Omnivorous Surfer

Ever need to know that someone actually opened the email message you sent? Most web-based email providers don't have a return receipt feature, and some don't allow you to run messages through a local client like Outlook or Thunderbird. In looking for an easy solution to that problem for #2 son this evening, I found SpyPig.

"SpyPig is a simple email tracking system that sends you a notification by email when the recipient opens your message. It works with virtually all modern email programs: Outlook, Eudora, Yahoo Email, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL Email and many others." Nothing to install, no registration required, and of course, it's FREE.

I checked it out and found that it is simple and it works. Get your message ready first. Then go to SpyPig and enter your email address and the message title. SpyPig will use that to create an image for you to paste somewhere in your message. Don't worry, you don't have to use a picture of a pig...though you could if you wanted to; one of the options is a blank image. I tried it and found that it worked like a charm.

The one requirement that could cause it to fail is that both the sender and receiver must use HTML email, not plain text or rich text format.