Email 101 - The Basics
Types of Email Accounts
Choosing Your Web-based Email Provider
Signing Up For An Account
Using Your Account
Checking Your Email While Traveling
Email Usage and Etiquette
Avoiding Spam

Email 101 - The Basics

Whether you're a homebody or a road warrior at some time or another you'll probably find yourself needing to use email while away from your home computer.  This course focuses on understanding and setting up a web-based email account. 

What is Email?

From http://www.internetemaillist.com/ (no longer a live site):

"Think of email as an electronic post office. You can send letters, short messages and even documents and multimedia files to any person in the world as long as that person has an email account too. There are many advantages to using email over conventional mail. First of all, sending email does not cost you anything as long as you already have access to the Internet. Also, your message will be delivered in the matter of minutes to any part of the world. This fact alone makes email service much more convenient to use than a post office."

 

Types of Email Accounts

If you want to send or receive email you need to establish an email account for yourself. There are several different types of email accounts. The two most common are:

• web-based email account

• POP3 email account

POP3 email account is what you normally have when you subscribe to personal Internet service.  It usually requires email software to be installed on your computer, like Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora or Pegasus.  You generally access it from one specific computer and your mail is downloaded to that computer. Many Internet service providers now provide web access to these type of accounts.

A web-based email account is most often free, does not require you to have your own Internet account and can be accessed from any computer with a browser and an  Internet connection.  Messages are stored on a remote server.  Disadvantages of web-based email might include: limited storage space for messages and fewer features like message rules, signature files, message forwarding and selecting different sized text, etc.

Choosing Your Web-Based Email Provider

There are thousands of web sites that provide free email services.  The hard part is deciding which one to choose.  Points to consider are:

1. Reliability of the service (how long has the service been in business?)

2. Do they have a good reputation for maintaining "24/7" access?

3. What special features do they offer that are particularly useful to you?

Reliability of Service and Access

Some of the more well know services are in fact ones that have been around the longest.  This is good if you are worried about your service closing down and having to notify everyone that you have a new email address.  Long time providers of web based email include Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. A hot newcomer is Gmail by Google. How these services rate in terms of reliability and access has varied over the years.  One place to read comments by actual users about various services is at http://www.emailaddresses.com/email_web.htm   Besides web based email this site provides information about other email topics. 

Features to Consider

When you choose an email provider it often helps to understand the features that are available. This will allow you to pick a provider that works best for your email use.  Some common features include:  

• Address Book - Most e-mail programs have an address book where you can store names and e-mail addresses of people you send -mail to often.
• Auto-responder - this feature allows you to send an automatic reply to people who send you e-mail. This is useful when you are on vacation or you have a mailbox set up just to send information back to the sender.
• Attachments - most programs allow you to send and receive files that you attach to your e-mail such as images, sounds or programs.  Large attachments can fill up your mail box in a hurry and can take a long time to download. They can also contain software that can damage your computer called viruses. So be careful about using attachments. Don't ever open an attachment from someone you don't know. It might even be a good idea to call them and ask what the attachment is before opening it.
• Clickable URL and e-mail addresses - some programs allow you to click or double-click on URLs in messages, which opens the URL in your browser, or click on e-mail addresses contained in messages, to open up a new e-mail window.
• Consolidation - some e-mail programs allow you to handle mail from several e-mail accounts in one convenient place.
• Custom signatures - most programs let you have one or more standard signatures that get automatically attached to the end of your e-mails
• Discussion list threading - a few programs allow you to manage discussion lists
• Draft Box - a place to store e-mail that is still in progress or not yet ready to send.
• Filters - this feature allows you to block e-mail from people you don't want to hear from including unsolicited advertisements called SPAM. You can also have mail automatically filed into folders.
• Folders - some programs allow you to store your e-mail in convenient folders that you set up to file your e-mail in (i.e., personal, work, mom, humor, etc.)
• Forwarding - All programs let you forward email to someone else. Some will automatically send email with a particular subject, on to another email address.
• Free trial offer - sometimes you can try out the software for a limited time before having to purchase it.
• Groups - Most e-mail programs allow you to set up groups of e-mail address to send e-mail to such as a group of co-workers or friends.
• HTML compatible - some browsers can display HTML, others only can display unformatted text. MIME HTML (MHTML) messages actually include graphics, Java applets, and other objects.
• Languages - some programs are available in several languages
• Multiple accounts - some programs will allow you to switch between several accounts
• Newsgroups - some e-mail programs let you read and write to newsgroups.
• Offline editing - most programs will let you write, store and file e-mail offline so you only need to be connected to the Internet when sending and receiving e-mail.
• Scheduling - some programs let you designate when an e-mail will be sent. This can be used to send reminders to yourself or others about meetings, etc. Many programs allow you to set up a connection schedule which allows your computer to check for e-mail on a regular basis.
• Spell checker - a few programs have spell checkers built into them.
• POP3, HTTP, IMAP4 & SMTP support - protocols for sending e-mail over the Internet

(Definitions provided by http://www.about-the-web.com/shtml/email.shtml)

Email Providers

To locate a web-based email service that provides the features you can go to http://www.fepg.net/search.html.  Check the appropriate features and then have it search their database to find services that match your criteria.

Or check out the providers listed at http://www.emailaddresses.com/email_web.htm

Or choose from this brief list of providers: 

• Gmail - http://tinyurl.com/3pzop If you love Google then try their email service. It is getting rave reviews and offers LOTS of storage space for messages.  

• Mail.com http://www.mail.com (gives you a choice of domain extensions, seems to ask for more information than necessary, good selection of features, can pay to upgrade for such things as no ads, more space, etc) 

• Yahoo Mail http://mail.yahoo.com (well known and a good rep) 

• Windows Live ®Hotmail http://login.live.com (not necessarily the best but probably the best known)

Signing up for an Account

Terms of Use
All free email providers require you to read and accept extensive terms of agreement.  You CAN read them BUT the bottom line is either you accept the terms or you don't get an email account.

Email Addresses

• An email address is like your postal address.  It's how people know where to send you mail.  

• Email addresses have two parts separated by the @ sign.  For example: yourname@webemail.com.   To the right of the @ sign is the name of the email provider, such a yahoo.com or hotmail.com.  Your "user name" is to the left of the @ sign. 

Selecting a User Name

• Have a user name and some alternatives in mind before you start the online registration process.  Millions of people use these services and your first choice user name may already be taken.  

• Consider that anyone in the world can see your email address.  Make sure your user name isn't something that will embarrass you.  While email addresses are easier to change than your boyfriend's name tattooed on your arm it is inconvenient to notify everyone that you have a new address.

• You will have to type your email address frequently - make it simple to type and easy to remember.  It is not necessary to use capital letters.

Selecting a Password

• All accounts require a password.  Having one in mind before you register will save time.  Again, remember to keep it short, simple and easy to type and remember.  Pay attention to the instructions about the number of characters required, where you can use numbers, or whether it is case sensitive (does it recognize capital letters?)

• Most services provide help if you forget your password.  When you set up your account they ask you to supply a question (or choose from a list of questions) and an answer that only you will know.  If you forget your account password they will prompt you with this question and IF you supply the EXACT correct answer that you gave them originally they will either let you into the account or give you your password.  REMEMBER:  the answer to the question SHOULD NOT be the your password!!

Signing Up For Freebies

Most free email accounts will invite you to be listed in their email directory (so "friends" can find you) or ask if you want to subscribe to numerous newsletters.  I advise using caution and generally avoid signing up for anything for fear I will be deluged with SPAM and newsletters that I can NEVER figure out how to stop!

 

Using Your Account

• Remember the web site address of WHERE you have your email account.  This is what you type into the browser each time you want to check your email or send email.

• The account information you MUST know to use your account:

Web site that issued your account:  http://www.yahoo.com or the more direct link http://mail.yahoo.com

Your email address or user name:  yourname@yahoo.com

Your password: ******* (For privacy the password doesn't show when you type it.) 

• If you don't use your account regularly it may be "purged" from the system and you will have to reapply.  Required usage can vary from once a month to once every 90 days.  Check your account for details.

• Most accounts have many of the same basic components.

  • Log in screen for user name and password.  (ALWAYS remember to log out and close the browser when you are using a public computer.)

  • Inbox or folder for new incoming mail.

  • Sent folder for outgoing mail (you often have an option to save a copy of each message you send)

  • Address books to store frequently used email addresses.

  • Options - where you can customize your account.  This is where you might indicate you want each message to which you reply to include the original message.  Also this is where you can create a signature file, set up your account to pick up email from another account, send out an auto respond message, etc.

Checking Your Email While Traveling

• Now that you have a web based email account you can check for email or send messages from any computer that has Internet access

• AOL subscribers can check their email at:  http://www.aol.com

• Compuserve subscribers can check their email at:  http://www.compuserve.com

• If you want to pick up mail from a NON-WEB-BASED email account (POP3 account) go to Mail2Web http://www.mail2web.com 

Email Usage and Etiquette 

• Don't type in all capital letters - it implies you are shouting and is considered rude. 

• Use emoticons to express your feeling more effectively than mere words. Find examples of commonly used emoticons :-) at Emoticons and Smileys - Showing Emotions on the Net 

• Abbreviations are frequently used in email communications and texting. Some of the more common abbreviations can be found at NetLingo http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm

• Ask permission before forwarding someone's email - especially if you are sharing it with a group or listserv. 

• Use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) feature when you send information to a group of people. This feature prevents others from seeing who you mail to, preserves their privacy, and prevents the potential misuse of their email address. 

Spam Defense

 

     Tips from http://about.com

Don't Use Your Primary Email Address to Sign Up for Anything

From Heinz Tschabitscher,Your Guide to Email. http://email.about.com/cs/spamfightingtips/qt/et021101.htm

Many Web sites require you to sign up to access their services. Often, you need to provide a valid email address (that your password will be sent to, for example) during the sign-up process.

There's nothing wrong with that. But you never know what will happen to the email address you give to the site.

This is why it's a good idea

•  not to use your primary email address when you sign up for some Web site.  Instead use:

• a disposable email address instead,

• an account at one of the free Web-based email services, or

• another secondary email address that is not critical.

Watch Out for Those Checkboxes

From Heinz Tschabitscher,Your Guide to Email.

http://email.about.com/cs/spamfightingtips/qt/et022102.htm

When you sign up for something on the Web, there is often some innocent-looking text at the end of the form saying something like: "YES, I want to be contacted by select third parties concerning products I might be interested in." Quite often, the checkbox next to that text is already checked and your email address will be given to you don't know who.

To avoid that,

• look closely at every form you fill on the Web and
• make sure all relevant checkboxes are not ticked
   

Sometimes, the text will read: "NO, don't give away my email address," and the checkbox will consequently be unchecked by default. Check it.

Disguise Your Email Address in Newsgroups, Forums, Chat

From Heinz Tschabitscher,Your Guide to Email. http://email.about.com/cs/spamfightingtips/qt/et012701.htm

Spammers use special programs that extract email addresses from chat rooms, web sites -- forums in particular -- and Usenet postings.

To avoid ending on a spammer's mailing list when you post to a web forum or a newsgroup, you can

• disguise your email address by inserting something obvious into it.

If my email address is email.guide@about.com, I can modify it to read email.guide@ABOdelete_thisUT.com, for example. I will not get spam at that email address since all messages to it will bounce, but people who want to send me an email can still do so after they remove "delete_this" from the address.

Obscuring your email address does make sending mail a bit more difficult. But this is not always a disadvantage.

Don't Unsubscribe From a Spammer's List

From Heinz Tschabitscher,Your Guide to Email. http://email.about.com/library/daily/et/01/01/bl_et012201.htm

Email address encoding tools take the obfuscation a step further. While primarily designed for use on web sites, you can also use addresses encoded with such tools on web forums or web-based usenet, for example.

Once you have identified a message as spam, don't believe a single word in it, least of all any unsubscription information it contains.

No spammer has ever been seen removing an address from their list. If you try to unsubscribe, the best that can happen is nothing. If you are unlucky, you'll likely get more spam afterwards, since you have verified that you do indeed receive messages at that email address.

(Interestingly, spammers often do not care if their messages reach anybody, though.)

Assume Mail from Unknown Senders is Spam

From Heinz Tschabitscher,Your Guide to Email. http://email.about.com/cs/spamfightingtips/qt/et042701.htm

People who know you do not spam you. They may terrorize you, but they never spam you. Usually, these people are in your email client's address book.

If they are not there yet, you should probably add them, because such an address book of everyone you know can be a helpful tool to identify spam.

If you do not usually receive mail from strangers, you can assume that

• every message not from somebody in your address book is spam and
• filter such message to the Junk Mail folder.

Now and then, you should check this folder for important messages you may have missed, maybe because somebody's email address has changed.

Building on this idea of only allowing known senders, challenge/response spam filters render your email virtually spam free with very little to no maintenance.

Don't Believe Spammers When They Say "You Requested"

From Heinz Tschabitscher,Your Guide to Email. http://email.about.com/od/spamfightingtips/qt/et091301_p.htm 

There are two words that you will find in almost any unsolicited bulk email: you requested.

Don't believe it.

Spammers count on your uncertainty, and that in doubt you will rather not take any action and complain about the spam.

Chances are, however, that

• you did not request anything,

especially if

• there is nothing about the company or person sending you bulk email you recognize, or if
• the service offered does not sound like something you would ever be interested in or request.

©2005 About, Inc. All rights reserved. 

 

 

Questions about Email Basics? 
Contact Glenna R. Rhodes, 208-384-4442 or Reference Desk, 208-384-4076.