Which newsgroup for info about email scripts?

[JoeSpareBedroom]

A friend placed a couple of orders at Fingerhut, and she called me when she
opened the confirm emails, which resulted in a series of script error
messages from Outlook Express. I explained that this was her punishment for
buying cheesy gifts from that company, but that wasn't the answer she was
looking for. At this point, my curiosity is about why a simple email would
even need scripts, something I never see from other companies'
confirmations. (Maybe the scripts are there, but they work right so I don't
notice them).

Is there a group where I might find a few programmers who can explain the
purpose of these things?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

A friend placed a couple of orders at Fingerhut, and she called me when she
opened the confirm emails, which resulted in a series of script error
messages from Outlook Express. I explained that this was her punishment for
buying cheesy gifts from that company, but that wasn't the answer she was
looking for. At this point, my curiosity is about why a simple email would
even need scripts, something I never see from other companies'
confirmations. (Maybe the scripts are there, but they work right so I don't
notice them).

Is there a group where I might find a few programmers who can explain the
purpose of these things?

I would start with an Outlook Express newsgroup.

 

[mayayana]

A friend placed a couple of orders at Fingerhut, and she called me when
she

opened the confirm emails, which resulted in a series of script error
messages from Outlook Express. I explained that this was her punishment for
buying cheesy gifts from that company, but that wasn't the answer she was
looking for. At this point, my curiosity is about why a simple email would
even need scripts, something I never see from other companies'
confirmations. (Maybe the scripts are there, but they work right so I don't
notice them).

Is there a group where I might find a few programmers who can explain the
purpose of these things?

You probably want something like a web developers'
newsgroup, or maybe a javascript newsgroup. Most likely
your friend has an HTML email that's using javascript to
track her opening of the email. Or it might just be script
that's there to do something like change an image when
the mouse moves over it.

One thing you might try is to save the email to
Desktop and open it in Notepad. An email is actually
all text-based, so you can see the code that's in it.
If you can't figure out what the code is doing you
could try searching for a match to a code snippet, or
post some of the code to a scripting newsgroup.

It's generally good security practice not to open HTML
email in Outlook Express. (Use Thunderbird if you MUST allow
the HTML to run.) I use OE, but always use the right-click
menu with the Preview window closed to see the raw text
if I'm dealing with an unknown - or possibly web-bug-infested
- email. (Right click -> Properties -> Details -> Message Source.)
If you allow HTML email to display in the Preview window it's
nearly as risky as using Internet Explorer online.

 

[PA Bear]

OE Tools > Options > Security > select "Restricted Sites" zone (which is the
default).
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I know about that. I want to understand their purpose, not shut them off. I
don't use the preview pane, and I never open email if I don't recognize the
sender of a message based on the subject line or other clues.

 

[PA Bear]

What are you talking about? Your friend is getting the script errors
because she has OE running in the Internet zone. Change it back to the
default Restricted Sites zone and she won't get any script errors.

Or continue as is and get the errors...and possibly subject the machine to
attack.

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Fine, but I would still like to know more about the useful purposes of
scripts in otherwise legitimate emails, like the merchant's confirmation she
received. Is it OK that I'm interested in knowledge for the sake of
knowledge?

 

[Gerry]

Joe

Are they useful if they put the customer's computer at risk? Isn't it an
outmoded way to communicate?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

If they add risk, then obviously, they're not useful. But, the only reason
this script was obvious was because of its error messages. What if it had
been properly written, and there WAS a useful purpose for it?

 

[Gerry]

Joe

The system cannot differentiate between a useful script and a not useful
script. If you require protection from a script damaging the software
you have to prevent all from automatically executing. You can
temporarily turn off the protection of you so wish. I do this when I use
macros in Excel to update spreadsheets.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[mayayana]

Fine, but I would still like to know more about the useful purposes of

scripts in otherwise legitimate emails, like the merchant's confirmation she
received. Is it OK that I'm interested in knowledge for the sake of
knowledge?

Let's hope so. But there will always be people
who find curiosity to be annoying at best. And
it certainly doesn't help to keep Microsoft's support
costs down when wippersnappers start fiddling around
to get the most from the product.

I, for one, would be very curious to see exactly what's
going on inside that Fingerhut email.

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

If they add risk, then obviously, they're not useful. But, the only reason
this script was obvious was because of its error messages. What if it had
been properly written, and there WAS a useful purpose for it?

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.ie6_outlookexpress.stationery

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Let's hope so. But there will always be people
who find curiosity to be annoying at best. And
it certainly doesn't help to keep Microsoft's support
costs down when wippersnappers start fiddling around
to get the most from the product.

I, for one, would be very curious to see exactly what's
going on inside that Fingerhut email.

Stay tuned.