The default is Medium, however, unless you send highly formatted HTML messages, the High setting is best. Using the Outlook editor doesn't add a lot of excess HTML tags, so it doesn't need a filter.

4. Outlook has a newsreader
Outlook's Go-->News menu loads Outlook Express in news-only mode, it is not an Outlook component.

Exchange server accounts may have public newsgroups in Exchange public folders and there are currently three add-ins available to pull NNTP posts into Outlook, but Outlook does not offer native support for newsgroups. Don't believe the title bar when it says "Outlook Newsreader"; it's just Outlook Express in disguise.

If you're interested in trying NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) in Outlook, choose from NewsLook (at http://www.ghytred.com), NNTP for Outlook (at http://www.mapilab.com), or the NNTP posting plug-in for Newsgator (at http://www.newsgator.com). Each has advantages, Newslook uses the Net Framework and CDO, NNTP for Outlook is a MAPI transport, and the Newgator NNTP posting plug-in requires Newsgator.

5. The preview pane is unsafe
Once again, five years ago this was true, especially with Outlook 98. The preview pane is safe to use in Outlook 2000/2002/2003. It's less safe in Outlook 98, but as long as you have all of the latest Windows and Internet Explorer patches, go ahead and use it.

See http://www.slipstick.com/emo/2004/up040204.htm#preview for more details.

6. Word is a slow, bloated email editor
Like some of the other myths, this has a root in reality. Word 97 was a horrible email editor, it was slow, buggy, and caused a lot of problems. This was in part because it used email.dot as the template for email, not normal.dot.

By Office XP, email.dot was gone and Word was more than just a usable email editor, it was good and users could compose email using the same word processing features they used when composing documents. Using Word as your email editor does require more resources, but in many cases, today's computers are overpowered and underused, so the extra resources word requires aren't missed.

If you use Word all day long (as I do), using Word as the editor is a non-issue and I have all the conveniences of Word when I'm composing email.

7. Attachments run automatically
Not without a lot of help from the user. Attachments will not open (or run) automatically when you view a message in the preview or reading pane, or when you open a message with current versions of Outlook and Windows.

With Outlook's Attachment blocking, executables can't be opened or saved by default. Someone can write code or add-ins to open attachments, but that's something the user has to install-if a virus installs code to do this the computer was compromised long before Outlook downloaded the email.

Do you have a favorite myth to add to the list? Send them to me at outlook@cdolive.com.

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and can be reached via email at david@zatz.com.