Electronic mail is one of the main reasons why people go online. Everyone wants to communicate, and email is one of the fastest, cheapest and most efficient ways to do it. And today, you don't even need to own a computer. Web-based mail services let you send email from an office computer or a cybercafe. The main disadvantage is that you usually have to be online to use them.
Web-based email accounts, such as Hotmail, are easy to use, and free. It is therefore worth having one as a back-up when other services are not working properly. You can even set up "junk accounts" to give to websites that require registration, and to people you don't trust.
However, they do not provide anonymity. Even if you sign up under a false name, the service is probably logging your IP (Internet Protocol) address, which can be used to trace you.
All web-based mail services are much the same. Hotmail is the most popular and has the advantage that you can also collect mail using Outlook Express 5. However, I recommend Yahoo's email service (http://mail. yahoo.com) for two reasons. First, it provides six megabytes of storage, which should be enough to hold 500-600 email messages. Second, you can use Yahoo mail even with JavaScript and other advanced browser features blocked - athough you do have to allow "cookies" (small text files stored on your hard drive).
Even if you do not object to scripting, you may sometimes want to collect mail from a handheld computer, network terminal or other device that does not have all the facilities of a personal computer.
In Internet Explorer 5, the settings to control Active Scripting, Java and ActiveX programs, and cookies are in the security section. Go to the Tools menu, and select Internet Options. When the tabbed dialog box appears, click on Security, then on the button at the bottom, marked Custom Level. This will reveal a set of options with radio buttons that let you select Disable, Enable or Prompt.
The Prompt option means the browser will ask whether or not to allow a particular feature to run on a page-by-page basis. Prompt is fine in theory but tedious in practice. Most commercial sites now use scripting and huge numbers use ActiveX.
Whichever web-based mail service you choose, it should at least offer folders and an addressbook. Folders work like directories. You can use them to file away mail that you don't want to delete, but still don't want to see every day.
Hotmail and Yahoo provide folders to store incoming and outgoing mail, draft mail, bulk mail and trash. Draft is used for letters you have started writing but are not ready to send. Bulk mail is used for junk mail or "spam": if the system thinks it sees unwanted commercial email, it will put it in the Bulk Mail folder instead of your Inbox. The Trash folder is used to store deleted email in case you have second thoughts and want it back. Click on the Empty button, however, and it has gone forever.
It is easy to create new folders by typing in a name and clicking the Create Folder button. You can use them to store emails from specific people or about chosen topics. You can even have incoming mail diverted into these folders by setting up "filters" or "rules". To try this in Yahoo, click the Options entry on the left, then click on Filters. Both services also allow you to block mail from specified email addresses.
It is also important to be able to store email addresses: you can't possibly remember them all. To do this in Yahoo, while reading mail, click the Add Addresses button on the right-hand side and fill in the form. Click on Add More Detail to enter phone numbers, nicknames, birthdates and so on. To enter names in Hotmail's much less powerful addressbook, click Save Address, at the end of the From: line.
I have almost 1,000 addresses on Yahoo because I synchronise it with Microsoft Outlook on my desktop PC and with my handheld computer. However, some addressbook features require JavaScript.
Web-based email services are much more sophisticated that they used to be, and most have features that few people know about or use. In Yahoo and Hotmail, for example, you can sort mail by date (ascending or descending), sender, subject, or size, just by clicking the labels at the top of the columns.
Yahoo can also collect standard (POP) mail from three other accounts, and Hotmail from four. Finally, under Options, both let you set a different Reply-To address, such as a home or office mailbox.
But if you use web-based email, you must keep an eye on it. The world is full of extremely inconsiderate people who send out attachments that take up 500K or more space. A couple of those can easily fill up a mailbox. After that, any further mail will be "bounced" - returned to the sender.
Clear out your mailbox at least once a week or you could miss important mail, and upset the people trying to send it to you.
