Email Account Options/Features

WebMail Assistant .

This program is designed to extend the capabilities of Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, and to make them faster and easier to use.

More importantly it lets you save messages and address book information on your own hard drive.

Tracks Eraser

Recover Lost Files

Email Account/Hosting Options

When it comes to deciding on hosting provider you will need to consider the features that are being offered and the feature that you require.

Your feature requirements has an impact on the email client that you use, and the email host/provider that you choose.

Email Access

There are 2 methods:

Webmail-Access using a browser like Internet explorer
Desktop Email Client like Outlook Express- This can use either pop3 or Imap4 as the access protocol- see Imap4 and pop3 compared.

Mailbox Properties

Mailbox size - Mailbox size limits are getting larger. Many think that the larger the better but in truth very few people have mailbox size problems.

If they have it's usually because they aren't managing their email effectively. In addition the access protocol (pop3 or Imap4) has an impact due to the way they work and so for IMAP4 access a larger size is preferred. 500MBytes and above is adequate.

Spam Filtering- Many providers allow you to configure this at the mailbox level and to take place on the email server. This means that you don't need to worry about purchasing spam software for your PC.

Virus Checking- Many providers allow you to configure this at the mailbox level and to take place on the email server. This means that you don't need to worry about purchasing email virus checking software for your PC.

Autoresponders- These are automatic messages that can be used as stock responses. Useful for business applications.

Email forwarding - This allows you to forward the email to another email address and mailbox. This is useful in a number of occasions see email forwarding for more details.

SMS Integration- This allows you to forward emails to a mobile phone. Very useful if you are frequently away from your PC.

Anti Phishing- This prevents email from masquerading as being from someone else. See Phishing Email Scams explained for more details

Email Addresses

Number- For a small business 20-100 addresses are usually enough.

Catch-all Addresses-Ability to send email to undefined email addresses to a mailbox. I.E if someone sends an email to unknown@yourdomain.com you can arrange that the email be delivered to a mailbox even though there is no one with that email address. Although this sounds good it is open to spam abuse.

Exchange Email

Many Providers provide Microsoft exchange email mailboxes. This is useful if you require calendaring and meeting functionality and use Microsoft Outlook as your email client.

If you only want email then this option (costs more) is not required.

Hosting Options

For large businesses >100 users then a dedicated email provider is to be considered. However for small/home based businesses and personal use then you will find using a web hosting provider more cost effective.

All web hosting options come with email capabilities which are enough for small businesses. Some like 1and1 UK provide an email hosting option without the web space if required.

However as most small businesses will or intend to have a website then the email provision comes effectively free.

Related Articles and Resources:

Email Account Management
Strategies for Handling Multiple Email Addresses-How to setup, access and manage multiple email accounts, addresses and mailboxes on a single email client.

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