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Socorro Public Library - Web-Based E-Mail Tutorial
These sites provide free email accounts with limited storage.
Mail from these sites may be blocked by some SPAM filters.
Your email address
Every single email address is unique. Internet mail addresses have two parts,
separated by an @ (the "at" sign). The part before the @ is the mailbox,
which is usually your personal name, business name, or a nick name (handle).
The second part refers to the mail server (its domain name). This is the name of your
web-based server, such as "yahoo.com" , "gmail.com" or "fastmail.fm".
Setting up a web based Email account
First, using your favorite Web Browser,
find an email server that you wish to use. I've provided examples
above, but there are more out there.
Click on the "sign up here" or "register here" button. Different servers may vary slightly but most use the same basics.
Read the terms of service and accept if you want the account.
Then comes the hardest part. Fill out the sign up form. (It can sometimes be difficult to find a user name that is not already being used), It may help to add some numbers to the beginning or end of the name you wish to use.
Remember to write down your username and password.
Remember to never give your password to other people.
Your address will look like yourname@somewhere.com
or yourname@somewhere.fm
Congratulations you now have an web based email account.
Different email servers have different software, the instructions here are generalized and will not apply to all servers. It is a good idea to use the tutorial specific to the account type that you have signed up for.
How to read a list of messages
Go to the INBOX of your mailbox. You will see a list of messages.
Click on the message you would like to
read first.
After reading that message, you can click:
Previous - this
will bring up the message in the INBOX that you were last viewing.
Next - this will
bring up the message in the next message on your list.
Delete - this
will delete the message you are currently viewing and bring up the next
message in line.
How
to reply to a message
After reading a message, you can click
the "reply button" and a new "compose message" will appear. The benefit
of this feature is that it keeps the previous text from each reply, giving
the reply a chain letter effect.
How
to Forward a Message
With the message open, click the "FORWARD"
button and the "compose" screen will appear. In the text portion will be
the message and the reference information of the original message.
You can then type in the new TO information
and send.
How
to compose mail
Click the "compose" button
From the "compose" screen enter the address
you intend to send the email to in the "To" section.
Next enter the subject of your email
in the "Subject" block.
If you want to send a courtesy copy to
someone, select the CC: button and enter his or her address in the "cc" block.
If you want to send a blind courtesy copy
to someone, select the BCC: button and enter their address in the"bcc" block.
Many servers automatically save a copy of sent mail, others require that if you want to save a copy for your records you must
check the "Save outgoing message" block.
If you have created a signature and want
it at the bottom of your message check the "Add Signature"
Type your message in the large area below.
After you have finished typing your message
click the "send" button at the bottom of the text section.
Individual
Address book.
Select "Addresses" or "Contacts"
You will see "Individual" and "Group"
Select "Create" From the Individual subset
To add an address to your address book
click "Save Address" while still viewing the email. By doing this you are
transported to the "create individual address" screen and much of the information
is filled in automatically.
Disadvantages of web-based Email
For some, just the fact this email is free is reason enough to sign up. But it's a good idea to keep in mind the following:
Conclusion
Web-based Email is accessed with web browsers. The companies offer
these accounts in order to generate traffic to increase the likelihood you will
see advertisements at their sites.
To sign up for your own free email account, all you must do is go to the
preferred Email service site and register. You may want to keep
your username and password handy so that you can log in from anywhere,
anytime.
Web based email is an attractive option for the following reasons:
More Email Tutorials and Articles
Glossary
ASCII: ASCII is a method of encoding text. Unformatted text files are traditionally saved in ASCII ("askee") format. It is a standard developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to define how computers write and read characters. The ASCII set of 128 characters includes letters, numbers, punctuation, and control codes. Each letter or other character is represented by a number: an uppercase A, for example, is the number 65, and a lowercase z is the number 122.
attachment: Any computer file linked to an email message is an attachment. Encoding allows users to attach images and documents to emails. Attachments are also the source of many viruses.
BCC: A BCC (blind courtesy copy) is a copy of an email message that is sent to a recipient but the BCC email address does not appear in the message. This is in contrast to To and CC recipients, whose addresses do appear in the email's header.
CC: A CC (courtesy copy) is a copy of an email message that is sent to a recipient other than those listed in the TO: field.
CCleaner: A free, donation requested, utility for clearing temporary files and cookies off of a personal computer. It is available from Ccleaner.com
control code: A control code is a character, hidden in text, that tells software, such as a word processor, to perform a particular function, such as skip a space, start a new line, or start a new page. Sometimes control codes embedded in text can cause other software to malfunction.
download: Download means to transfer data (files, email, documenst, etc.) from a computer to a disk, harddrive, flashdrive or another computer.
e-mail: E-mail or email stands for electronic mail, and usually means mail delivered using the SMTP or MAPI protocols. Email is one form of electronic messaging, others include "Chat" and "Instant Messaging".
encoding: Encoding is the process of converting a computer file to a form that can be used by specific software. For example, MIME encoding converts an image file to ASCII text so that it can be attached to an email. SMTP "sees" the file as text which it knows how to handle.
Sometimes, attachments are not readable because the email software did not know how to decode them.
For more about encoding see, Decoding Internet Attachments by Michael Santovec.
handle: A "handle" is one' name on the Internet. The same person may have multiple handles.
header: An email header contains the transmission information about an email, such as the date and time sent, the email addresses of the sender, the recipient, the CC's, and what servers handled the message on its way, it also includes the subject of the email. Email software may display part of the header, but usually hides some of the transmission information.
MAPI: MAPI ("mappy") stands for "Messaging Application Programming Interface" which
enables Windows applications to access a variety of messaging systems.
MIME: MIME stands for "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions"
It is a form of encoding that allows email software and other programs to handle graphics, sound, and multimedia files.
phishing: Phishing refers to emails or web-ads that lead to sites that attempt to collect personal information about an individual's financial and electronic accounts by false promises.
It includes false "warning" emails that appear to be from financial institutions. These scam artists "fish" the Internet to see if they can hook you to get your money or use your accounts.
For more information see Phishing Schemes by Michael Shalkey.
POP and POPing: POP stands for "Post Office Protocol" and is the means for downloading email from a server to a local computer.
SMTP: SMTP stands for "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol". Electronic mail is sent using this protocol. It keeps the process regulated and standardized between mail servers.
snail mail: Snail mail is paper-based surface mail or airmail. Although in our experience regular paper-based mail doesn't
usually take the days and weeks a snail would take to deliver things across town.
SPAM: Spam is junk email or unsolicited email. It including phishing emails. Spammers are those who send SPAM.
SPAM filters: A "spam filter" refers to software that sorts incoming email by its likelihood of being SPAM, and blocks or diverts those emails that most likely are SPAM.
spoof or spoofing: Spoofing is a technique used by scam artists to hide the address of an email sender or a website. It usually involves substituting a legitimate address for the scammer's address.
zip: A zip file refers to a computer file that has been compressed by the zip compression utility. Often attached executable files (ending in .exe) are deleted from emails.
To prevent this, executables are often attached as zip files. Originally the zip compression utility was developed to store PC download archives in less space.