Electronic Mail

Sending Electronic Mail | Receiving Electronic Mail | Attachments | Finding Addresses | Mailto Links | Going Further

One of the most important and fundamental uses of the Internet is that it allows electronic messages to be sent between computers that are connected to it. These messages are known as "Electronic Mail" or "email."

There are many ways to set up an email account but the basics of emailing remain the same. Choices include:

• Setting up an account through your Internet Provider. In other words, who ever sets up your connection to the Internet provides email accounts as part of your access fee. In a university environment, a school's network services could provide an email program such as Pine for the students.
• A full-featured email program such as Outlook Express or Eudora. These off-the-shelf email programs sometimes come pre-loaded in your computer. These programs have many features and are set up to run with your Internet connection.
• A Web based free email service. Several Web "portal" sites, sites that want to be your gateway to the Internet (www.yahoo.com, www.hotmail.com) , and provide free email. In exchange, you may have to endure a few advertisements, but these email services are easy to use and often times you can access them from home, the library or a friend's house.

Obviously, different email programs have a different look about them, but fortunately they all operate fundamentally the same way. For our discussion we're going to look at the web-based free email service. They are accessible, functional and simple.