A dude told me that it is better to delete suspected spam emails and then open them from the trash folder because that way it does not signal to the sender that your email address is valid.
Is this true or just nonsense?
If it is true surely there must be another way to prevent any notification to the sender that your email address is valid, even when opening the email in your inbox. (I am talking about text content, not clicking on any links or opening any executables in the email).
[FONT=“Georgia”]As far as I know, if it’s an HTML e-mail and files are being loaded from the sender’s web-server, then it’s possible for them to track.
This is why Hotmail and Thunderbird disable the loading of “inline” images (meaning, images described in the e-mail’s HTML, rather than images that are just attached) by default for addresses not on your contact list.
So… If the e-mail is in trash but it’s an HTML e-mail and you’re allowing it to load images and other remote files, then it doesn’t matter, it would be possible for the sender to track.
And… If the e-mail is in your inbox, but you aren’t allowing it to load remote files, then it doesn’t matter, you’d be safe to just delete.