Receiving and Reading Mail

E-mail messages aren't delivered directly to your computer. They are delivered to a mailbox that your ISP keeps for you. Just as some people have to go to the post office and to get their mail, your computer has to go to another computer to fetch your e-mail. There are ways to automate the process, but for now, it’s easier to show you how to do it manually. Of course, doing it manually doesn’t take many steps. Your mail is just one click away. In fact, it’s the same button in the previous diagram that you pressed to send a batch of messages.

How to do it

1.     Start Outlook Express (or your e-mail program) by clicking on the icon on your taskbar        or double-clicking on the icon on your desktop.

2.     Connect to the internet

3.     Click the SEND AND RECEIVE button. If you had any messages in your outbox, they        will be sent at the same time you retrieve your mail.

4.     Depending on how your program is set up, you may be asked to enter your e-mail       password. If you get your mail from your ISP, this password might be identical to the       password that you use to connect to the internet. Be sure to keep track of all your       passwords!

5.     The following box will appear on your screen to inform you of the progress. In this        diagram, I am retrieving 102 messages and, so far, Outlook Express has retrieved
        74 of them.

6.     Click the Inbox folder in the left frame

7.     Click one of the message descriptions that show up in the upper right frame. The        message will appear in the lower right frame. If you double-click the message        description, the entire message       will open up in a new window.

When you're done reading the message, you can delete, reply, forward, or print the message. We'll talk about these options next.