Answering concerns about Preview Pane
- Posted April 4th, 2008 at 9:45 am by Ryan
- Categories: All-New Mail, Anti-Spam, General, Security, Tips & Tutorials
In a recent post several users expressed some concerns about the Preview Pane feature in the All-New Yahoo! Mail. I touched base with the guys from our anti-spam team, as well as those from the team that focuses more on overall security throughout the Yahoo! network, and I think I’m sufficiently equipped to respond.
First I should explain the different types of messages people would typically classify as “spam”, and what risks each kind can pose. Be advised, this is kind of confusing (I know it was for me) … but I think it’s information that, once you wrap your head around it, is VERY useful.
- Unsolicited Marketing messages - probably the most common style, these are messages promoting all types of products or services, from all types of sellers, that are sent out indiscriminately. Some senders can use images within a message to confirm that your address is active, but as long as your spam settings indicate that you block images from unknown/uncertified senders (the default setting if you are in All-New Yahoo! Mail) then previewing isn’t risky. Spammers won’t know you’ve read the message unless you respond.
- Spoof or Phishing messages - these are messages that claim to be from any one of your favorite websites (hoping you’ll click a link and/or provide personal information), or claim to be from a lottery or estate (offering untold fortunes if you send money). These are dangerous if you fall for the
rouseruse, by clicking or responding, but not to preview it. Just be sure not to click on the links, or wire your savings overseas. - Dangerous Images or Javascript - some nefarious individuals attach or embed images, or include some unfriendly javascript, that if accessed might run some nasty program or take advantage of a security loophole in your browser. The attached or embedded image issue should be covered as long as your spam settings have you blocking images from unknown/uncertified senders (just like I mentioned in the first section). Just don’t open or download the image. Meanwhile, our systems are also scanning for known or suspicious scripting, as well as sniffing out and preventing unwanted
scripts from running (kind of like neutering it). Users reduce their risk even further by making sure they have the latest security patches for their browsers (VERY IMPORTANT), which is needed to protect users whether viewing email or simply out surfing the web. An easy way to check for security updates in IE is to access the Tools menu and go to Windows Update.
Identifying spam and phishing/spoof messages typically requires collaboration from our technological defenses and human input (since in many cases it’s a judgment call on the content and many users have differing opinions on what constitutes worthwhile content), but images and Javascript are things we address uniformly (based on your image settings, of course). Just because you see some spam messages sneaking through the net you shouldn’t assume all types of spam are regularly getting through.
Combine all that, and what do you get? While there are always risks in online activity, if you combine our continuing efforts to lower the risk of email scams with your efforts to continually keep your browser up to date, you’ll probably conclude (as we have) that the preview pane is a pretty good deal.
You can close and re-open the pane at any time (using ‘v’), and can also use the checkbox feature to highlight and delete messages directly from your inbox (without opening or previewing). So all things considered, All-New Mail can be every bit as safe as Classic.
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Ryan K. Community Manager Yahoo! Mail |
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- 32 Comments
April 4th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Thanks Ryan, I have been using the preview pane for years and never had trouble. (I am careful not to click to display images, or reply.) I worry about deleting certain emails, for example, that might have an odd subject line or no subject line at all, but are actually from a decent person. So, I often view the body of email first before sending it to the Spam folder. Using Preview Pane speeds this process up.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:31 am
hey yahoo as been good for me so fare so keep up the good work ryan K.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
anyone having problems with searching yahoo! mail?? search is no longer returning all appropriate messages in my account. Customer support says “we’re working on it”
April 4th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
No problems with Search, but I still wish Yahoo would restore the Open Message in New Window feature that used to be there.
Nancy
April 4th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Some good advice here. However I’m always suspicious of an “expert” who makes obvious spelling errors - in this paragraph “Spoof or Phishing messages” you used the word “rouse.” The correct spelling is “ruse.”
April 4th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I keep receiving suspicious emails from a character called “musewoman” even after sending it to the spam file everytime, why is this so Ryan? Tks.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Well, there you have it. I kneel humbly before Zod … I mean emyshep.
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You got me. That was a horrible mistake on my part. I really shouldn’t have an excuse but I’ll try anyway.
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In my defense, despite it being part of one of my all time favorite movie quotes (Randal telling the video store customer in Clerks that he doesn’t appreciate her cunning attempt to trick him), in all my life I don’t think I’ve ever written it.
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But don’t go feeling sorry for me because none of that ultimately matters. Why? Because Mark, from the spam team, even called it out to me before I posted!
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It looks like this is exactly what I get for trying to be funny and responding that for all he knew I meant “to stir or excite”.
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Alas, I hope that you can all find some value in the content anyway.
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Your humbled Community guy,
Ryan
April 5th, 2008 at 3:02 am
My comments are in regard to updated Yahoo Mail Classic. The yahoogroups I belong to start their
subject header with the name of the yahoo group. Updated Yahoo Mail Classic added columns for flagging, attachments and also widened the “Folders” column. These extra and wwidened columns shortenedd the subject header column. Before the updated Yahoo Mail Classic, the entire subject header could be viewed at a glance and looked like “Ann XXX [SouthernSoapers] Re:was monoi/now dogs OT 1:47 AM 17KB “. with the update, you only see “Ann XXX [SouthernSoapers] R 1:47 AM 17KB”. Notice that only the group name appears and the first letter of the subject. I receive hundreds of emails daily. Before the update, I could check the select all box and delete groups of messages at a glance if the subject header didn’t interest me. Now, I have to oipen each email and then delete one at a time. A lot more time consuming. Holding the cursor over the subject header (rollover) for each message is just as time consuming. How do I remove the unwanted columns mentioned above and narrow the folders column to revert back to Yahoo Mail Classic BEFORE the updated version.
April 5th, 2008 at 5:51 am
When are you guys migrating all the existing features like contacts, accounts, filters, calender to the “new” yahoo mail environment?
Yahoo mail has been live for some time but these basic features are still dressed in the old outdated yahoo mail style …
April 5th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I have 3-three email preview YAHOO!mail previews. Any suggestions on how to remove 2-two. One is enouhg.
Thanks
April 5th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
IMAP! Where is the desktop IMAP? If Gmail can do it for free, then so can you….
I will even pay for it!
April 6th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Regarding mail problems… I have been unable to access Yahoo mail since yesterday afternoon. Hope this is part of the problem that is “being worked on?”
April 6th, 2008 at 6:37 am
This is reguarding the updated verson, I’ve been having so many problems with getting my mail to apper and then when it does I can not open, I can not delete un wanted or opended e-mail… I tried to down load I.M. three times it gets to 100% and freezes up … I never had any problems before the up-date … Sorry I’am a very un- happy customer ..
April 6th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Ryan,
Thanks for the info about preview panes! I was wondering what the deal was.
Now if I can just figure out how to stop that guy from using my Email address to sell watches, I’ll be fine.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I, too, would like to see the Open Message in New Window feature restored.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Because Yahoo spam protection doesn’t really work. I get the same style of spam repeatedly after clicking the “spam” button. You need to create a filter in your Yahoo mail to catch spam like that.
I keep receiving suspicious emails from a character called “musewoman” even after sending it to the spam file everytime, why is this so Ryan? Tks.
Comment by Clarence — April 4, 2008 #
April 7th, 2008 at 6:28 am
I’m also interested in knowing when Calendar and Notepad will catch up.
Love the mail interface. Best in the biz.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
When I bumped up to the latest round of Yahoo Mail Plus it added automatically the chat stuff I never use.
I suggest you change the defaults to being invisible when you do the upgrade and only allow those in your address book for a starting point so you can control what is happening from the start.
By having it open to the world as default, I have had to go back and clean up the mess and reconfigure it all to where it should have been to start with.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I did not know who of the people in my address book were even using chat since I never had it working, but since a few only do, I try to stay invisible status, but most of the time I just leave it marked offline.
I only see it when I check my messages but it still a pain to have to done all the initial cleanup from the upgrade.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
The Preview Pane is nice, but it would be really nice if you had IMAP like Gmail does…
April 7th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I just started using Yahoo mail (the new interface) for the first time today. However, I have a slight quibble, perhaps agitated by a poor review I got on a UI design today… But, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD MAKE A TOOL BAR ABOVE THE ENTIRE MESSAGE LIST FOR MANAGING MESSAGES, AND THEN PUT THE “NEW” MESSAGE BUTTON OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN. Seriously, what are you guys thinking. It took me 20 seconds to find a button I should have been able to find in 2.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Er, LEFT side of the screen, sorry.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Jay,
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I’m not a UI expert, but my thinking is that the message toolbar is only relevant when you are reading or composing a message, and actually changes depending on which part of Mail you are in (contacts, inbox, etc.) while the CHECK MAIL and NEW buttons are things that you would conceivably need anytime (regardless of what you were doing).
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That being said, perhaps we could make it more noticeable. I’ll forward your feedback to the UI group.
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Ryan
April 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Hey, thanks 4 all the info Jay. Though I have not had a problem yet you never know. I will keep a good eye out for problems.Though, in my opion, no one on this page is really saying they had or HAVE problems. So I think that they are just saying well thanks for keeping me aware. You do give us a lot of awareness when it is needed at the most. I understand that we do need to be though. thanks for the help. I will look out for any problems on the subject. Thanks again.
:)FlyAwayTink:)
April 15th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Ryan, thank you for providing more information about the Preview Pane.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I have a widescreen monitor, and since those are becoming more and more popular, will Yahoo Mail ever allow the reading pane to go on the right side instead of the bottom only?
May 30th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I have the same problem as Sharon posted above. Also my text size is huge.
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Is anyone else being harassed by pop-ups for the “Adobe Flash Player Installer”? I have the latest version of the Yahoo toolbar, which includes pop-up blockers, but this one keeps getting through and is about to drive me crazy! Is there anything that can be done about this?
June 19th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Thanks for the good service you have offered to the globe. I have been using Yahoo for the last 4 year and for sure as a layman or someone who is not conversant with computer programs,have very rough time with spam. as i a writing this mail, i do not get my emails,i feel someone,especially fraudsters have access to my email, or i might have click or i deleted certain mails that autoatically forward my mail. They might have gotten my email while i was chatting. Please, how do i clean up this mess or can yahoo assist me please as am lossing very important communications from business partners,friends and family.
Thank you and king regards
June 26th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Lately, SpamGuard has not been doing its job.
I keep getting many fraud spam every day.
I started blocking some addresses, but there are too many. I tried sending some with full headers to abuse but for EACH ONE, I get a Yahoo reply that there is nothing Yahoo can do. I put these from my Inbox to the Spam folder, but still get more and more each day. It is time Yahoo did something about its spam filters!! Strange, for years I wasn’t getting these spam messages, and now suddenly I am. Many, many per day.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Since my BULK folder was changed to a SPAM folder, I cannot block these messages. Help, please. Thank you.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
Do you have any idea as to why my tool bar modules have disappeared
to include favorites, tools etc….. since intro to my new yahoo, I am a knowledgeable pc person, not able to find problem elswere on my pc, except to left of upper page, which shows favorites and history only!
Could you help with this?