Number 202 - March 2000

The Internet Zone - Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Computer
by Cheryl Floyed - 1960 PC Users Group, October 1999
Web-based e-mail. You send, receive, forward, and reply to e-mail just as you would at home, but have it all on a web site. You can have folders and sort your e-mail just as you would on your computer. Remember that e-mail account at Yahoo! or Excite or Hotmail that you got ages ago because it was free. Or, maybe you never got one! I'm here to tell you that everyone needs at least one!     There are several good reasons to have a web-based e-mail. There are two main reasons, and I'm going to talk about these separately. You need one as your spam filter and another as your alternate to supplement and fill what your home account lacks.     The spam filter is good to use whenever you fill out a form online. Do you ever sign guest books? Always use your web account for that. Do you enter contests? Use your web account for that. As you set up your newsgroup accounts in your home e-mail program, use your web account as a reply to address so when you post to a newsgroup anyone from the newsgroup can reach you but you won't have a ton of spam filling up your home account. Maybe you'd like to sign up for one of those joke-a-day mailings but don't want to have to read them everyday, just sort through them when you feel like you need a good (or not so good) laugh.     Now, as anyone that has ever tried to use web-based e-mail knows, it is not all e-mail should be. It is slow, limited in features, and you have to have a constant online connection to use it, not to mention the inconvenience of not having your e-mail addresses handy. However, some of these problems are fading into the past. Several of the major players are offering advanced features that were not previously available. Most (let's be honest here, ALL) are still slow, and a little clunky compared to what you have on your computer, but they are becoming more convenient every day. Most allow you to add a signature, set your mail preferences, and manipulate a large number of folders. But today, you can expect more features.     Hotmail is least impressive at the moment. They do offer a search feature that allows you to find a particular message in your folders. They also offer a reminder service and you can choose from one of four languages. Nice, but not phenomenal. and with the features others have started offering in the past few months, there is no need to settle for it.     Excite is coming along. They offer free voice-mail that will generate an e-mail going to your Excite account if someone leaves you a message. They have a calendar, to do list, full feature address book, and notepad. The calendar and address book can be synchronized with your home program if you are using one of several popular PIMs, including Act!, Outlook, Lotus 4.5 or 4.6, or Schedule+ and the Palm Pilot devices. My problem with Excite is that the calendar is confusing. I want something where I can see what is happening at a glance. I also want to be able to add a meeting on the fly.     As of today, the shining star is Yahoo! Unlike the calendar you'll find in Excite, Yahoo! is easy and intuitive. It offers full synchronization, reminders, vacation response, and filters. Now, you can even have Yahoo! e-mail forwarded to any existing e-mail address or you can configure your home account to	receive your Yahoo! e-mail just like your regular pop account. You could even have Yahoo! check your home pop account and bring that into your Yahoo! account! I've tried the synchronization and have to tell you that if you read and follow the instructions, it works beautifully! I'm able to access all of my calendar information and addresses from anywhere in the world if I can access the Internet. With Yahoo! you can synchronize with Outlook and Palm Pilot but I don't think they offer it with some of the other PIMs yet. I guess we can't have everything. Finally, Yahoo! offers what the others can't, integration with Yahoo! Messenger. You can configure your Yahoo! Messenger to notify you when you have incoming e-mail.     Finally, several of the free e-mail services are becoming just that... services. My two favorites at the moment are www.mail.com and www.iname.com both run by the same company, Mail.com. I've been testing both of these services for about 6 months now and am very happy with them. I use mail.com and my husband uses iname.com. So, what do they do? Simple. they forward your e-mail. Doesn't sound like a big deal, huh? Well, are you planning to ever change ISPs? Do you ever go to a relative's house for a visit for longer than two days? Has your PC ever gone down? Well, I've experienced all of these. When I go to my grandmother's house, I simply go to mail.com or iname.com, choose the forwarding option and have my e-mail forwarded to her e-mail address. I could also forward my mail to a web-based account. If I decide to change my provider, I simply have my mail forwarded to my new account.     I even have two home e-mail addresses. One is my personal account. It is the one all of you have. I use that for people. The other is my junk account, which isn't really junk, but it isn't anything that I would need to take with me on vacation, either! I have all of my TipWorld lists, Microsoft notifications, and other mailings, sent to my junk account. So, when I leave town, I check my personal mail, but let the other just sit there until I get home. This way, I'm never out of touch, unless I really want to be! Hot Spots!     1. Mr. Wakeup - will call you at a scheduled time to remind you of an appointment. Schedule as many reminder calls as you'd like free!     2. MP3.COM - is the coolest place to download your free mp3s. the Internet's hottest music file!     3. Meals For You - get a recipe or a whole week's meal plan with a shopping list!     4. Disney.COM - This is a great place to start when you have kids around.     5. Shaun Capovilla's Stationery - This is a memorial site to a woman that created some of the most extraordinary stationery available. She was multi-talented and offers things for almost anyone. (Note: as always, this stationery works with Outlook and Outlook Express only)     See ya next time!     Tudie (a.k.a. Cheryl Floyed) is the Internet SIG Leader for the 1960 PC User Group. She can be reached at tudie@pdq.net.
Number 202 - March 2000