A: E-mail stands for "electronic mail." An e-mail is a message that is sent electronically via the Internet. To be able to communicate with others via e-mail, you need an e-mail address. An e-mail address is the Internet equivalent of a phone number - people use this address to send you e-mail messages. E-mail addresses can contain letters and numbers, and are usually of the format (myname@internetprovider.com).
Q: How do I get an e-mail address?
A: There are two primary ways of getting an e-mail address.
Your Internet Service Provider or organization assigns you one. When you sign-up for internet service, your Internet Service Provider will assign you an e-mail address. Usually any large organization will also provide you with an e-mail address within their organization.
You sign up for web-based e-mail. Web-based e-mail is a special type of e-mail that you can use even without an Internet Service Provider. Some people like to use this type of e-mail account because it will not change even if they change their Internet Service Provider.
Q: How do I configure my computer to send and receive e-mail?
A: If you signed-up for a web-based e-mail account, you need not configure your computer. However, if you received an e-mail account from your Internet Service Provider or your organization, you may need to install and configure software for sending and receiving e-mail. (Some providers have software which automatically configures the e-mail software, others do not.) Most computers come with a free e-mail package called Microsoft Outlook Express. We will assume it has been installed on your computer. If it is installed on your computer, you should see it on the desktop. (icon picture here) We will use this package for our examples.
Before you can configure your e-mail account, you need some information from your Internet Service Provider. The information you need is listed below:
E-mail Address
POP3 Server (stores Incoming Mail)
SMTP Server (sends Outgoing Mail)
UserName
Password
Let's show you an example. For this example, we will use the following data:
E-mail Address: jomail@payson.tulane.edu
POP3 Server: payson.tulane.edu
SMTP Server: payson.tulane.edu
UserName: jomail
Password: tfa2001
Now let's see an example.
Q: How do I send and receive e-mail, or reply to an e-mail I received?
A: Once you have configured your e-mail account, sending and receiving e-mail is easy.
To receive e-mail, simply click on the "Send and Receive" button in Outlook Express.
To send e-mail, simply click the "New Message" button in Outlook Express, type in the e-mail address you wish to send the message to, type in the Subject of the message, then type in your message. Once all this is finished, click send.
To reply to an e-mail, you do not need to create a new message. Simply click on the "Reply" button in Outlook Express while the message you want to reply to is selected. Type in your response and click the "Send" button.
See an example of sending and receiving e-mail.
Q: How do I send files via e-mail?
A: Simply create a new message or reply to a message, as outlined above. Then, before you send the e-mail, click on the "Attach" button (it will have a paper clip icon.) and select the file you want to attach. You can attach any type of file, including pictures, videos, animations, and programs. Then, send the message. See an example.
Q: How do I search through my e-mail?
To find e-mail messages, you simply click on the "Find" button in the main Outlook Express window. Then, you specify where to search and what you are looking for, and click on the "Find" button. See an example.