That in itself is not why Outlook should be banned. It's the fact that it pretty much is HTML only support (in certain versions you can't turn this off). The dumbass that made that part of email is the one who should be shot. Why on earth do I need HTML, javascript, etc. on my email? Anyways...
For "Phishing Concerns" (as pointed out in the first post) visit
Anti-Phishing Working Group. You can check their archive to see if the questionable "change your password" type email has been reported before. If not, report it to them so they can shut down the site and if possible start legal action.
Since most spam is dependent on HTML if you have it turned off, their ability to detect whether the email was opened or not (thus a live email address) is greatly reduced. As I mentioned some Outlook programs have this hardwired in such a way that you cannot turn it off.
noHTML for Outlook Express is a nifty little program that does turn it off. Other Outlook programs can have it turned off:
Outlook 2002 and
Outlook 2003.
You should also have the
preview pane option turned off so that emails aren't immediately read and in some cases, launching viruses.
Honestly, just use another email program like Pegasus or Eudora that avoids these programs by default. Given the in-depth ties that Outlook has with the OS, it is a vulnerablity always waiting to happen.
