Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

junk mail filtering

My junk filtering is too strong

I do not know why all the sudden so much of my legitimate email is going to junk. If you have any idea of how to handle this, please let me know.
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If you find that email is moving into junk more often than you’d like then you may decide to take the (sort of) drastic step of resetting your junk mail filtering.


I call that drastic as you may open the flood gates a bit since you’ll be telling the computer, forget all the times I ever said something was junk. Junk filtering happens at two places. On the email server before it gets to you, then again in your email client. In this case, the application called “Mail”. You may also want to check the other settings in the Junk settings panel as seen above to make sure you aren’t being to restrictive before using the reset option.

I'm getting to much junk

I used to never get spam in my inbox. It has somehow now gotten through and I’d like to know if it’s okay to hit the Unsubscribe button or is it phishing, hoping I’ll hit it and then they somehow get into my computer?
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Junk or spam is a never ending battle. There are many methods to try to fight it. Using the "unsubscribe" at the BOTTOM of the email is not always the best way. Legally every company within the US is required to provide an unsubscribe button but that rule also allows for companies to automatically subscribe you to other services. Dirty practice.

So on to the next option. You may see an unsubscribe button on the top right corner of some emails. Not all. This one is safer to use as it puts Apple in the middle and doesn't allow you to have direct contact with that company. Better.

Next method: Use the junk button. I use Junk every single day. It takes a long time but selecting an email and hitting junk will eventually weed out garbage. It's safer than unsubscribing. Problem with this method is that junking something only junks that one specific exact email. This means the company can still send you emails using a different spelling of an email. Like 3kdlse@company.com instead of kd45l@company.com.

Last method: If all else fails you can always create a rule that says something like: if email contains the word "politic" then delete it. That can be found in Mail settings. Warning however, the broader you make a rule the better chance there is of it deleting something you didn't really want deleted.

Can I stop getting junk mail?

How can I reduce the amount of junk mail that I get?
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There’s no real magic bullet to resolve junk mail other than the basic tried/true strategies. We all have it. Set junk to auto delete, never use the unsubscribe button on an email you don’t trust, in general, unsubscribe with caution, don’t cc people. Ask people never to cc you. BCC is the only way to go. If all else fails, make rules to junk things if nothing else works.

Why am I still getting junk?

Still a good deal of junk seems to accumulate, but you think once I upgrade to the newer iOS system this will go away too?

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Adjusting settings will not reduce the amount of junk you receive. It will just make sure it stays in the junk folder until the time you’ve set to delete it. Everyone gets tons of junk once their email address has been exposed. If the amount of junk you get concerns you, you can always set it to erase when quitting mail or once a day. Right now you have it set to one week I believe. Junk mail is harmless as long as it’s moving into the junk folder and out of the way. If it doesn’t get filtered and lands in the inbox, that’s when you have to use the junk button at the top your email application on the Mac to tell the computer, this is in fact junk and don’t let that sender land in my inbox again.

You can do this on your phone as well but takes a few extra steps. Swiping an email to the left should reveal the “more” then “move to junk” command. I find it easier to just use a computer.

The junk is killing me.

Scams are getting more and more elaborate. Every day it seems I'm being contacted by someone that has had their personal info compromised. These bad guys are getting very good at working around your security. The good news is that so far, two factor authentication seems to be holding them at bay. Two factor authentication requires that a code be sent to another registered device or email account that would be required to to authenticate yourself. The issue here becomes, if they have access to that email account already, you're behind the eight ball. Make absolutely sure you have two factor authentication turned on to prevent future invasions like this. Never join open wifi networks that do not require a password. If you have other accounts that contained the exact same password as your compromised password like ATT, Facebook, your power bill, Amazon, etc… change those immediately as well.

Stop using the same password for multiple accounts. Start thinking about your passwords being phrases instead of words. For example: don't use "Tarheels72". Do use: "Igraduatedfromuncin72withA+"

If they are able to get one of your accounts username and password combination, they will try that combination with multiple accounts. Eventually they'll get into one then change all your security questions and recovery email addresses which will then lock you out of your own accounts. Two factor authentication helps prevent this.

I recently worked with a company who uses standard emails like info@companyxyz.com or warehouse@companyxyz.com and the bad guys were able to break into those. From there, they extracted their contact lists and began emailing all their clients saying they were due a refund. The link they provided went to a fake website designed to look like a login for Shopify. This particular bad guy was able to continue buying new domain names to direct traffic to in order to stay ahead of the other domain registrars that were shutting him/her down.

These fake emails are designed to sound serious in order to get your attention. For example:
"There was a problem processing your ATT payment."
"You overpaid on your last invoice and are due a credit"
"Thank you for your payment to Apple, click here for your free AirPods"

I see very intelligent clients panic, interact with these fishing schemes and then are lead farther down their confusing rabbit hole. They design their conversations with you to scare, intimidate, and confuse you. Do not call any numbers you are presented. If you are concerned with something, look the actual phone number of that particular company yourself. Or type in the website yourself. Don't trust the link to take you. Hint: If you hover a link, it will reveal the actual URL you're being directed to without clicking on it.

I realize I may sound like a broken record here. Just keep your guard up. Don't always trust what you read. Use complicated passwords. Do not join open wifi networks. If in doubt, feel free to forward any email to me or take a screenshot of whatever you may find suspicious.

Why am I not getting all my email?

Do you have a favorite multi-charging stand? One that can my iPhone, iPods, and Apple Watch all at once.
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Not really. Since they all have different wattage requirements and connectors or interfaces, there’s no one fits all solution. You really have to pay attention to what charger you use with what device. Example: iPad charger will charge the iPad much faster than an iPhone charger due to wattage requirements. Some USB ports will charge faster than others for the same reason.

There are also differences between Apple Watch year chargers. It’s all convoluted at the moment until all devices adapt the new USBC standard. iPad is there, iPhone is not yet. It still uses the Lightning connector which is proprietary to Apple. Conductive charging is available on the iPhone and watch but not the iPad. So everything is still in a transition and until it’s all standard, there’s not one dock solution that I can recommend.
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