| Electronic Mail (E-mail)
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Electronic mail (also called email or e-mail) is the process of composing, sending, and receiving messages (generally text but often with embedded graphics, photos, video, or sound) to others via the Internet. Email is transmitted across the Internet based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Essentially, you compose a message, enter the email address to which you want to send the message, and an SMTP server pushes that mail out to the server at which your addressee’s mail is stored. To retrieve mail from a remote server and download it onto your computer, you use a POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) server. |
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All of this is most likely unbeknownst to you, however you may, when setting up an email account on your computer, be asked to specify the outgoing SMTP server name and the incoming POP3 or IMAP server name. |
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To access email, you have to establish an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a free email provider (such as Hotmail, Yahoo), or the organization for which you work. Some services allow you Web-based email, where you log onto a Web account to access your mail. Others require you to download your mail onto your own computer. That requires an application program such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla, Eudora, Netscape, etc. |
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