Togggle images prevents spam emails from "calling home"?

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by mapsonx, Jul 8, 2003.

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  1. mapsonx

    mapsonx Registered Member

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    A bit of advice that apparently is commonly offered in MS NG's states that "if you place a shortcut to Toggle Images (which controls "Show pictures" in Internet Options/advanced) on your Quick Launch toolbar or wherever, you can also use it to prevent spam HTML emails from "calling home."

    I tried searching for further info supporting this notion, but the only thing I came up with was 2 year old thread at SpamCop

    http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-list/2001-July/016617.html

    that says it does not toggle images in Outlook Express.

    Is this still true o_O

    Thx,

    - J - :D
     
    mapsonx, Jul 8, 2003
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  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Well, personally I prevent Outlook Express from calling out (accessing web bugs) by restricting it's access in my software firewall, but, I just tested what you described above to see what it would do...

    On Windows XP, using IE6.0 and OE v6, disabling the "Show Pictures" setting in IE does not stop webserver based images from being called and displayed within html based email messages. So, that method would not be effective in preventing web bug based tracking in spam.

    Have you looked into placing restrictions on OE in your firewall as an alternative?
     
    LowWaterMark, Jul 9, 2003
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  3. mapsonx

    mapsonx Registered Member

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    For once, my curiousity pays off (lol). I picked up this unsolicited advice from an MS MVP when inquiring whether the IE5x Web Accessories kit would still work if I upgraded to IE6.

    When I ran a google group search for details, I found the identical info distributed on at least 50 occasions. The fact it dosen't work for OE is a big detail to leave out :rolleyes:

    Xlnt advice, but I use ZAF.

    In OE, under options/send, I have "Send messages immediately" unchecked. I wonder if this achieves a similar effect o_O
     
    mapsonx, Jul 9, 2003
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