Internet

E-mail programs

There are dozens of email programs that can help you retrieve and send messages. Netscape comes with a program called Messenger; Microsoft's Outlook Express is included with Internet Explorer; and Eudora Light may have been included with the startup disk provided by your ISP. These three programs are very similar and, unless you are using web-based email, it's likely that you will be using one of them. In the next few sections, I'll go over how to use Outlook Express. If you are using one of the other programs, don't worry. Even the icons are nearly identical. You'll have no problems following along.

What If I'm Using Web-Based E-Mail?

There are a couple of things that you need to do if you use web-based e-mail before you begin.

Connect to the internet
Go to your e-mail provider's web page
Log into the site (The first time you visit, you will need to set up an account. Follow the instructions and keep track of your username and password.).

Although the web page will look different from the e-mail programs that you will see in the next sections, the ideas are exactly the same. E-mail is pretty simple. You won't have any problems.

It s also becoming easier to retrieve web-based e-mail with an e-mail program if you want to do it that way. However, you may want some help getting it set up.