New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Why do we say that every year? Who could possibly be happy at a time that, for most, falls on a cold day in the midst of winter? Our most important holiday, whether you are Christian, Jew or Muslim, is recently over, so there really is nothing to celebrate.

I suppose we could make it a wish for a better year than the one just passed, but it certainly hasn’t shown any promise, and it will require hard work and brains to make it productive.

Then there are those “resolutions” to formulate and keep. Few or us actually achieve what we set out to do in the New Year, and resolutions to do so are generally broken within a few short weeks.

Oh well, I’m going to tell you of my resolutions regarding communications. I tell you this in the hope that you will help me to keep them by not sending me anything to tempt me to break them.

First, I have been advised by my daughter and my daughter-in-law (and many times by my youngest sister) that I open way too much email. Each time I do that I open my computer up to viruses, Trojan Horses, worms, and other malware (a.k.a. malicious software) that can come in on an innocuous-looking message or attachment.

Therefore, I am resolved to delete any message that contains attachments without reading it. I might preview the message in Outlook and read the subject line and possibly any text in the body of the message, but I will not click on the attachment(s). Anything you send that you want me to look at had better be in the main body, or else you might as well not send it.

Second, I’m also leery of links that come with a message, so I probably won’t click on them either. If I want to see something on the Internet, I will type in the address myself. Links and attachments are where malicious little bastards hide their dirty work, so I’m told. (Not you, but those MLBs who sent it to you)

Third, I will be cautious in opening any message that is forwarded to me. If you want me to read or see something, learn how to paste it into your PC word processor and then copy it into your “original” message. If you cannot do that, don’t bother sending it.

That’s it! Those are my New Year Resolutions. Of course, since I am telling you what I will and will not open in the way of email messages, I will be bound by the same rules in my sending to you. If I put an attachment in, I won’t expect you to open it, and if I type in a link, I expect you to use your own search engine to locate and open it. I will not “forward” messages that I receive. Instead, if I want to share the content with you, I will take the time and effort to re-compose it so that it excludes any risky content.

I’m not sure how this will work out, but I know that it will mean a lot less email from me, at least until I break my resolutions. You have my permission to chastise me if and when I do so. But rest assured that anything you get from me will be original content—no FW: stuff.