customary cool-headedness returns. If the recipient is on AOL and the mail hasn't been read yet, you still have hope. Select Mail, Check Mail You've Sent. Scroll down the list of mail sent, and click the e-mail you want to yank back from the jaws of receipt; then click the Unsend button.

Unslime the MIME

AOL's pretty good at encoding and decoding binary files attached to messages. But occasionally you'll open an attachment only to find it's gibberish. One way to solve the problem is to ask the sender to resend the file. If that's not possible or if the problem persists, try using the freeware utility Wincode (you can find it on PC World Online).