Email is an abbreviation for Electronic Mail. The concept is exactly the same as your normal postal service. You type a document on your computer and by help of the internet, you can send this document to another computer for the attention of the person you typed it for.
Just as with the normal postal service, you need to know the address of the person you are sending mail to, and the format of these addresses is quite different in presentation. Below is the format of an Electronic Mail Address:
The first word, 'info' is like the first line of a standard postal envelope. It's the name of the person you are addressing the mail to. Often times, this word may be very different from the persons name, like an alias. This is to accommodate for the fact that no spaces are allowed in email addresses.
The symbol that follows, '@', which is referred to as the "Commercial At" or "At symbol" among a whole host of other names, indicates that the name before it, should exist on a database of the domain name after the symbol.
The domain name 'enterdomain.com' that follows the 'At Symbol', is like any further lines on a standard postal envelope; in other words, the address of the person you are sending mail to.
There are two main types of Email programme (or Email Client). One of these types, is used through a web page that you can access with a user name and password, which then allows you to read your email while you are still connected to the internet. This is generally referred to as 'Web Mail'.
The other type, is accessed by running a programme on your computer while you are connected to the internet (for example, Outlook, Eudora or Communicator), which then collects your email and enables you to read through it, without having to be connected to the internet. This type is sometimes referred to as POP3 mail.
Email boxes, which can be made to forward or act as POP3 mail and can have unlimited addresses representing them, are sold in groups of five. Each email box has its own user name and password, and can be set-up independently of the other email boxes.
Those who have requirements of more than five email boxes, can opt to purchase additional email boxes, in groups of five.^ BACK TO THE INDEX ^