POP
& Web Mail
Get a Permanent Email Address
Do you have an Email address that never changes? Remember that if you change your Internet
service provider (ISP) you lose the address they gave you - not a happy
change when you want to change to another service. Get a permanent Email account before you do anything else! Many online services can provide a permanent address at little or no cost. If you wish, you can ask your
ISP to forward your email to the new permanent address. Better to set up your email software to read both accounts separately.
In any event, use the new permanent address for friends and family, and use the old address for web forms (i.e. to receive future junk mail from them).
Once your personal mail is properly set up, you find that you want to:
- Read mail when travelling.
- Read mail at work on occasion.
- Read mail from public terminals.
Reading Mail Away from Home
Most Internet service providers (ISPs) provide webmail service so check them first. There are many Web services that allow you to read email in a web browser - no email is stored on the computer so this is useful for public terminals. Some services also allow you to read your home POP mail account. (Make sure you set up the webmail options to leave your messages on the Mail Server so you can still fetch them when you return home.)
Gmail is a free mail service from Google.com that offers Webmail (browser) and Popmail (mail software) with good spam filters. HotMail also offers a free Webmail service. There are many others.
Find Web-based services for reading POP mail accounts online:
Google search for: Web services for reading POP mail accounts
Web-based mail services will try to connect to your ISP's mail server, if you provide your mail settings (be very careful you are dealing with a reputable service before supplying this information). Once connected, use your
normal username and password to reading your email. You may also do most
of the normal functions such as reply, forward, etc.
Before you need leave home, you should create an account on one of these
free mail services and set up an address book. Even better, store
important addresses, files and documents in personal web
storage space. Most ISP's provide space for a personal web page, but you
can upload anything you want to access from a Web
browser (web files are "public" so don't upload banking information
or passwords). This will allow you to keep working, even if your laptop
is not with you or you simply don't want to travel with it!
Travelling with a laptop
Cleaning a laptop
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