Robert_Thivierge - 2:07 am on Sep 20, 2004 (gmt 0)

Users are viewing their catch-all accounts with a Preview Pane open. So, when they click the email subject link to review the body in the Preview Pane, I do believe they are phoning home and sending a message to the sender that the mail was read. This keeps that catch-all account name in the UCE list as it is a valid account (no bounce).

If you don't reply to the spam you get, and your e-mail is set to *not* "auto-load" inline images, then what's the harm with Catch-All? Just because you "Catch-All" doesnt' mean you have to "read all". You can. have a list of good addresses and common spelling of them, which you read, and then auto-delete the rest.

To me, bouncing some addresses, and not bouncing others, is effectively telling the spammers which e-mail addresses are valid.

So far, my favorite XP SP2 change is the fact in-line images are not auto-loaded in Outlook Express.