Email 101
December 2016
Choosing an email provider
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Some features to consider when choosing a provider:
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Price
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Storage space
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Ease of use
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Attachment size limitations
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Access from relevant platforms (desktop, Web, mobile)
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Other, integrated services (calendar, travel planner, social networking, and so forth)
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There literally are a hundred or more providers from which you can choose.
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And, yes … you can choose more than one.
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In fact, some providers require that you have a second email provider so that the alternate address can be used as a “rescue” line!
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Your best bet in choosing an email provider is to visit their websites, read online reviews, and compare services provided to meet your needs.
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Some of the more popular providers; all provide both free and premium services.
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Zoho Mail
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Outlook.com (Microsoft) – If you’ve been using this a long time, your email address may end with hotmail.com or live.com.
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Gmail (Google)
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Yahoo Mail (Yahoo!)
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ProtonMail – email is encrypted.
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iCloud Mail (Apple)
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Good or bad email?
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Bad emails commonly are known as spam.
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Good emails commonly are known as ham.
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Spoofed emails are those messages that come from a forged sender address.
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Phishing emails are spoofed emails that appear to come from a legitimate business in order to trick the recipient into sharing his/her personal (and usually financial) information.
Email clients
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An email client is a program that you use to access and manage your email.
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There are three basic types of clients:
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Desktop clients – Programs run on desktop and notebook computers.
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Client apps – Programs run on mobile devices.
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Webmail clients – Accessed as a webpage through a browser on desktops, notebooks, and mobile devices.
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Webmail clients are the easiest to access.
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Pros:
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They require no extra software installation.
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You can access your email from any device with a browser (even your smart TV).
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Cons:
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If you have multiple email accounts, you must visit a different webpage for each account.
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Desktop clients and apps generally provide more options.
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Pros:
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They let you manage multiple email accounts.
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Cons:
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They must be installed and set up, so you cannot easily move between computers.
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Some of the more popular desktop/app clients:
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Outlook (Microsoft)
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Thunderbird (Mozilla)
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Mailbird
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Zimbra
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Opera
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Inky – A client that encrypts your email.
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POP3 vs IMAP vs Exchange
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When installing an email client program or app, you may be asked to choose between POP3, IMAP, and Exchange.
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These are different protocols for accessing email.
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Exchange is the protocol used by email servers running the Microsoft Exchange program.
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If you have an OSU email address, this is the protocol you will use.
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The POP3 and IMAP protocols are used on other mail servers.
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Generally, IMAP is recommended when you want the ability to check your email from multiple devices.
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A local copy of the email is made, but the original stays on the server.
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POP3 is a better choice if you read your emails on a single device and have limited bandwidth.
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Emails are downloaded to the local client, and then the original is deleted.
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Encryption and signing
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Encryption of a message provides security, but only works if the recipient can decrypt the message.
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Digital signing permits the sender to “sign” an email in such a way that the recipient can be assured that it came from the purported sender (or someone who has the sender’s private signing key).
Demos and questions
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Let’s take a look at email access via webmail clients and desktop programs.