How to use email

Email is short for Electronic Mail. It works by the mail being sent through telephone lines from one ‘electric’ post office to the next (just the same way that Internet packets jump from one server to the next).

Due to this advancement in technology, the standard postal service is now referred to as “Snail Mail”. This is because emails can arrive at their destination (even across the world) in seconds, whereas, a posted letter may take a week or more.

To send emails, you need software to organise the message into packages, which the computer sends through the modem to another email address. There are two ways to get an email address, through an ISP or a web site.

ISP based email:

Your ISP will give you an address when you sign up. You need email software, such as Outlook, to access your account (an example account may be [email protected]).

The major problem with ISP based email is that if you change your ISP you have to change your address and let your contacts know. It may also be difficult to access your email from other computers.


Web based email:

These emails only require an Internet connection, so they are available for access anywhere that has the Internet. The user sets up this site and can send and collect mail. The biggest web based email company is called Hotmail, but other companies such as Yahoo also offer online email services.

Web based email is typically a lot slower than ISP email because it contains advertising and a lot of junk mail.


The email icons:

Many email icons are also common to all Window programs. Anyone that has used Windows programs should be familiar with the ‘cut’, ‘paste’, ‘copy’ and ‘print’ icons.

All you have to do is scroll the mouse over the icon to see what the icon is or what it does. Some email icons have been explained below:

  • New Mail – lets you create an email from scratch, but places your return email address in the ‘From’ box.
  • Reply – when you have read an email and you want to answer it, this icon will let you write a reply.
  • Forward – when you have been sent an email that you would like to send onto someone else, this icon will allow you to send the email on.
  • Print – brings up the print dialog box which allows you to get a ‘hard’ copy.
  • Delete – allows you to get rid of the current email, and move onto the next.
  • Previous – allows you to view the email that you last looked at.
  • Next – allows you to go to the next email.
  • Addresses – this icon opens your address book (contact list).
  • Send – will send off your email.
  • Attach – will allow you to include other files in your email.



    Email Processing:

    Electric ‘mail rooms’ means that email sorting can be done at home. Delivering emails to a single address where they are sorted, replied to or forwarded to the appropriate person.

    Unfortunately, this opens the market for junk mail. The manufacturers send out emails to every address that they can find.