email

Karen had to get a new phone, but she didn't get her email contacts. What can be done? Rich says that since Karen had a Samsung Galaxy mobile device, all her contacts should be backed up to Google. But Karen had her email through AT&T, and if you go into AT&T's webmail interface, those contacts should be there and you can export them. But if there's nothing in the address book, then Karen has lost them all since she no longer has her contacts on her computer and tablet, she can export the contacts into a main file. Then you can import them to Google Contacts.

Mike is complaining that he can't get his email on his phone in his area. Rich suspects that the email client is trying to access LTE and he may not have access to LTE. So he recommends that when Mike is in a spotty LTE area, he should go into the phone settings and drop the speed down to 3G. That is usually enough to get the proper connection.

Charles wants to encrypt his email communications. How can he do that? Leo says that your email can go through dozens of servers before getting to the person you addressed it to. And everyone along the way can read it unless it's encrypted. It's more like a postcard, but without federal privacy protection. PGP (Pretty Good Protection) uses public-key cryptography, which has two different keys. One public, and one private. Only you can encrypt with the private key, while the public key is used to verify and open the email. You can give the public key to anyone.

Linda is frustrated that some of her contacts always end up in the spam filter. Leo says that somewhere the email program learned that those contacts were sending spam, and it may be due to the content of the email. Leo recommends setting up a separate filter that will keep those contacts in the inbox. They may also be called "rules."

Brian's email has been down for a week, and he's looking to make a change to Gmail. Leo says that's exactly what Brian should do. It's free, and you can set it up to go get your email from your other email server. Your local ISP email is almost always terrible, so go with Gmail.

Mark's mom has macular degeneration and can't read her email. What can she get to read her email for her? Leo says that Windows does have text to speech (TTS) built-in, so he can try that. Microsoft Outlook also has voice commands. Leo usually recommends contacting the local Foundation for the Blind. Maybe they can set her up with a JAWS screen reader. He could also try a web-based solution through an email provider. They may have accessibility features like using Google Text to Speech.

Valerie is having issues with her email, she can receive but she can't send. Leo says that's due to a validation issue since her email provider doesn't support standard protocols. Google will block email IP addresses due to spam. Leo recommends using Gmail or other well-known email providers. So get a new email provider! 

Pamela is so inundated with spam, she wants to get rid of her Gmail account. How can she back up the email she wants? Leo says the concept of cleaning out your inbox is called INBOX Zero. It's basically spring cleaning for your email account. Leo says that the archive is designed to remove all the email you don't want to see, but still have access to it by a searchable database. That's much better than throwing it away and realizing you lost something important.

Mark called a customer service line at Guitar Center and then afterward, got an email asking to take a survey. But he never gave them his email. Leo says that the computer system had caller ID turned on and then used that phone number to data mine and find your email. It's quite easy.