An email program is computer software through which you can write, send, receive and manage your email.
TIP - If you are using a free web based email account like Hotmail, you might not be able to use an email program to manage your mail. You have to use a web browser like Internet Explorer.
In order to use an email program, you will have to tell it a number of things including your user name, the mail server and your password. How you set up your program depends on what requirements the program has. Almost all e-mail programs have similar universal functions, however some e-mail programs use different commands or buttons to execute these functions:
- reading incoming mail
- saving incoming mail to folders, for reading later or to help you to organise messages
- saving individual messages to files on the disk, for storage outside your mail directory
- printing mail
- sending new messages
- retrieving text files from the disk, for including inside the body of an e-mail message
- importing / exporting special objects as attachments to your message, but not inside the body of the message.
This training module will guide you through the functions of the two most common email programs: Eudora Light and Outlook Express.
Web based email
If you don't want to use a special mail program, you can sign up for a free email account through one of the many email providers. Some very popular email providers are hotmail.com http://www.hotmail.com and yahoo.com http://www.yahoo.com. Clicking on these links will open a new browser window.
Using a web-based email account can be very convenient because it means you can send and receive messages from any computer connected to the Internet. For example, you will be then be able to collect email at home, work, school, an Internet cafe or a friend's house. This is a great option for those people who don't own a computer, or for those who travel frequently.
Free Email Providers Guide (http://www.fepg.net/) will give you listings of the many possible choices for this service.