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privacy. How do you clean up your e-mails?
Highlight the part you want to forward (NOT including the headers showing who it was originally sent to) with your mouse, select COPY from the EDIT menu, open a new e-mail and select PASTE from the EDIT menu. (If it doesn't paste automatically, make sure your cursor is inside the new e-mail). Now, send it as you would any other e-mail. If you don't know how to copy, and paste, here's how. Windows users, highlight the text you want to copy, then hold down the ctrl and C keys. Paste it into a new email by pressing ctrl and V. Mac users, use the same process but use the Command Key (with the apple on it) instead of ctrl.

Cleaning the >>>>>'s out of an e-mail that's been forwarded a number of times can be difficult (not to mention frustrating!) Fortunately, there are free programs out there that will clean the >>>'s and other unnecessary clutter out of your e-mails for you. Try searching a software library such as Tucows
Also, contrary to popular belief, e-mails with attachments do NOT have to be sent as forwards. If you receive an e-mail with an attachment you want to share, download the attachment, open a new e-mail, and attach the file you've just downloaded to your e-mail.

10. KEEPING YOUR ADDRESSES PRIVATE
What IS blind-copying, anyway? It's a feature provided by most e-mail programs that allows you to send e-mails to several people without everyone seeing everyone else's e-mail address. Why is it important to blind-copy when sending e-mails? First, it keeps the e-mail from becoming unnecessarily long. A list of 20 recipients in the To: field is enough to make your e-mail twice as long as it needs to be. The second, more important reason has to do with safety. Many people forward e-mails to friends without deleting the original headers. Once you've forwarded an e-mail to your friends and they've sent it on to their friends, and so on, you have no control over who ends up seeing your e-mail address or your friends' e-mail addresses. You could find yourself getting a lot of spam mail, or being contacted by strangers with ill intentions.
Most e-mail programs give you a choice of putting your addresses in the To; Cc; or Bcc field. Always select BCC (blind-copy). Information on using the BCC option with different mail programs can be found here. (Please note-some e-mail programs require you to put something in to To field anyway, even if blind-copying. If this is the case with your e-mail program, you may want to put your own address in the To field).
What if your e-mail program does not have a blind-copy feature at all? First, make sure there isn't something you have to do to make the BCC field show up. (For example, Outlook Express users who are blind-copying have to select the addresses from their address book and choose the Bcc field there, or go to VIEW and choose VIEW ALL HEADERS to make Bcc show up as an option on e-mails). If it turns out that your e-mail program doesn't provide a blind-copy option at all, I would suggest signing up for a web-based e-mail account such as Hotmail or Yahoo! for sending e-mails to your friends. Also, I would recommend contacting the maker of your e-mail program and urging them to add a blind-copy feature. It's much better to be safe than sorry.

Learn more about this author, Amanda Demers.
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