HOW TO USE EMAIL
Email is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm over the last fifteen years. It has changed the way people communicate with one another and also how commercial enterprises conduct their business. It is quick and easy, no postage stamp needed, your handwriting skills don't matter, and it can be received in seconds. The email can have an "attachment" such as a document or picture which saves greatly on having "hard" copies (printed versions) sent by courier or normal mail (now often called "snail mail").
In essence email is a text message sent from one computer to another over the internet using electronic communication systems. In order to send email you need a mailing program ("mailer") or you need a "webmail" address and a browser. A normal mailer is something like "Outlook" or "Outlook Express" whereas webmail is Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail (and others).
Webmail is made available free because the providers and sponsors hope to sell you or others something from their many ads. The beauty of webmail is that you can send and receive mail from any computer in the world (if it is connected to the internet). The disadvantage has been the clumsy, cumbersome, slow process needed to perform each task. Gmail and Hotmail (now Live Mail) have both greatly improved the handling of email and attachments.
In contrast, most mailer programs are easy to use and quick to perform tasks. They have easy-to-use lists of contacts and usually some form of calendar or diary; and the method of attaching and saving attachments is simple. But if you go to any computer other than your own you cannot send or receive mail – at least as you normally do. You can use you ISP server to access mail but it is somewhat cumbersome.
Which programback to top
So the next step is to decide which program you want to use. Most people were using "Outlook Express" because Micro$oft used to provide it free with their Windows operating system. Some people lazily call it "Outlook" but this then confuses it with its big brother which IS called Outlook; they would be better advised to call it "Express". In Windows 7, Outlook Express is no longer available. Instead one must download and install Windows Live Mail as a separate installation. It operates much as Express did but allows ready integration with Gmail and other web-based mail. The true Outlook is a part of the M$-Office Suite. I certainly use Outlook, since Express had less functions and it is harder to define and change its settings. However, there are many other suitable, free mailers available, including ones by Mozilla, Netscape, Opera, etc. You do not have to use a Micro$oft product.
There are still a few people who continue to use webmail as their primary email. Obviously, if they travel, their address does not change and all their contacts are stored on the web so that is a plus. But the process needed to do each operation used to take three to five times as long as it does in a mailer. However the new Gmail and Live mail are now very similar to a normal mailer program. Of course, one can have both a webmail address for travel, and their normal ISP (mailer) address.
I have friends who still also use "plain text" as their preferred format and I am at a loss to know why. It does not save anything in cost, time, beauty or any other factor; but it does limit what you can include in an email - including when they forward emails that should have pictures or coloured text in them. In most programs you can specify that the text be "HTML (ie. Rich Text)" or "plain" (normally done via Tools/Options).
Another minor point is that among those who do use webmail, some also "forward" messages with the message as an attachment instead of "in-line". The recipient then has to open two emails to read the message, which seems to me a waste of effort. You can specify in the program options whether emails are to be attached or included in the text body. The picture shows an email with another email attached.
Contactsback to top
An email address normally takes the form (or .net, .org etc.) with no spaces and in lower case. Because it is too easy to mistype, it is always best to use names already stored in your list of contacts. Admittedly you may have to type them when you first include them in your contact list; just make sure you do so accurately.
When you receive an email you can read it in the "preview" pane (if this option is turned on) or double-click it to open. Unread mail is shown in bold print; once you have opened it, it reverts to normal text. You can right-click on any names (including the sender) in the various address lines on mail you receive and choose "add to contacts" - see picture above.
This is the safest way to add people to your contact list and avoids you ever having to type the email address. A dialog box opens and you can type in the complete names and phone numbers if you so choose; certainly you can complete First Name and Surname so that it gets filed correctly.
Sendingback to top
When you send an email you must specify a recipient with a valid email address. So, open a new email, click on the "To:" button next to the address line and your list of contacts opens. Click on the person's name then click on the "To" in the middle of the dialog box to include the name; if you wish to send it to other people as well, click on their name and then "To" again. Click OK. You now have an email with one or more recipients in the address line. Click in the subject line and type a few words (only a few!!). Click in the body of the email and start typing your message. I prefer to write as if it were a letter with "Dear ..." on the first line, then the text on the next line. I also use capitals and paragraphs. There are some people who do not use capitals and never use paragraphs so what they send is like this:
"hi nobby how are you. we have been away for a few days
and did not get your message till now. brian is coming to
visit next month. will talk to you before then. love shirley"
If that is how you prefer to write then do so, but I would never choose that style myself. I think it is courteous always to include a subject and always to "sign" with your name at the end. But regardless of how you type the message it will still be delivered. Having finished your email click on the "send" button at the top left and the message appears briefly in the "Outbox" before moving to the "Sent Items" box; it stays there forever unless you physically delete it. You should check the Sent Items periodically to clean out old, unwanted emails.
Storingback to top
The next thing to think of is what to do with the many emails you receive. Some, obviously, can be deleted almost straight away. But others you will want to keep and if so, your Inbox can get very full very quickly. I recommend that you create a series of sub-folders under the Inbox: right-click on Inbox and select "New Folder...", type a name for the folder, click OK. Repeat for as many folders as you need. You can have folders with people's names if they send a lot of emails, or you can have topics such as "jokes", "U3A", "travel", etc. If you have more than about half-a-dozen mails from the same person or on the same topic it probably warrants a folder.
If you get an email with an interesting article in the text area you can copy the information and paste it to a Word document and save that, so that you don't have to search through your emails to find the information later. This means that you can also delete the email without concern.
Attachmentsback to top
If you wish to send an attachment it is easy to do: on the toolbar at the top is a button with a paper-clip symbol. Click it and a dialog box opens; navigate to the folder where you have the file and double click the file; it will automatically be attached to the email. It doesn't matter what type of file it is - document, picture, movie, PowerPoint presentation, etc. The only files you normally cannot send are program files, which have a name ending in ".exe". Beware of sending huge files to people who have a limited broadband connection. Large files take a long time to download on a normal modem plus if the recipient pays for excess downloads it could cost them money. The big files are usually pictures or movies.
If you have a picture that you want to send but it is too big it is possible to reduce its size before sending. Most photo programs can amend any aspect of a picture that you want; the size, contrast, brightness, can all be changed and you can also crop the picture to cut out unnecessary detail. You may prefer to save the amended file under a new name so as not to lose the original: instead of clicking "Save" go to "File/Save As...". Select a different name (even just add "-small" to the old name) then save.
When you receive an email with an attachment it is most likely that you will want to save the attachment. The easiest way is to right-click the attachment name and choose "Save As..." as shown in the picture at left:
Then you can delete the email with its attachment (unless you need also to save the text of the message). In the example above I would save the file with a sensible name rather than just accepting the default "Pict0538.jpg"
Virusesback to top
One danger of the email system is that one can get a computer virus. A virus is a small program deliberately created which can do minor or severe damage to your computer. It nearly always piggybacks on some genuine program and runs every time that program runs. Apart from replicating and sending itself to others it generally has a time delay after which it delivers some form of "payload": it may put a quirky message on your screen or it may delete essential files or even destroy your HDD. Most viruses replicate themselves and send the virus to everyone in your contact list without you knowing. The vast majority (99.9%) of viruses do not come in an email but in an attachment to the email and you have to open the attachment before the virus is activated.
I have not had a virus infection in over eight years, but I have received several dozen virus emails. My anti-virus software always blocked the attachment before I could even look at it. Even if you didn't have an anti-virus program you could still normally recognise a virus attachment. The subject would be non-existent or would be strange (eg. "you must see this") the body text would be weird (eg. "as we discussed in 1980 before the state and Queen ruled"), and even if you knew the sender, the normal signature would be absent. So, with those three glaring signals why would you open the attachment just to see if it was maybe a virus? The attachment itself will often have a titillating name (eg. "remember these?", or "nude pictures", or "funniest thing ever", or "screensaver"). Just because you receive an email with attachment doesn't mean you have to open it.
One thing that viruses do is change the name/address of the sender so that it appears to the recipient to be coming from "X" when in fact it is "Y's" machine that is the culprit. So don't rush to email Joe to tell him he sent you a virus because he might say "I haven't got my PC, the HDD died two weeks ago".
A special form of virus comes as a "worm" which is a self-contained virus which attacks loopholes in unprotected computers and uses that vulnerability to infect the computer and then seek other vulnerable computers. It can deliver a payload or it can simply clog the internet with its constant replication. To be in danger you would have no firewall (see Dangers in my Internet Page) and you would have an operating system that has not been regularly updated.
Spamback to top
The other major problem with email is that curse called "spam". This is unsolicited email offering anything from quack medicines to free university degrees and often associated with porn items. Generally you will not get spam unless you or someone else types your email address on a web page. If you use your address only to communicate with known recipients you should never have a problem. But if you go to a web page that asks for your email address as a log-in name, or you purchase something over the internet and give your email then you are likely to be spammed.
It is bad enough if you foolishly give away your own address but an even worse sin is if you put someone else's address on the internet - usually when you want to send them an "e-card" or birthday wish. The intention is good but the result is disaster. DO NOT use any form of e-card to a friend - to an enemy perhaps, but not a friend!! When you do such a thing you compromise both your and the recipient's address.
One way around this problem is to have two addresses: one from your ISP (your normal address) and another webmail type from Live mail, Gmail or Yahoo. Then when you have need to use an email address on the internet you can use the second one and it doesn't matter if it gets spammed. I have a Yahoo account and a Hotmail account, both of which I maintain carefully. In addition I have this web-page address as well as my normal private address.
Tipsback to top
Screen layout for mail program
A problem that beginners can sometimes have is they "lose" the list of folders on the left, or their emails suddenly all change order and they can't find things. Both these problems come from accidentally clicking on the wrong thing.
Notice at the top of the list of folders there is a little "X"; if you click it you lose the folders. To restore them go to the "View" menu and turn them on again (under "Layout" in Express).
The columns for all the emails have headings and the mail can be sorted by any of these columns simply by clicking on the name of the column. Generally we sort the mail by date so we click on the column called "Received" - you will note in the picture below that my "Received" column has a small down-pointing arrow next to the word showing that my mail is sorted downwards from newest to oldest. If you click again on that column the order is reversed.
However, what happens to the unwary is that they try to click on the topmost email message and instead click the column heading. This rearranges all the mail and they have cause for a severe panic attack. To correct it simply click once on the "Received" column name.
This facility can be useful when you want to find one email or move a bunch of emails. You can click on the column "From" and all the emails will be grouped by name order. You can then readily locate a message from a specific person. If you wish to move all the emails from "Shirley" to a separate folder, you now have them all grouped in consecutive order. You can then highlight (select) them all and move them all as a group.
You can add or remove extra columns at your choice. Right click on any column name and select "Customise Current View...". This opens another box where you select the top button called "Fields..." which opens a final box where you click on column names and choose Add or Remove. Then click OK, OK. You will notice that my columns do not include the little columns called "Flag" and "Importance" as I never use them or want to see them. However, I do have a column for "Size" as this helps me decide on what action to take with any particular email - do I forward it, delete it, save the attachment or what? You can also have the columns in any order that you prefer.
Printing emails
Many people (perhaps most people), when they wish to print an email simply go to File/Print and let the computer do its thing. The problem I have with this is that it prints all sorts of 'headers" and details which I don't want, and it will also print all the email addresses of previous recipients and perhaps unneeded disclaimers at the foot of the page. This can make a two-page print out of what could be maybe a half page of text. The problem is far worse when you print from a webmail program (eg. Yahoo). When printing anything from the internet you get all sorts of coloured bits around the sides and perhaps ads and often the text is in a text colour that is not the easiest to read.