YOUR EMAIL WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 10 MINUTES
We all have impossible missions in our personal as well as our
business lives. Yet when reflecting upon so many of the major
hurdles I've had to overcome, I now realize that a large portion of
them have been cleared primarily due to technology. To be more
specific, I get the job done because of the power and access made
available to me via the use of my computer and its connection to the
Internet.
I know I'm not alone when I say that I truly don't know how I would
have made it to where I am today had it not been for the personal
computer and the Internet. It has truly changed how we live today.
And even if you've never touched a computer keyboard in your life,
it's a sure bet that the computer has made things easier for you
indirectly. But to those of you who use their online computers on a
daily basis, email is one particular piece of technology that can
make your life a joy to behold or a living hell.
Email used to be a simple thing until the advent of junk email
better known as spam. Every day, I receive thousands of spam emails
and it's still increasing. The literal glut of junk email is choking
away email's usefulness. As a stopgap measure, I have in place junk
email filters, white lists and a host of other technologies I
incorporate to stem the tide of this digital garbage. For now, it's
working so I can only hope that other technologies, consumer
awareness and laws will help to stem the tide. One technology that's
helping is a website that offers a really unique service that could
indirectly help you with your spam problem while solving others.
One of the ways to get placed on a spammer's list is when you give
out your email address to an online service. When you have to give
your email address, you can only hope the company isn't sharing it
with other services. But with the 10 Minute Mail website, you now
have an alternative way to deal with some of these email problems.
This is not the answer to spam but when you need something like 10
Minute Mail, you'll be glad it's available.
Let's say you're online and you come across a website that asks for
your email address. Depending on what they want, they may insist you
put one in and even make an attempt to verify its validity. No
problem for the 10 Minute Mail user. By simply going to the 10
Minute Mail website, you are instantly assigned a unique email
address. You can then have email sent to the new address, you can
read it, click on links within the emails sent to you and you can
even reply to them. It's a real email address but the kicker is that
it exists only for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes are up, it's
gone forever. Poof.
So how would this help fight off spam? If you use an email address
that will cease to exist in 10 minutes, then they won't be able to
put your real email address on any spam lists for starters. But why
else would you want to use a self-destructing email address? Perhaps
you want something from a website but in order to get it, they
require you to first sign up with a valid email address. Another
good reason is when a website will only send information such as a
receipt, a password or a serial number to an email address as kind
of security measure. Still, you may not want to give them your real
email address to get it. No problem with the 10 Minute Mail website.
It's quick, effective, totally disposable and completely
untraceable.
Log onto the 10 Minute Mail website, get your 10 minute email
address and that's it. To check any email coming in, just go back to
the website. Your browser's cookies will let it know you're back to
check that assigned email address so it automatically displays any
incoming email you received. You see the name, subject and the
sender's info in an easy to read grid. Just click on the email you
want to read and there it is. And if you realize that you need more
time, no problem. Just click the link that says "Give me 10 more
minutes" and that's exactly what you'll get. As long as you don't
exceed the expiration time, you can continue to increase the 10
minute span with another 10 minutes. The site even displays how many
minutes you have left before it self-destructs.
So there you have it. Now you have a great way to give out your
email address without really giving it out. With the 10 Minute Mail
website, the only thing that is going to self-destruct is your email
address and not your privacy.
www.10minutemail.com
| Craig Crossman is
a McClatchy-Tribune newspaper columnist writing about computers and
technology. He also hosts the nation's longest running nationally syndicated radio talk show on
computers and technology, Computer America, heard on both the Business TalkRadio
Network® and the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network®, weeknights at 10PM Eastern
time. Visit his website at http://www.computeramerica.com |
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