diff --git a/pages/unixtips.md b/pages/unixtips.md
index 4b14250..84b74ad 100644
--- a/pages/unixtips.md
+++ b/pages/unixtips.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ them up on this shell. So here are some things I do on my local machine
 that work here:
 
 To get the shell to tell you when you have new mail, after command
-executions, add this to your `.profile` or your `.kshrc` files 
+executions, add this to your `.profile` or your `$ENV` files 
 (or other shell RC file) in your home directory.
 
 ```
@@ -20,16 +20,16 @@ export MAILCHECK=0
 
 And, if you want, you can have a persistent notification when
 you have un-incorporated mail, or more specifically, when your
-`/var/mail/<username>` isn't empty.
+`$MAIL` (`/var/mail/$USER` by default)` isn't empty.
 
 ```
-PS1="\$([-s /var/mail/`whoami` ] && echo '* ')$PS1"
+PS1="$(test -s $MAIL ] && echo '* ')$PS1"
 ```
 
 For maildir try this:
 
 ```
-PS1="$(test -z "`ls -A $HOME/Maildir/new`" || echo '* ')$PS1"
+PS1="$(test -n "$(ls -A $HOME/Maildir/new)" && echo '* ')$PS1"
 ```
 
 This works in `/bin/ksh`, I can't speak for other shells.