Over time, I’ve discovered that new computer users are often confused about e-mail. Many people seem to think that you have to be online the whole time you are composing e-mail, which isn’t necessarily true. It depends on how your e-mail is set up. Some people access their e-mail using a program on their computer. Some people access their e-mail using a Web browser. If you can only get your e-mail using a Web browser, it’s often called Web mail or Web-based e-mail.
To understand e-mail, it helps to understand a little about the Internet and its relationship to your computer. When you send an e-mail, it goes from your computer to a mail server on the Internet. This server is a computer owned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) that has special software to handle e-mail. From your ISP’s mail server, the e-mail goes out through the Internet to the recipient. The e-mail may pass through many other servers on its way to its destination. When you receive an e-mail, the reverse happens. Someone sends the e-mail out from their computer, it goes to their mail server, travels across the Internet, and lands in your ISP’s mail server. When you check your e-mail, you download it off your ISP’s mail server.
Programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, or Mozilla’s Thunderbird are e-mail clients. An e-mail client is software you load on your computer to manage your e-mail. When you check your e-mail, it accesses the mail server, grabs your mail and downloads it to your computer. You don’t have to remain connected to the server for you to compose an e-mail; you just need to be online to send or receive mail. So you can compose e-mail "offline" and then send it when you are ready.
When you use Web mail, on the other hand, you are actually bypassing the e-mail client part of the process. Instead you are logging into the mail server itself. That’s why when you use Web mail, you generally don’t need any separate software. All you need is a Web browser. You can be in a cyber cafe thousands of miles away from your computer and still access your e-mail.
Free e-mail accounts like Yahoo and Hotmail are generally Web based e-mail. You log into the Yahoo server and pick up any e-mail that has landed there since the last time you checked. Unlike an e-mail client, you often don’t have as many options for filtering and organizing your mail. Plus, because you essentially are using software that is located on another computer, you have to be online to work with your e-mail.
Understanding the differences and advantages between using an e-mail client and Web based e-mail can help you use both more effectively. For example, I have an e-mail client program that lets me check all 7 of my e-mail accounts by pressing one button. It also lets me set up templates and download only headers, so I can avoid unwanted e-mails and viruses.
However, I also have a freebie Yahoo account. Even though it can sometimes be slow and clunky, Web based e-mail is great if you want to travel without carrying a laptop around or you want a "disposable" e-mail address you can use when you buy items or participate in discussion groups. Then if that e-mail address is bent, folded, spindled, or mutilated by online slime, you can just ditch it.