User interface for email inbox to call attention differently to different classes of email

• US 20060200523A1
• Filed: 03/03/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iconix Incorporated (Matthews Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Iconix Incorporated (Matthews Group LLC)
• Inventors: Zager, Robert Philip, Tokuda, Lance Aiji, Shen, Jia, Picazo, Jose Jesus Jr., Talbot, Bryan Allen
• Granted Patent: US 8,073,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A user interface for email users which calls attention to one or more categories of emails in different ways. In some species, at least three categories are used: branded senders with Trumarks; white list buddies; and fraudulent emails which are either not from the domain they purport to be from or in which the content was tampered. The preferred embodiment authenticates emails from branded senders and displays them with the sender'"'"'s Truemark. Branded sender emails have their Truemarks displayed in the sender column of a list view in the preferred embodiment. In a preferred embodiment, white list senders have either an icon or other graphic or photo they choose displayed to the left or right of the sender column with their name in the sender column. In a preferred embodiment, fraudulent emails have a fraud icon displayed to the left or right of the sender column with a warning in the sender column. Antiphishing processing is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computer comprising the steps:

after each email directed to a particular recipient has been authenticated and a category in which each said email'"'"'s sender falls has been determined, generating data which causes a computer to call attention to emails directed to said recipient in each of a predetermined number of categories in different ways; and

using said data to cause a computer to call attention to emails in each of a predetermined number of different categories in different ways.

2. A web mail server computer comprising:

a hard disk or other bulk storage media;

a display;

one or more input devices;

at least random access memory for storing programs to be executed and data;

a physical layer interface circuit to couple said web mail server to a wide area network;

a central processing unit coupled to said bulk storage media, said display, said one or more input devices, said physical layer interface circuit and said random access memory and programmed to execute an operating system to control certain aspects of the operation of said web mail server computer and programmed with one or more application or other computer programs;

and wherein said one or more other computer programs includes a protocol stack of one or more programs to interface said web mail server computer to said wide area network via said physical layer interface circuit;

and wherein a application program executed by said central processing unit is stored on said bulk storage media and is structured to control said central processing unit to execute a web mail program which performs the following functions;

receiving from said protocol stack data a defining inbound emails addressed to various email subscribers and storing said inbound emails in such a way that each subscriber'"'"'s emails can be retrieved on command;

receiving from said protocol stack data defining requests from users to display their emails;

fetching the emails addressed to the user who made the request and which have not already been downloaded by the user;

authenticating each said email and verifying that it is from the domain it appears to be from and has not been tampered with;

determining the category of each email and determining which emails must have attention called to them in predetermined ways;

generating data for transmission via said protocol stack and said physical layer interface circuit to a web browser executing on a client computer operated by the user which requested his or her emails to be displayed, said data structured to cause said web browser to cooperate with an operating system of said client computer to display emails addressed to said user in such a way that emails in certain categories have the user'"'"'s attention called to them in different ways for each category, and transmitting said data.

3. The computer of claim 2 wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to generate data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from white list senders are displayed with the logo, graphic, photo or other image assigned by the sender displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox, and wherein said web mail program is further structured to control said web mail server to generate data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from branded senders are displayed with the corporate logo or other trademark or logo owned or licensed by the sender displayed in the sender column.

4. The computer of claim 2 wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to generate data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails which do not pass authentication are displayed with a fraud logo displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox.

5. The computer of claim 2 wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to generate and send data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and a a corporate logo or trademark designated by a branded sender in the sender column instead of the sender'"'"'s name, and wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to generate and send data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and to display in said sender column a white list sender'"'"'s picture, logo or other graphic design designated by said white list sender or a generic white list logo if said white list sender has not designated a logo, picture or other graphic design, and wherein said web mail program is further structured to generate and send data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and display in said sender column a fraud logo of any emails which do not pass authentication.

6. The computer of claim 2 wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to display any email from a branded sender in a first color, and wherein said web mail program is further structured to control said web mail server to display any email from a white list sender in a second color, and wherein said web mail program is further structured to display any emails which are known to be fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent in a third color and wherein said web mail program is further structured to control said web mail suerver to display any emails that are not from branded senders or white list senders or known or suspected of being fraudulent in a fourth color.

7. The computer of claim 2 wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to display a corporate logo or trademark designated by a branded sender in the sender column instead of the sender'"'"'s name, and wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to display in said sender column a white list sender'"'"'s picture, logo or other graphic design designated by said white list sender or a generic white list logo if said white list sender has not designated a logo, picture or other graphic design, and wherein said web mail program is further structured to display in said sender column a fraud logo in said sender column for any emails which do not pass authentication, and wherein said web mail program is further structured to detect the position of a mouse cursor or other pointing device insertion point as determined from data received from a web mail plug-in in a web browser of said client computer and compare said cursor or insertion point position to the position of the display of each email and automatically look up information about a sender of said email over whose position said cursor or insertion point is currently located on said client computer display, and for sending data to a web browser on said client computer to cause said web browser to control said client computer to display said identity information in a pop up box or in any other means.

8. A web mail server computer comprising:

a hard disk or other bulk storage media;

a display;

one or more input devices;

at least random access memory for storing programs to be executed and data;

a physical layer interface circuit to couple said web mail server to a wide area network;

a central processing unit coupled to said bulk storage media, said display, said one or more input devices, said physical layer interface circuit and said random access memory and programmed to execute an operating system to control certain aspects of the operation of said web mail server computer and one or more application or other computer programs to interface waid central processing unit with said;

and wherein said other computer programs includes a protocol stack of one or more programs to interface said web mail server to said wide area network via said physical layer interface;

and wherein a application program executed by said central processing unit is stored on said bulk storage media and is structured to control said central processing unit to execute a web mail program which performs the following functions;

receiving data packets containing data defining inbound emails addressed to various email subscribers and storing said inbound emails in such a way that each subscriber'"'"'s emails can be retrieved on command;

receiving requests from users to display their emails;

fetching the emails addressed to the user who made the request and which have not already been downloaded by the user and authenticating said emails in any known way;

determining the category of each email and determining which emails must have attention called to them in predetermined ways;

generating data for transmission to a web browser executing on a client computer operated by the user which requested his or her emails to be displayed, said data structured to cause said web browser to cooperate with an operating system of said client computer to display emails addressed to said user in such a way that emails in certain categories have the user'"'"'s attention called to them in different ways for each category;

and wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to generate data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from branded senders are displayed with the corporate logo or other trademark or logo owned or licensed by the sender displayed in the sender column;

and wherein said web mail program is further structured to control said web mail server to generate data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from white list senders are displayed with the logo, graphic, photo or other image assigned by the sender displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox;

and wherein said web mail program is structured to control said web mail server to generate data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from senders known or suspected of being fraudulent are displayed with a fraud logo displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox.

9. A process carried out by a web server computer comprising the steps:

receiving data packets containing data defining inbound emails addressed to various email subscribers and storing said inbound emails in such a way that each subscriber'"'"'s emails can be retrieved on command;

receiving requests from users to display their emails;

fetching the emails addressed to the user who made the request and which have not already been downloaded by the user;

determining the category of each email and determining which emails must have attention called to them in predetermined ways;

generating data for transmission to a web browser executing on a client computer operated by the user which requested his or her emails to be displayed, said data structured to cause said web browser to cooperate with an operating system of said client computer to display emails addressed to said user in such a way that emails in certain categories have the user'"'"'s attention called to them in different ways for each category, and transmitting said data.

10. The process of claim 9 further comprising the step generating data for transmission to said web browser to control said web browser to cause a client computer to display an inbox in which emails from branded senders are displayed with the corporate logo or other trademark or logo owned or licensed by the sender displayed in the sender column and transmitting said data.

11. The process of claim 9 further comprising the step of generating data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from white list senders are displayed with the logo, graphic, photo or other image assigned by the sender displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox and transmitting said data.

12. The process of claim 9 further comprising the step of generating data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from senders known or suspected of being fraudulent are displayed with a fraud logo displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox and transmitting said data.

13. The process of claim 9 further comprising the steps of generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender columnnd and displaying in said sender column adjacent to any email sent by a branded/certified sender a corporate logo or trademark designated by a branded sender instead of the sender'"'"'s name, and generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and to display in said sender column adjacent any email sent by an entity on a white list of an operator of said client computer a picture, logo or other graphic design designated by said white list sender or a generic white list logo if said white list sender has not designated a logo, picture or other graphic design, and generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and which causes said client computer to display in said sender column adjacent to any email known to be fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent a fraud logo

14. The process of claim 9 further comprising the steps of generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and for displaying any email sent by a branded/certified sender in a first distinctive way, and generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and to display any email sent by a white list sender in a second distinctive way which is different from said first distinctive way, and generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and display any emails which are known to be fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent in a third distinctive way which is different than said first and second distinctive ways, and which causes any emails which are not in any of the first three categories described above to be displayed in a way that is different than any of said first, second or third distinctive ways.

15. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause said computer to perform the following process:

receiving data packets containing data defining inbound emails addressed to various email subscribers and storing said inbound emails in such a way that each subscriber'"'"'s emails can be retrieved on command;

receiving requests from users to display their emails;

fetching the emails addressed to the user who made the request and which have not already been downloaded by the user;

determining the category of each email and determining which emails must have attention called to them in predetermined ways;

generating data for transmission to a web browser executing on a client computer operated by the user which requested his or her emails to be displayed, said data structured to cause said web browser to cooperate with an operating system of said client computer to display emails addressed to said user in such a way that emails in certain categories have the user'"'"'s attention called to them in different ways for each category, and transmitting said data.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 further having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which cause the following steps to be performed by a computer executing said further stored computer-readable instructions:

generating first data for transmission to said web browser to control said web browser to cause a client computer to display an inbox in which emails from branded senders are displayed with the corporate logo or other trademark or logo owned or licensed by the sender displayed in the sender column and transmitting said first data to said client computer;

generating second data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from white list senders are displayed with the logo, graphic, photo or other image assigned by the sender displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox and transmitting said second data to said client computer;

generating third data to control said web browser to display an inbox in which emails from senders known or suspected of being fraudulent are displayed with a fraud logo displayed to the left or right of the sender column with the sender'"'"'s name displayed in the sender column of said inbox and transmitting said third data to said client computer.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 further having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which cause the following steps to be performed by a computer executing said further stored computer-readable instructions:

generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and for displaying any email sent by a branded/certified sender in a first distinctive way;

generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and to display any email sent by a white list sender in a second distinctive way which is different from said first distinctive way;

generating and sending data to a web browser on a client computer which causes said client computer to display an email inbox with a sender column and display any emails which are known to be fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent in a third distinctive way which is different than said first and second distinctive ways, and and said data causing said client computer to display in said inbox any emails which are not in any of the first three categories described herein to be displayed in a way that is different than any of said first, second or third distinctive ways.

18. A client computer comprising:

a hard disk or other bulk storage media;

a display;

one or more input devices;

at least random access memory for storing programs to be executed and data;

a physical layer interface circuit to couple said web mail server to a wide area network;

a central processing unit coupled to said bulk storage media, said display, said one or more input devices, said physical layer interface circuit and said random access memory and programmed to execute an operating system to control certain aspects of the operation of said client computer and programmed with one or more application or other computer programs;

and wherein said one or more other computer programs includes a protocol stack of one or more programs to interface said client computer to said wide area network via said physical layer interface circuit;

and wherein a web browser application program executed by said central processing unit is stored on said bulk storage media and is structured to control said central processing unit to execute a web browsing function to retrieve pages from servers on said wide area network including retrieving pages from a web mail server which define the appearance of an email inbox and shows a list view of emails directed to a user of said client computer, and for generating function calls and arguments for transmission to an application programming interface of a rendering program in said operating system which will cause said rendering program to cause said display to display said inbox and said list view of emails, said web browser application also controlling said central processing unit to publish events that indicate things that are happening with respect to said web browser;

and wherein said one or more application programs includes a value added program which controls said central processing unit to perform a value added process comprised of the following functions;

A) monitor events published by said web browser to determine when said web mail browser has logged into a web mail server upon which a user of said client computer has an email account and has requested and received a web page displaying said user'"'"'s emails;

B) fetching at least the header of each email defined on the web page requested by said web mail browser;

C) determining whether each email is in a first category as being from a branded or certifed sender, or a second category as being from a sender on a white list of the recipient of said email or is in a third category as being fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent;

D) redirecting function calls and arguments sent by said web mail browser to an application programming interface of a rendering program in said operating system to said value added process, and using the category of each email to determine how said email is to be displayed and modifying said function calls and/or arguments and/or adding new function calls and arguments to cause emails in said first category to be displayed in a first way, and to cause emails in said second category to be displayed in a second way, and to cause emails in said third category to be displayed in a third way and to cause all other emails to be displayed in a fourth way.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the value added program is structured to cause step C to be performed by performing the following steps:

for each email, determining if said email has a stemp, and fetching said stemp if said stemp is not in the information about said email already fetched in step B and decrypting said stemp;

for each email, recalculating a digital signature of said email by inputting each part of said email which was originally input to a digital signature process carried out after said email was originally composed and fetching from said web mail server any parts needed to recalculate said digital signature which were not fetched in step B;

sending a decrypted stemp and recalculated digital signature for each email for which decrypting of a stemp and recalculation of a digital signature occurred to an assignee server with a request to determine if said email is fraudulent;

sending sender email address or member number or other identifying information of each email to an assignee server with a request to send back status information on said email;

receiving from said assignee server status information about each said email and whether it is fraudulent;

using said status information to determine in which category each email belongs and using said category information to make said determination as to how each email is to be displayed.

20. A process carried out in a client computer comprising the steps:

A) monitoring events published by a web browser program executing on said client computer to determine when said web mail browser has logged into a web mail server upon which a user of said client computer has an email account and has requested and received data defining a web page displaying said user'"'"'s emails;

B) fetching at least the header of each email listed on the web page requested by said web mail browser;

C) determining whether each email is in a first category as being from a branded or certifed sender, or a second category as being from a sender on a white list of the recipient of said email or is in a third category as being fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent;

D) redirecting and processing function calls and arguments sent by said web mail browser to an application programming interface of a rendering program which is part of an operating system which controls operations of said client computer, said redirecting and processing carried out to implement a value added process by using the category of each email determined in step C to determine how said email is to be displayed and modifying said function calls and/or arguments and/or adding new function calls and arguments to cause emails in said first category to be displayed in a first way, and to cause emails in said second category to be displayed in a second way, and to cause emails in said third category to be displayed in a third way and to cause all other emails to be displayed in a fourth way.

21. The process of claim 20 wherein step C further comprises the steps:

for each email listed on said web page requested by said web mail browser, determining if said email has a stemp, and fetching said stemp if said stemp is not in the information about said email already fetched in step B and decrypting said stemp;

for each email, recalculating a digital signature of said email by inputting each part of said email which was originally input to a digital signature process carried out after said email was originally composed and fetching from said web mail server any parts needed to recalculate said digital signature which were not fetched in step B;

sending a decrypted stemp and recalculated digital signature for each email for which decrypting of a stemp and recalculation of a digital signature occurred to an assignee server with a request to determine if said email is fraudulent;

sending an email address of a sender of each email or member number or other identifying information of a sender of each email to an assignee server with a request to send back status information on said sender of said email;

receiving from said assignee server status information about a sender of each said email and whether it is fraudulent;

using said status information to determine in which category each email belongs and using said category information to make said determination in step D as to how each email is to be displayed.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 further having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a clietn computer cause said client computer to perform the following steps:

for each email listed on said web page requested by said web mail browser, determining if said email has a stemp, and fetching said stemp if said stemp is not in the information about said email already fetched in step B and decrypting said stemp;

for each email, recalculating a digital signature of said email by inputting each part of said email which was originally input to a digital signature process carried out after said email was originally composed and fetching from said web mail server any parts needed to recalculate said digital signature which were not fetched in step B;

sending a decrypted stemp and recalculated digital signature for each email for which decrypting of a stemp and recalculation of a digital signature occurred to an assignee server with a request to determine if said email is fraudulent;

sending an email address of a sender of each email or member number or other identifying information of a sender of each email to an assignee server with a request to send back status information on said sender of said email;

receiving from said assignee server status information about a sender of each said email and whether it is fraudulent;

using said status information to determine in which category each email belongs and using said category information to make said determination in step D as to how each email is to be displayed.

22. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which when executed by a client computer having a web browser, and operating system and a protocol stack to implement a protocol for communication over the internet and having a physical layer interface to the internet, cause said computer to perform the following steps:

A) monitoring events published by a web browser program executing on said client computer to determine when said web mail browser has logged into a web mail server upon which a user of said client computer has an email account and has requested and received data defining a web page displaying said user'"'"'s emails;

B) fetching at least the header of each email listed on the web page requested by said web mail browser;

C) determining whether each email is in a first category as being from a branded or certifed sender, or a second category as being from a sender on a white list of the recipient of said email or is in a third category as being fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent;

D) redirecting and processing function calls and arguments sent by said web mail browser to an application programming interface of a rendering program which is part of an operating system which controls operations of said client computer, said redirecting and processing carried out to implement a value added process by using the category of each email determined in step C to determine how said email is to be displayed and modifying said function calls and/or arguments and/or adding new function calls and arguments to cause emails in said first category to be displayed in a first way, and to cause emails in said second category to be displayed in a second way, and to cause emails in said third category to be displayed in a third way and to cause all other emails to be displayed in a fourth way.

24. A client computer comprising:

a hard disk or other bulk storage media;

a display;

one or more input devices;

at least random access memory for storing programs to be executed and data;

a physical layer interface circuit to couple said web mail server to a wide area network;

a central processing unit coupled to said bulk storage media, said display, said one or more input devices, said physical layer interface circuit and said random access memory and programmed to execute an operating system to control certain aspects of the operation of said client computer and programmed with one or more application or other computer programs;

and wherein said one or more other computer programs includes a protocol stack of one or more programs to interface said client computer to said wide area network via said physical layer interface circuit;

and wherein one of said one or more application or other computer programs is an email client application program executed by said central processing unit and stored on said bulk storage media, said email client application programmed structured to control said central processing unit to execute an email retrieval function to retrieve emails from an email server operated by an internet service provider and coupled to said wide area network and for generating function calls and arguments for transmission to a rendering system of said operating system which define the appearance of an email inbox and shows a list view of emails directed to a user of said client computer, and for sending said function calls and arguments to said rendering program in said operating system so as to cause said rendering program to cause said display to display said inbox and said list view of emails, said email client application also controlling said central processing unit to publish events that indicate things that are happening with respect to said email client;

and wherein said one or more application programs includes a value added program which controls said central processing unit to perform a value added process comprised of the following functions;

A) monitor events published by said email client application to determine when said email client has logged into said email server upon which a user of said client computer has an email account and has received said user'"'"'s emails therefrom;

B) fetching at least the header of each email downloaded from said email server;

C) determining whether each email which was downloaded from said email server is in a first category as being from a branded or certifed sender, or a second category as being from a sender on a white list of the recipient of said email or is in a third category as being fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent;

D) redirecting function calls and arguments sent by said email client application to an application programming interface of a rendering program in said operating system to said value added process, and using the category of each email to determine how said email is to be displayed and modifying said function calls and/or arguments and/or adding new function calls and arguments to cause emails in said first category to be displayed in a first way, and to cause emails in said second category to be displayed in a second way, and to cause emails in said third category to be displayed in a third way and to cause all other emails to be displayed in a fourth way.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the value added program is structured to cause step C to be performed by performing the following steps:

for each email, determining if said email has a stemp, and fetching said stemp if said stemp is not in the information about said email already fetched in step B and decrypting said stemp;

for each email, recalculating a digital signature of said email by inputting each part of said email which was originally input to a digital signature process carried out after said email was originally composed and fetching from said web mail server any parts needed to recalculate said digital signature which were not fetched in step B;

sending a decrypted stemp and recalculated digital signature for each email for which decrypting of a stemp and recalculation of a digital signature occurred to an assignee server with a request to determine if said email is fraudulent;

sending an email address of a sender of each email or a member number of a sender of each email or other identifying information of each email to an assignee server with a request to send back status information on status of a sender of each said email;

receiving from said assignee server status information about a sender of each said email and whether said email is fraudulent;

using said status information to determine in which category each email belongs and using said category information to make said determination in step D as to how each email is to be displayed.

26. A process carried out in a client computer comprising the steps:

A) monitoring events published by said email client application to determine when said email client has logged into said email server upon which a user of said client computer has an email account and has received said user'"'"'s emails therefrom;

B) fetching at least a header of each email downloaded from said email server;

C) determining whether each email which was downloaded from said email server is in a first category as being from a branded or certifed sender, or a second category as being from a sender on a white list of the recipient of said email or is in a third category as being fraudulent or suspected to be fraudulent;

D) redirecting function calls and arguments sent by said email client application to an application programming interface of a rendering program in said operating system to said value added process, and using the category of each email to determine how said email is to be displayed and modifying said function calls and/or arguments and/or adding new function calls and arguments to cause emails in said first category to be displayed in a first way, and to cause emails in said second category to be displayed in a second way, and to cause emails in said third category to be displayed in a third way and to cause all other emails to be displayed in a fourth way.

27. The process of claim 26 wherein step C further comprises the steps:

for each email downloaded from said email server, determining if said email has a stemp, and fetching said stemp if said stemp is not in the information about said email already fetched in step B and decrypting said stemp;

for each email, recalculating a digital signature of said email by inputting each part of said email which was originally input to a digital signature process carried out after said email was originally composed and fetching from said web mail server any parts needed to recalculate said digital signature which were not fetched in step B;

sending a decrypted stemp and recalculated digital signature for each email for which decrypting of a stemp and recalculation of a digital signature occurred to an assignee server with a request to determine if said email is fraudulent;

sending an email address of a sender of each email or member number or other identifying information of a sender of each email to an assignee server with a request to send back status information on said sender of said email;

receiving from said assignee server status information about a sender of each said email and whether it is fraudulent;

using said status information to determine in which category each email belongs and using said category information to make said determination in step D as to how each email is to be displayed.

28. A process carried out in a computer:

A) receiving data pertaining to incoming emails addressed to a recipient;

B) determining whether each said email is authentic in any way;

C) determining a category into which each email falls based upon the sender of said email; and

D) generating data to cause a computer to call attention to each email addressed to a recipient in a different way depending upon into which category said email fell.

29. The process of claim 28 wherein step A comprises receiving in a recipient'"'"'s client computer an email with its main body and header transmitted without encryption and with a digital signature therein, and wherein step B is carried out by performing the following steps:

sending a request from said client computer to a domain name server of the domain from which said email purports to be from requesting transmission to said recipient client computer of a public key that is part of a public-private key pair the private key of which was used to generate said digital signature to encrypt a hash of predetermined parts of said email;

receiving said public key and using it to decrypt said digital signature to derive the hash which was encrypted into said digital signature;

using the same parts of said email that were previously used on the sender side of the transaction to generate said hash, and, using the same hashing algorithm, generating a hash;

comparing said hash to the hash decrypted from said digital signature, and generating data indicating the email is authenticated if he two hash values match and generating data indicating the email is not authentic if the two hash values do not match.

30. The process of claim 28 wherein step A comprises receiving in an inbound mail server an email with its main body and header transmitted without encryption and with a digital signature therein, and wherein step B is carried out by performing the following steps:

sending a request from said inbound mail server to a domain name server of the domain from which said email purports to be from requesting transmission to said inbound mail server of a public key that is part of a public-private key pair the private key of which was used to generate said digital signature to encrypt a hash of predetermined parts of said email;

receiving said public key and using it to decrypt said digital signature to derive the hash which was encrypted into said digital signature;

using the same parts of said email that were previously used on the sender side of the transaction to generate said hash, and, using the same hashing algorithm, generating a hash;

comparing said hash to the hash decrypted from said digital signature, and generating data indicating the email is authenticated if he two hash values match and generating data indicating the email is not authentic if the two hash values do not match.

31. The process of claim 28 wherein step D is carried out by retrieving a corporate logo for each email which is determined to be authentic and which is determined to be in a category as being from a branded sender, said corporate logo being an image or other graphic which said branded sender designated to be displayed with its emails, and generating data which causes a client computer to generate a display which displays a list view of emails and includes said corporate logos in the sender column of each email which is authentic and from a branded sender.

32. The process of claim 28 wherein step D is carried out by retrieving a white list logo or other image for each email which is determined to be authentic and which is determined to be in a category as being from a member of a white list associated with the addressee of said email, said white list logo or other image being an image or other graphic which said white list sender designated to be displayed with its emails, and generating data which causes a client computer to generate a display which displays a list view of emails and includes said white list logos or other images in the sender column or next to the sender column of each email which is authentic and from a white list sender.

33. The process of claim 28 wherein step D is carried out by retrieving a fraud logo for each email which is determined to not be authentic, and generating data which causes a client computer to generate a display which displays a list view of emails and includes said fraud logo in the sender column or next to the sender column of each email which has been determined to not be authentic.

34. The process of claim 28 wherein step D is carried out by generating data to cause a client computer to display a list view of emails addressed to a recipient operator of said client computer with emails in a first category from branded senders displayed in a first color, and emails in a second category from white list senders displayed in a second color and email in a third category which are emails which have been determined to be fraudulent displayed in a third color, and all other emails not in the first, second or third categories displayed in a fourth color.

35. The process of claim 28 wherein step D is carried out by generating data to cause a client computer to display a list view of emails addressed to a recipient operator of said client computer and to play an audible sound which is different for each different category as a mouse cursor is passed over emails of each category.

36. The process of claim 28 further comprising the steps:

detecting when a mouse cursor is located over an email;

determining the sender of said email;

looking up data about said sender and displaying said data in a display which appears when said mouse cursor is placed over said email.

37. A client computer comprising:

a display, input device and pointing device, internet interface circuit and memory;

a central processing unit coupled to said display, input device, pointing device and memory and software means to control operations of said client computer and enable web browsing on said internet and email client operations; and

value added software for controlling said central procesisng unit to determine if emails addressed to an operator of said client computer are authentic and for controlling said central processing unit to determine which of several categories each email falls into and controlling siad central processing unit to draw attention to emails in each different category in different ways.

38. A client computer comprising:

a display, input device and pointing device, internet interface circuit and memory;

a central processing unit coupled to said display, input device, pointing device and memory and software means to control operations of said client computer and enable web browsing on said internet and email client operations; and

value added software means for determining if emails addressed to an operator of said client computer are authentic and for determining which of several categories each email falls into and controlling siad central processing unit to draw attention to emails in each different category in different ways.

39. A web mail server computer comprising:

a hard disk or other bulk storage media;

a display;

one or more input devices;

at least random access memory for storing programs to be executed and data;

a physical layer interface circuit to couple said web mail server to a wide area network;

a central processing unit coupled to said bulk storage media, said display, said one or more input devices, said physical layer interface circuit and said random access memory and programmed to execute an operating system to control certain aspects of the operation of said web mail server computer and programmed with one or more application or other computer programs;

and wherein said one or more other computer programs includes a protocol stack of one or more programs to interface said web mail server computer to said wide area network via said physical layer interface circuit;

and wherein a application program executed by said central processing unit is stored on said bulk storage media and is structured to control said central processing unit to execute a web mail program which performs the following functions;

receiving from said protocol stack data a defining inbound emails addressed to various email subscribers and storing said inbound emails in such a way that each subscriber'"'"'s emails can be retrieved on command;

receiving from said protocol stack data defining requests from users to display their emails;

fetching the emails addressed to the user who made the request and which have not already been downloaded by the user;

determining the category of each email and determining which emails must have attention called to them in predetermined ways;

generating data for transmission via said protocol stack and said physical layer interface circuit to a web browser executing on a client computer operated by the user which requested his or her emails to be displayed, said data structured to cause said web browser to cooperate with an operating system of said client computer to display emails addressed to said user in such a way that emails in certain categories have the user'"'"'s attention called to them in different ways for each category, and transmitting said data.