This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Doug Thews. Original Post: Turn Off Outlook Auto-Notification Feed Title: IlluminatiLand Feed URL: http://apps5.oingo.com/apps/domainpark/domainpark.cgi?client=netw8744&s=JETBRAINS.COM Feed Description: A technology blog for people enlightened enough to think for themselves Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Doug Thews Latest Posts From IlluminatiLand

I've been seeing a lot of spam lately that has the ol "request read notification" tag. Now, we all know that the sole purpose of this is to validate e-mail addreses (which are more valuable for bulk sale).

Anyway, I found out that a lot of people have their Outlook set to auto-return read receipt notifications. This is a BAD IDEA (IMHO). I always force Outlook to ask me whether I REALLY want to send the e-mailer a read receipt, because of this very problem.

So, my advice to you is to look at your Outlook settings and make sure you've got that read receipt set to "Notify". And, just in case you don't know where this option is, check under Tools->Options, press the E-Mail Options buttons on the Preferences tab, and click the Tracking Options button. The last section has 3 radio buttons where you'll want to choose "Ask Me Before Sending a Receipt".