E-Mail
When
choosing a screen name for your e-mail address, remember that there are some
fonts in which certain letters & numerals look alike—mainly the numeral
one, the capital I, and the lower case L. Two of the most commonly used fonts
that are often set as default fonts are guilty of perpetuating this confusion. Times
New Roman – 1 (#), l (small L) – the capital I is easily distinguished. Arial – l (small L), I
(capital i), - the numeral 1 is easily distinguished. Zero
and capital O can confuse folks, too, when viewed in an e-mail address, even
though side-by-side in most fonts the zero will be oval and the capital O will
be round. Your contacts will appreciate not having to guess at your e-mail
address. Tip: The Verdana font eliminates this confusion and thus is a good one
to use when passing along your e-mail address if it contains any
“questionables.”
Having a 2nd “throw away” e-mail address
to use when you have occasion to give out your e-mail address online—such as
when you fill out a survey, sign-up for a newsletter, send an e-card, etc. is
definitely worthwhile. The spam generated will then go to the “throw away”
account.
E-mail accounts are available in various forms and
accessible in various ways. If you use an e-mail client, which is like a
message center or post office, you can view e-mail accounts from different
providers in one place and if you have dial-up service, you can view your
e-mail offline since it’s saved on your hard drive. These are the most
important 2 reasons to use an e-mail client. If you use independent webmail (not associated with your internet
service provider) you will not have to change your e-mail address if you switch
service providers and you can access your e-mail anywhere in the world. These
are the 2 most important features of webmail. All ISPs that I know of provide you with an e-mail account. Some
can only be used with an e-mail client, some use webmail only & cannot be
used with an e-mail client, and some can be used both ways. But not many ISPs
allow you to continue to use the e-mail address you got when you signed up with
them if you discontinue their service. Juno and AOL are exceptions, (and there
may be others)—you can continue to use their webmail free with minimal features
provided. At one time they didn’t allow this.
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You don’t need a computer to have a webmail account
(though most users have one.)
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Some webmail providers allow you to view your other
e-mail accounts, but require you to pay to do so.
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Yahoo requires a premium (paid for) account to view
your messages anywhere else.
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Windows Live Mail is not the same thing as Windows
Live Hotmail. The former is a free, downloadable
e-mail client that can be
used with XP, Vista, or Win 7. The latter is webmail (which can also be viewed
for free in the e-mail client)—and it doesn’t have to be the default
account with the top inbox and set of folders. (Each e-mail provider viewed in
Windows Live Mail has it’s own inbox and set of folders.)
·
Gmail offers threaded messages/conversations. If you
reply to a message & the recipient replies again, etc. it will all appear
in the original message as opposed to generating multiple messages. Also, your
e-mail account never expires. People especially like gmail due to these two
features.
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Most webmail accounts must be signed into within a
given period of time to keep your account alive. The length of time varies.
Some will allow you to revive your old ID after lengthy inactivity, but your
mail will have been deleted.
·
Due to competition most webmail account storage
size limits have disappeared or have greatly increased in capacity. Size limits
for attachments are still commonly seen.
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Hotmail allows “exclusive” mail filtering, meaning
the only mail that reaches your inbox comes from contacts in your address book.
Junk mail can be automatically deleted or directed to a junk folder.
-- Ann Finley, April 2010