Automatic Picture Download

[Bryan Anderson]

This is my second attempt at using Outlook. For ages I've been
using The Bat! but as I now support clients using Outlook and
PocketPC, I thought I need to get up to speed with them!

What a pile of rubbish!

Anyway - just one of my problems. I have a client who emails me
from a Hotmail account and insists on putting a little animated
image in his signature. I assume it's a feature of Hotmail as I
can't see the image in Outlook as it's not been downloaded from
the remote server. Good (that's what The Bat! does - just shows
a marker in place of the image).

Now - when I click to reply I get a window pop up titled Automatic
Picture Download, telling me that to reply, Outlook must download
the content from the remote server and do I want to carry on or
cancel?

I don't want to cancel, I want to reply to the guy. I don't want
Outlook to download the image as that confirms my email address
is live to Hotmail (one of the worst places to leak email addys
I have found), so where is my option to reply but to NOT down-
load the image from Hotmail?

I get the message when replying in HTML, Rich or Plain text, so
it makes no difference. What's the point in putting in security
options like this if they're broken?

 

[Bryan Anderson]

This is my second attempt at using Outlook.

Forgot to say that I'm using Outlook 2003.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

The picture blocking is indeed used to prevent tracking by means of
downloading a picture with a certain call. If your friend links to a picture
on a webserver this is most likely done without the special tracking call
meaning it is save to download the picture. Hotmail doesn't track the image
downloads but links directly to the file.

Also note that Hotmail isn't the cause of SPAM (by leaking addresses as you
stated) but is a victom of SPAM because in general people are not very
carefull with that address and post it practically everywhere.

--
Roady [MVP] www.sparnaaij.net
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[Bryan Anderson]

The picture blocking is indeed used to prevent tracking by
means of downloading a picture with a certain call. If your
friend links to a picture on a webserver this is most likely
done without the special tracking call meaning it is save to
download the picture. Hotmail doesn't track the image down-
loads but links directly to the file.

All this I know....but I still want the option to reply to him
without having to download the image first - just for my own
piece of mind.

Also note that Hotmail isn't the cause of SPAM (by leaking
addresses as you stated) but is a victom of SPAM because in
general people are not very carefull with that address and
post it practically everywhere.

Untrue. I have experience of this first hand. I set up a new
Hotmail address this week. Within five minutes (and that is
not an exageration) I had my first piece of spam. I've not
even sent anything using this address, nor have I posted it
anywhere - it is used simply as a way for family to get in
tough with my via MSN Messenger (I use Trillian). So how did
I start getting spam? I can't beleive that there is someone
out there generating random <>@hotmai.com addresses so fast
that within minutes of me creating one, they'd hit it....

Maybe it was coincendence, maybe not. But there's till no way
to reply to my friends email without first downloading the
image.