Generating Additional E-Mail Addresses from GMail

There are two really great ways to use your Gmail address that can give you greater control over your inbox and save you time and headaches. When you choose a Gmail address, you actually get more than just "yourusername@gmail.com." Here are two different ways you can modify your GMail address and still get your mail:

1. Insert one or several dots (".") anywhere in your email address. Gmail doesn't recognize periods as characters in addresses -- instead, they are just ignored. For example, you could tell people your address was assmoothassilk@gmail.com, but that address has some visual problems. However, tell them instead your address is as.smooth.as.silk@gmail.com. 
2. Append a plus ("+") sign and any combination of words or numbers after your email address. For example, if your name was cookingguy@gmail.com, you could send mail to cookingguy+friends@gmail.com or cookingguy+mailinglists@gmail.com. 

The great part...for both of these tricks, you need to configure or set up ABSOLUTELY nothing other than have a GMail address. You have infinite e-mail addresses available to you, with just one account.

One of the significant values in being able to manipulate your email address is that it makes it really easy to filter on those variants. For example you could use cookingguy+bank@gmail.com when you sign up for online banking and then set up a filter to automatically star, archive or label emails addressed to cookingguy+bank@gmail.com.

You can also use this when you register for a service and think they might share your information. For example, you might add "+donation" when giving money to a political organization, and later when you see emails from other groups to that address, you know exactly how they got it. Then build a filter, perhaps to auto-delete.

6 Things You Should Never Disclose on Facebook

Don't we all love Facebook? It has become a tremendous place to publish all kinds of information about ourselves.  But use caution; there are some things you should never disclose on Facebook.


1. Your birthday
Having the month and day of your birthday is not so bad, but do not include the year.  That gives identity thieves a golden piece of information usable to impersonate you.  Just today, my health insurance company used my full date of birth to confirm my identity when I called to clarify a bill.  Publish your month and day, but leave off the year.

• Click on your Wall.
• Near the top, click the Edit Profile button.
• In the Birthday section, select Show only month and day in my profile.
• As added security, click the drop-down on the right end of the Birthday section and limit your birthday information to your friends.  This way, only your Facebook friends can see your birthday.

2. Your vacation plans

I love checking-in with Facebook as much as the next person.  But checking in during a Hawaiian vacation when you live in Idaho or complaining about your red-eye flight to Europe is a way of saying, "Hey, I'm not home! Come steal from my house."  Post as many photos and enviable updates as you like when you get home.  Speaking of home...

3. Your home address

You make yourself more prone to identity theft and a potentially more vulnerable theft target.

4. Confessionals

Remember, Facebook can be an open window to your entire life and it can be difficult to take stuff back once it appears on Facebook.  Your employer--or a potential employer--may be watching.  In other words, this can be a poor place to complain about your job or how you stuffed a pancake in the office paper shredder.

5. Password clues

Is your mother's maiden name on your Facebook account?  Is that the same question you use to reset your on-line banking password?  Watch out especially for the quiz-type games where you answer 31 questions about yourself.  Don't hand out password clues or answers to potential security questions.

6. Risky Behaviors

Insurers are turning to Facebook to evaluate your risk.  Bragging about your new car which went 120mph through downtown last night may not be your best move.

Be smart.  Facebook can be terribly public, so publish with care.

Adapted from this article:
http://bit.ly/n4JO3l