Using E-Mail

E-mail was one of the earliest applications on the Internet. It is still among the most heavily used today. Most e-mail packages allow you to do the same things you do with regular paper mail. It has several advantages over regular mail. They include speed and cost.

In order to send or receive e-mail, you must have an account on a mail server -- that's file space on someone's computer. The file space is usually on the computer owned by your ISP. However, there are several web sites that have free e-mail if you don't mind wading through a few ads. Whenever you send e-mail, your message goes from computer to computer along the Internet until it arrives at the destination. Then it waits on the mail server until you log on and download it.

When receiving or sending e-mail, you may want to keep your connect charges in mind. If you are paying for each minute you are connected to the Internet, or have a limited number of hours (or minutes) that you are allowed to be connected to the Internet, you may want to download your messages and read them later. Likewise, you may want to compose your messages and then log on to send them.

Before you can send an e-mail, you must know the receiver's e-mail address. Currently there are no universal e-mail directories. There are several directories available for you to register your e-mail address with, but not everyone does. The simplest way to find someone's e-mail address is to ask them. However, unless you correspond with them frequently, users often change ISPs (and hence e-mail addresses) without telling anyone and, sometimes, without forwarding their mail. So old e-mail addresses often get you no where. For some help in finding e-mail addresses, try one of these sites:

http://people.yahoo.com

http://www.whowhere.lycos.com

These sites will also allow you to find phone numbers. However, if the person you are looking for has a fairly common name, you may find 20 or 30 potential e-mail addresses (or 200 or more potential phone numbers). So, unless you know something more about them (such as what state they live in or where they work -- many people e-mail from work), you may not know any more than when you started, and you may still not have their address or phone number.

If you do much with e-mail, you will (sooner or later) find someone who will forward everything to you. Some of it will have been forwarded many, many times before it reaches you. Some of the forwards will promise free trips, will warn of possible dangers of using certain products, or will be a slight variation of chain mail. Before you buy into it or forward it on, think about it. Rumors have been circulating for years, and e-mail allows you to tell everyone you know with the click of a mouse. Remember, just because it's on the computer, doesn't make it true.

One thing you are apt to pick up is a virus. A virus is a program that copies itself. In some respects, it's unfortunate that the word `virus' was used. It makes the problem sound a lot worse than it is. A program need do no more than replicate in order to be a virus. Some viruses do indeed do some nasty things to your computer (like erase your hard drive). But others (around 95%) do no more than make a copy of themselves and do some minor extras like beeping the keyboard, or displaying a message. For more information on viruses (and how to avoid them or get rid of them) see Viruses.

Another thing that you will get at some point in time is unwanted or unsolicited e-mail, otherwise known as spam. Spam is e-mail that is sent to you trying to sell you something without your asking for it. Many people think that this is ok -- that it is like the junk mail that comes to you in your mailbox at home. However, this is not the case. The postage needed to send the mail to your regular mailbox was paid by the sender of the letter. The e-mail that you get in your e-mail box is paid for by you. The more unsolicited mail you get, the longer you have to stay on-line to get it, and the more it costs you. In addition, you may be limited to a certain amount of disk space on the server for your mail. Lots of unsolicited mail will lock up your e-mail such that you cannot retrieve it without a special call to the administrator to unlock it.

First, don't ever reply to spam. It just creates more message traffic and it broadcasts your e-mail address as someone who actually reads this stuff (it's just like subscribing to one magazine, entering one contest, or placing one catalog order). If you don't mind the occasional spam, then the easiest thing to do is just delete it. Finally, if you are offended enough try working with your ISP. They can write a polite but firm e-mail to the postmaster of the spam site to please stop his spam or your site will refuse mail from him. If there is no response, or the response is such that they can't stop the problem, then your ISP can block that server.

Once you have gotten the hang of e-mail, you might want to send something other notes. For some possibilities, try these sites:

www.cardlady.com -- links to hundreds (possibly thousands) of sites which allow you to send cards and other things (many of which are free)

www.virtualflorist.com -- send flowers (pictures are free, real flowers cost money)

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