E-mail, short for electronic mail and often abbreviated to e-mail, email or simply mail, is a store and forward method of composing, sending, receiving and storing messages over electronic communication systems. The term "e-mail" (as a noun or verb) applies both to the Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and to X.400 systems, and to intranet systems allowing users within one organization to e-mail each other. Intranets may use the Internet protocols or X.400 protocols for internal e-mail service supporting workgroup collaboration. E-mail is often used to deliver bulk unsolicited messages, or "spam", but filter programs exist which can automatically delete some or most of these, depending on the situation.
Different kinds of Email
What are all these "free email" services I see on the Internet and just what is the difference between these and the email account I have now?
There are four kinds of email:
ISP based email
Juno
Internet based
Forwarding
ISP based email
-- The first, the most basic, and what you are now using is most likely ISP based email. ISP (Internet Service Provider) email is the email that you get from the service you use (like AccessFlorida.net or the much more expensive other guys like AOL, Earthlink, AT&T, etc.) to access the Internet. This kind of email service requires that you set up your computer to check this account. Specifying and setting up such things as a POP3 (simply means Post Office Protocol) your incoming mail server and a SMTP (Single mail Transfer protocol) your outgoing mail server. (See the tutorial regarding setting up your email.)
Drawbacks - If you wanted to check your email and you were not at home or at your terminal at work, you would have to change the email set up on the computer you are on, just to check your mail and then change it back to the original user's configuration. Easy to check at home or work, very troublesome to check from somewhere else. This email account is tied to the service you use. Your employer may also assign you an email account. In either case, if you change ISP's or change jobs, your email account is lost. You now need to get a new email account and notify all friends and family of your address change. Always a hassle.
Juno was the best deal I know of if you just want email and not bother with the Internet. It used to be free, now they charge a small fee. You get a local phone number to dial (no long distance charges). The only requirements are that you own a computer with a modem and have a telephone. You can get the software you need to use Juno from someone else who uses the service, from Juno's website or by phone, from Juno direct, they'll mail you a copy of the software via snail mail (that's what email users call the US Post Office). Once you have the software, install it on your computer. The program sets itself up, and all you do is click on "check mail" and the system dials up Juno's service and downloads your mail. Same with sending. After you have written an email, click on send, and your computer dials into the local number and off goes your email. Your phone is only tied up for the brief time it takes to log on and process your mail, usually just a minute or two. This is too good to be true, you ask! Well, you will have to put up with the ads (that's how it's paid for, it's advertiser supported) and you cannot attach files which means that if you want to see the latest picture of your new baby granddaughter, you'll have to wait for the snail mail.
Internet based This is the "free" email that you see plastered all across the Internet. Microsoft offers it (theirs is called Hotmail). Most of the Internet search engines offer free email accounts (like Yahoo!). Netscape also offers free email. So what's the benefit, if I already have an email account? Built in virus protection, for one.
Other than that, depends on how you use your email. If you only check your email occasionally, and almost always need to check it from just one location like home or work, this is probably not for you. If, however you live in a home with lots of other email users (like my wife and two kids), this is a way that everyone can have their own email address. If you have a need to check your email from somewhere else, this is a great tool. With Internet based email, you can check your email from any computer, anywhere and at anytime, without having to go through a change in the computer's setup. It is yours, free, for life. You'll never need to notify all your emailers that you've changed your email address (again). You can even check your mail at the public library. You simply go to your email service's home page, login and there's your mail. Ready to be read, replied to or forwarded. Attachments -- yes! Most allow you to attach files and graphics (like photos of grandkids). Sounds like a hassle -- Will I need to check each and everyone of these different accounts? This can be handled in a couple of different ways, depending on how you use your email. If you have multiple accounts and you check your email from the same place all the time, say from home or from the office, then configuring you computer's email program is the way to go. Microsoft's Outlook Express will check multiple accounts and v5 specifically support's Microsoft's Internet based email, Hotmail. Many Internet based email services now offer a way to check your other email accounts via their website. What does this mean? It means that you visit your brother-in-law in upstate New York. You ask if you can check your email? Your skeptical in-law watches in amazement as you not only check your home email, you also check your office email and your Internet email, print out what you need and are off his computer in just a couple minutes. He now thinks you are an Internet guru.
If you do not wish to go through the hassle of setting up either your own terminal for multiple accounts or an Internet based account, then maybe a Forwarding account is the way to go. You get a permanent Internet based email address, Bigfoot offers a free, lifetime service where your bigfoot email address automatically forwards your email to any up to five different accounts you specify. This means that your mail will be delivered to any other email address you want. You can have it go to your home email account, plus your office account and even to your brother-in-law's in upstate New York all at the same time, automatically. And you can change it at any time, from any computer that has access to the Internet.
Different kinds of Email
What are all these "free email" services I see on the Internet and just what is the difference between these and the email account I have now?
There are four kinds of email:
ISP based email
Juno
Internet based
Forwarding
ISP based email
-- The first, the most basic, and what you are now using is most likely ISP based email. ISP (Internet Service Provider) email is the email that you get from the service you use (like AccessFlorida.net or the much more expensive other guys like AOL, Earthlink, AT&T, etc.) to access the Internet. This kind of email service requires that you set up your computer to check this account. Specifying and setting up such things as a POP3 (simply means Post Office Protocol) your incoming mail server and a SMTP (Single mail Transfer protocol) your outgoing mail server. (See the tutorial regarding setting up your email.)
Drawbacks - If you wanted to check your email and you were not at home or at your terminal at work, you would have to change the email set up on the computer you are on, just to check your mail and then change it back to the original user's configuration. Easy to check at home or work, very troublesome to check from somewhere else. This email account is tied to the service you use. Your employer may also assign you an email account. In either case, if you change ISP's or change jobs, your email account is lost. You now need to get a new email account and notify all friends and family of your address change. Always a hassle.
Juno was the best deal I know of if you just want email and not bother with the Internet. It used to be free, now they charge a small fee. You get a local phone number to dial (no long distance charges). The only requirements are that you own a computer with a modem and have a telephone. You can get the software you need to use Juno from someone else who uses the service, from Juno's website or by phone, from Juno direct, they'll mail you a copy of the software via snail mail (that's what email users call the US Post Office). Once you have the software, install it on your computer. The program sets itself up, and all you do is click on "check mail" and the system dials up Juno's service and downloads your mail. Same with sending. After you have written an email, click on send, and your computer dials into the local number and off goes your email. Your phone is only tied up for the brief time it takes to log on and process your mail, usually just a minute or two. This is too good to be true, you ask! Well, you will have to put up with the ads (that's how it's paid for, it's advertiser supported) and you cannot attach files which means that if you want to see the latest picture of your new baby granddaughter, you'll have to wait for the snail mail.
Internet based This is the "free" email that you see plastered all across the Internet. Microsoft offers it (theirs is called Hotmail). Most of the Internet search engines offer free email accounts (like Yahoo!). Netscape also offers free email. So what's the benefit, if I already have an email account? Built in virus protection, for one.
Other than that, depends on how you use your email. If you only check your email occasionally, and almost always need to check it from just one location like home or work, this is probably not for you. If, however you live in a home with lots of other email users (like my wife and two kids), this is a way that everyone can have their own email address. If you have a need to check your email from somewhere else, this is a great tool. With Internet based email, you can check your email from any computer, anywhere and at anytime, without having to go through a change in the computer's setup. It is yours, free, for life. You'll never need to notify all your emailers that you've changed your email address (again). You can even check your mail at the public library. You simply go to your email service's home page, login and there's your mail. Ready to be read, replied to or forwarded. Attachments -- yes! Most allow you to attach files and graphics (like photos of grandkids). Sounds like a hassle -- Will I need to check each and everyone of these different accounts? This can be handled in a couple of different ways, depending on how you use your email. If you have multiple accounts and you check your email from the same place all the time, say from home or from the office, then configuring you computer's email program is the way to go. Microsoft's Outlook Express will check multiple accounts and v5 specifically support's Microsoft's Internet based email, Hotmail. Many Internet based email services now offer a way to check your other email accounts via their website. What does this mean? It means that you visit your brother-in-law in upstate New York. You ask if you can check your email? Your skeptical in-law watches in amazement as you not only check your home email, you also check your office email and your Internet email, print out what you need and are off his computer in just a couple minutes. He now thinks you are an Internet guru.
If you do not wish to go through the hassle of setting up either your own terminal for multiple accounts or an Internet based account, then maybe a Forwarding account is the way to go. You get a permanent Internet based email address, Bigfoot offers a free, lifetime service where your bigfoot email address automatically forwards your email to any up to five different accounts you specify. This means that your mail will be delivered to any other email address you want. You can have it go to your home email account, plus your office account and even to your brother-in-law's in upstate New York all at the same time, automatically. And you can change it at any time, from any computer that has access to the Internet.
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