Interestingly though, after I had input all those names, I sent a message to everyone I entered and got back about fifty that were returned because their mailbox was wrongly listed with the group. Or they have changed ISPs and changed their e-mail address. Then soon after the message I sent out, I received around twenty-five or so asking to be removed from the list because they were not interested in checking yet another e-mail account. Most of them did not understand that the whole idea was that they can have this e-mail address automatically forward over to their own e-mail address that they check regularly. There is not much mail that will be sent using this e-mail system, except meeting announcements and special programs, like the extreme event that is scheduled for November 4th in Roseville.

The way the site works is that you would use your first name and then a dot and then your last name with an @ sign and then the Sacramento PC Users Group domain name of SacPCUG.org. So, in other words, if your name was "John Doe," you would use John.Doe@SacPCUG.org. You would use this as an e-mail address as well as a sign-on. Your password would be the first initial of your first name and then your full last name in all lower case. In other words, "jdoe" in the example above. This, of course, is after you get to the www.nx.com site. Once you hit [return] you will be taken to the first screen, which shows your preferences and your mailboxes. If you only have one mailbox, then you would click on that mailbox to get to the next screen. This is where most people had troubles. I got about fifty more e-mails asking where to change their passwords; many people never got past this first screen.

That was the biggest complaint I received from people. The interface is awkward and can be confusing, I just accepted what we had because it was better than nothing. Anyway, before you click on your mailbox and to get into the next section, the preferences link is where you are allowed to change your password. I highly recommend that you change your password because this is where security could be a problem.

Once you get past this section and into your mailbox area, you will have several new links to look at. The first is of course the "Control Center," which will toggle you back to the section of "Preferences" where you can look at your many mailboxes (if you have more than one) and where you can change your password. The second link is your Inbox itself. If you have any messages, they would be in here. The third link is "Follow-ups." "Follow-ups" are messages that you have previously earmarked for follow-up. This follow-up folder contains reminders that you expect responses by a particular date to e-mails that you have sent. The next link is "Unsent Drafts." If you are composing a message and are not ready to send that message yet, you would save it under this section.

Then comes the "Compose" link. This is where you would start a message. It is just like any other program allowing you to write a message and attach a file to this message. It has a spell checker as well as being able to Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)—very useful stuff and essential for all e-mail programs. The next link is the "Address Book." Any e-mail program must have an Address Book to store all those e-mail addresses that you don't know by heart. This section even has an "Import" and an "Export" function in it, to import all those addresses from another program. You'll first need to export them from your database into a "comma delimited file" or a "comma separated value" with an extension of ".csv." The "Find" link can search all your messages to find a specific message that had a certain criteria to it.

The next Link is "View History." This has three sub-sections to it, and lets you view your history "by contacts," "all mail," or "by attachments." This is very useful for looking back on. Then we have "Topics." You can save your messages in a topics section called topics, which filters your messages into folders by topic.

The "Options" link allows us to change many things. First is the "Automatic Reply," where you can have a reply sent to every message. For example, while on vacation everyone who sends you a message can be sent a reply telling them that you are on vacation and when you will return. Or you might just have an automatic reply acknowledging that you received mail and will be contact the sender as soon as possible. Many people use this very useful function. You can have the automatic reply respond to all incoming messages, just those people in your address book, or only selected people in your address book.

The next feature under options is the "Automatic Forward" feature. If you have your mail forwarded to your regular e-mail account, you only have to check one mailbox and rarely need visit the NX site. All mail will just be pushed on your regular mail. I highly recommend this feature because it simplifies your e-mail, letting you just check one account.

The next feature includes all the "compose message" properties, like your name and return e-mail address. Then there is an "Automatically Save Draft" feature that saves your draft automatically before sending it, in case you lose your link before sending the message on. And finally in the "compose" section are the "Signature" properties. This is where you can create a signature to go on every message.

Then we come to the Inbox properties. You can sort your inbox by date in ascending or descending order. Next we have "Manage Unrecognized Contacts." This is where we can place contacts that we get messages from that are not recognized by our address book. You can mark them as "unknown" or "automatically forward" them on to another mailbox.

The next feature of the options link is the "Reply to Address." This is the address that you want people to respond to if you don't want them to reply back to your NX mailbox. Then we have the "View History" properties: how many contacts will be displayed, if viewed by contacts. The default is five.

The last feature of the options tab is the POP3 section. Many people get confused here. POP3 is a way of "popping off" your mail, or retrieving it with another program, instead of using the automatic forward feature. If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape, or any other regular mail program, you can have your mail retrieved by setting up an "Internet Mail" service which is a POP3 interface. It is really simple. You just add the service to check your mail using a given name and password, and then all your mail is brought to your favorite e-mail program. Once you set this up, this options section allows you to change the way your mail will look after it is retrieved through POP3. For example, you can have all the mail saved in your inbox by marked as read, or you can delete all your inbox mail since you have already read it in your regular mail program.

Finally we come to the last four items that are in this mailbox section. The first is the Trash Bin. In case you erased a message, you can always retrieve it by going into the Trash Bin and moving it back into your mailbox.

Next we have the "FAQ/ Manual" link. You can download the manual to read all about these features and look at the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). The "Help" link that will help you along as you go.

Finally is the "Logout" link. Clicking this will automatically take you to our Sacramento PC Users Group page. I set this up through the administration part of the site.

By using this site, you can forward all announcements from the Sacramento PC Users Group right on to your regular e-mail and check it with Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, or any other program you use to check your mail. Sending the newsletter was criticized by enough people that the Steering Committee decided not to sent it through e-mail, and to just send the link through e-mail each month.

I hope this explains to everyone what we are trying to accomplish here. We needed a system that everyone could use to send out messages to the group, as well as easily remember people's e-mail addresses. Many people like it, but as usual, many people hate it as well. Please try to consider that we are not going to send so many messages that it will turn you away from the system, but we need a way to send you announcements once in a while.

If you are not on the system and would like to be, and are a paid member, please e-mail a message with your name and membership number, and paid through date if you know it, to "email@sacpcug.org."