Webmail V.S. Email Programs
By Aysë Stenabaugh
We live in a world full of options, and email is no different. You might already be married to an email provider, be it Gmail, Yahoo!, Comcast all of them give you access to your email from their website. What you may not realize is that you aren’t required to access your email from their website. Remember we are living in a world of options, and you might be happy with the benefits of using a program versus your webmail.
What is an email program?
You’ve probably heard of Outlook, Microsoft Office’s email program. While this is a paid program there are other programs you can access your email from for free such as Thunderbird, Mail (Windows 10) or the now retired Windows Live Mail. An email program lets you access your email without having to go to your email providers website.
What are the benefits of using an email program?
By accessing your email through a program rather than via webmail, you can greatly decrease loading times and you’ll no longer be bombarded by advertisements. You can still access your email from anywhere and if setup as an “iMAP” account, your email will sync back to the server meaning that any device that accesses your email will see the emails that you received as well as emails you have sent.
You may wish that you had made the switch sooner when you discover that you can mark all that unread email you will never open as “read” so that it no longer tells you that you have unread mail. Or perhaps you will appreciate that you can automatically setup rules so that when emails arrive that fit a specified set of criteria, those emails are handled in one of many ways including moving to another folder, trash or forwarding the email.
If your email is setup on your device, you have the option of creating folders and saving emails on your local computer (rather than just on the server) which can be useful if you want to ensure your emails don’t get accidently erased off the server. Some email providers have storage limits and can, as they see fit, remove emails from their server to make additional storage space available. Should you ever decide to switch between your current email provider and another one, you can easily save or transfer emails from one account to another using your email program.
Which email program is best for me?
Some people prefer to use a specific program because it is what they have used at work or because it is familiar to them. Microsoft’s Outlook is a paid program therefore unless you have Office 365 or pay outright for the software you may want to consider one of your other options. Thunderbird is our free E-mail application of choice and was created by Mozilla the makers of Firefox. The Mail application comes pre-installed with Windows 10 and is nice for basic users but lacks many features.
What are some things to consider?
Using an email application will require a little bit of setup. Most email servers can automatically be configured just by entering in your email address and password, others may require you to manually obtain and enter the proper configuration settings. Yes, you will need your email password, and yes, even if you don’t remember or know your password you have one. If you aren’t sure what it is, you can visit your providers website and rather than logging in with your saved password choose “forgot password?” to reset it to a new one. Your email contacts is the biggest thing you want to be aware when using an email application. While your email will sync in both directions your email contacts will not. You can however manually back them up to your computer or keep them updates on your webmail just in case.
What if I need help?
Let’s face it, most of us are not professionals when it comes to technology and it’s okay to admit you need a little help. There are lots of free tutorials online on how to setup the applications mentioned above as well as others that are available. Most email providers have their email settings posted on their website, and if not, they can be obtained by calling customer service.
If you need assistance transferring emails from one account to another, import/export contacts or just need help setting up a new or existing email account, we can help! Contact Jester’s Computers by calling (717) 642-6611 or visit us at 5135 Fairfield Road Fairfield PA or on the web on Facebook or at www.jesterscomputers.com
