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Web based email was made popular by Hotmail which was purchased by Microsoft January 1998 in order to add email capabilities to MSN. Web based email (Webmail) means that in order to access your email all you need is a web browser ( all PCs have one) and you can access you email from anywhere in the world
Since Hotmail many other companies have joined the free Webmail market. The free web email providers generally make money by selling advertising on the email Interface.
Although Hotmail and Yahoo email have become extremely popular (most people have at least one yahoo or hotmail account) the advertising can become a little bothersome and to overcome it almost all free web based email providers offer a subscription service free of advertising.
The main benefit of using web based email is that you can access your email from anywhere . This makes it an ideal solution for anyone who travels frequently and requires email access while on the road or even on holiday.
Because of its popularity many email providers now provide you with access to your mailbox via web mail in addition to the standard POP3 access.
If your Email provider doesn't provide web based mail then you can configure Yahoo mail to provide Webmail access to your email. If you are using Gmail it also has this capability (called Mailfetcher).
Problems with Web Based Email
The main problem with web based email are:
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You have to be connected to the Internet to read it.
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Difficult to archive.
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What happens if you change providers - you normally loose your old email.
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If you are using a free account then you get all those adverts.
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Can be slow.
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The mail Interface can change overnight.
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If you are using it from a public computer it is very easy to leave it so that your messages are accessible to other users.
Accessing Web Based Email Using Outlook Express
Because of the problems with web only email access it is desirable to have access to web based email using standard email clients like Outlook Express /IncrediMail.
Both Hotmail and Yahoo free web based email was available using Outlook Express, which meant that you could read your email on the web and download it and save it on your local PC as well.
However both companies now only offer this type of access on subscription services only. Old free email accounts still work but newer ones don't ( pre July 2005 hotmail and Feb 2004 Yahoo).
Gmail offers POP3 access and is much easier to use then both Yahoo and Hotmail. If you haven't yet got a Gmail account you should give it a try. See Enable and Configure Google Gmail For POP3 Access
Does Webmail Replace POP3 Email?
Because of the importance of email to most email users I would always recommend that you choose a provider that gives you access to your email mailbox via standard POP3 and Webmail.
By having the email on your client machine you can archive it, work offline and more easily change email providers if you need to.
In short Web based email is used in addition to standard POP3 email and does not replace it.
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Web Based Email